The top Senate appropriator said Monday President Trump is insisting a must-pass spending bill include at least $5 billion for building a southern border wall, despite opposition from Democrats who want to spend no more than $1.6 billion.
“The president wants that,” Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Monday. “I’m trying to work it out. Five billion doesn’t seem unreasonable to me.”
Shelby, along with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will be working closely with Democrats and Republicans in both chambers to hammer out a final deal to fund seven spending bills that are set to expire Dec. 7.
[Read: McConnell to seek $5B for border wall]
Shelby said the main sticking point in finalizing a deal is the wall funding.
“The linchpin is the money for the border wall,” Shelby said, adding that Republicans now have the tricky task of trying to fulfill Trump’s goal without triggering a government shutdown.
”What we’ve been negotiating, our goal, is to fund the government,” he said. “I want it to happen, but we’ll see. I think the president wants to fund the government. Of course he wants his wall. We are trying to figure out how to make it work.”
Trump has been suggesting for months he would not sign a spending bill that excludes robust wall funding. And he has appeared even more resolved in recent days, stepping up his call for Congress to act following the arrival of a caravan of illegal immigrants at the southern border in San Ysidro, Calif.
The group of migrants has thrown rocks at border agents and the agents have fired rubber bullets and tear gas in response.
Shelby said the border surge in California “cuts both ways” in both helping and hindering the latest round of spending negotiations.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said this month that he wants the bill to include the $1.6 billion that was included in a bipartisan Senate spending bill to fund Homeland Security. The House version included $5 billion.
Democrats have the power to block spending bills with the use of the filibuster.
Trump on Monday immediately used the weekend clash between border agents and illegal immigrants trying to gain entry at California’s southern border to bolster his call for wall funding.
“Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries,” Trump tweeted Monday. “Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the Border permanently if need be. Congress, fund the WALL!”
Republicans on Capitol Hill Monday were largely sympathetic with the effort to keep out the illegal immigrants, arguing the asylum program is being abused and that the president has the responsibility to stop mass illegal immigration.
Thousands of migrants have for several weeks been moving toward the southern border from Central America with a plan to claim asylum. Democrats have criticized the effort to keep out the surge, including the use of tear gas on groups that include women and children.
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said he supports Trump’s effort to gain control over the border and noted the vast majority of children who attempt to cross over are boys aged 15 and older.
Johnson said Congress needs to pass legislation to fix the immigration process in order to stop the border surges and to allow quick processing with additional judges and detention centers that would prevent families from being split up. Wall funding needs to be part of the solution, he said.
“It’s one of the things we have to do,” Johnson said. “We need better barriers. Where we have a really good border wall, it actually works. But we need to fix all of it.”
Shelby said the final deal on spending and the effort to keep a big part of the government funded past the Dec. 7 deadline will hinge on Democrats.
“I’d say there is a good chance we’re going to fund the government, but a lot of that depends on the attitudes up here, too,” Shelby said. “Do the Democrats want to fund it? Do they want to shut the government down? Do they want to move on?”
Democrats, particularly in the House, where the party is poised to take the majority back in January, appear to have little interest in giving Trump a penny more than the $1.6 billion.
“Donald Trump promised the American people that Mexico would pay for it,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Monday on MSNBC. “So either go to talk to Mexico, or go take a hike.”
