Democrats are optimistic that they’ll face a much easier September than they once feared on key issues such as the debt ceiling, the border wall, and government spending, in part because of the sudden need to quickly pass emergency funding to deal with the damage left by Hurricane Harvey.
A Democratic leadership aide said the party is hoping September ends with a clean hike in the debt ceiling and some funding for Harvey recovery efforts, along with a continuing spending resolution that keeps the government open in the short term, past the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
Just weeks ago, those Democratic goals were somewhat in doubt, as Republicans seemed bent on pushing for a full-year spending bill that included funding for the border wall, a project Democrats were prepared to fight. But now, the GOP appears poised to push off most of the fighting until later.
Last week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., spoke to both House Speaker Paul Ryan and White House chief of staff John Kelly and stressed the need to pass emergency funding soon, according to a Pelosi aide. She also expects the topic to part of next Wednesday’s meeting between President Trump and the three other top congressional leaders — Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
So far, things seem to be breaking the right way for Democrats. Over the last few days, the Trump administration signaled it wants to tie a Harvey aide bill worth $6 billion or even more to a clean debt ceiling hike, and Republicans in Congress have been talking for weeks about passing a short-term spending bill to avoid a partial government shutdown after Sept. 30.
The specifics aren’t entirely clear yet. For example, National Security Adviser Tom Bossert said at the White House Thursday that the goal was not to attach anything to the Harvey funding bill.
“I think that will be separate and distinct from a debt ceiling. I think we have every reason to believe that that’s going to happen in a responsible way,” Bossert said. “I don’t think there’s going to be any particular problem in our approach to the Congress in this fall.”
Still, Republicans are signaling that they are unlikely to force a showdown on these major issues, or other issues like the funding for the border wall that Trump and many GOP lawmakers want.
Democratic leaders have been adamant that funding for Trump’s planned border wall is a non-starter in any negotiations on any bill. Schumer, along with other Senate Democratic leaders, sent a letter to McConnell and Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee saying they would reject a package including funding for the wall, as well as any poison-pill riders.
Congressional Democrats received a boost in upcoming negotiations after Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said last week that his caucus will support a short-term spending bill through December or January without border wall funding in order to avoid the issue and handle it later.
Trump’s initial threat came during a rally in Phoenix nearly two weeks ago when he called on “obstructionist Democrats” not to shut down the government over the wall funding.
“The obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it, but believe me, if we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall,” Trump said at the time.
