Will Donald Trump avoid another devastating government shutdown and sign the new bipartisan border deal proposed by Congress?
Politics
On Monday while Trump was holding a “Build That Wall” rally in El Paso, Texas, Democrats and Republicans agreed to a bipartisan border deal designed to kill two birds with one stone. The agreement includes some (but not all) of the money Trump wants to bolster border security, but also focuses on security measures beyond the need for steel structures. Congressional leaders hope the compromise will be enough to convince Trump to sign the deal and fund the government without another shutdown.
To avoid sending federal workers into yet another forced furlough, Congress must pass the deal and Trump must sign it by Friday at midnight before existing funding expires. Republican leaders are already vowing the Senate will approve the bipartisan border deal “in short order” and immediately get it to Trump for his signature.
“I think he’s got a pretty good deal here,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). “I hope he’ll decide to sign it.”
“Please Mr. President, sign it and don’t cause a shutdown,” begged Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). He added that the agreement represents “a path forward for our country” and would help avoid “another round of fraught negotiations”.
However, members of Trump’s base are having a collective hissy fit over the deal and are already doing everything within their power to bully ‘The Donald’ into rejecting it.
Fox News host and Trump personal friend Sean Hannity slammed the deal as a “garbage compromise.”
Jenny Beth Martin of the Tea Party Patriots released a scathing statement saying she and others have been “hoodwinked.”
“This so-called ‘deal’ is worse than a joke,” she said.
Conservative commentator Ann Coulter ripped Trump on Tuesday, calling him “afraid” to fight for a border wall.
“Trump talks a good game on the border wall but it’s increasingly clear he’s afraid to fight for it,” Coulter tweeted to her 2 million followers. “Call this his ‘Yellow New Deal.'”
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Trump talks a good game on the border wall but it’s increasingly clear he’s afraid to fight for it. Call this his “Yellow New Deal.”
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) February 12, 2019
For his part, Donald Trump is between a rock and a hard place. If he signs the congressional deal, he will further infuriate his base for failing (once again) to deliver their beloved border wall in its entirety. However, he also recognizes he can’t create another economic disaster by sending US government workers back into unemployment, which would come with more horrific political pictures of them standing in line at soup kitchens.
When asked if he was satisfied with the bipartisan border deal reached by congressional negotiators, Trump was tentative.
“I can’t say I’m happy. I can’t say I’m thrilled, but the wall is getting built,” Trump stated while already attempting to find a way to spin a win for himself out of the compromise he seems to be leaning toward accepting. “Regardless. It doesn’t matter because we’re doing other things beyond what we’re talking about here.”
Hmmm…
The bipartisan border deal falls far short of handing Trump the $5 billion dollars he’s consistently demanded to get his wall built. Instead, it includes $1.375 billion to build a 55 mile (and not the requested 215 mile) barrier in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. Additionally, other high-tech security measures have been proposed to supplant the need to build more walls.
Donald Trump is now on the clock. He has to either accept the current deal presented to him by both Democrats and Republicans, or create a national catastrophe by allowing a policy squabble to launch yet another US government shutdown.
Will he, or won’t he?
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump intends to sign the border security deal to avoid another partial government shutdown, according to two sources who have spoke directly with the President.
Trump said Tuesday that he was “not happy” with the tentative deal reached by congressional negotiators late Monday night that falls far short of his original demands.
Congress faces a deadline to get a deal passed and signed by Trump before Friday.