White House press secretary Sean Spicer said President Trump will not budge on his main priorities for the spending bill to keep the government fully running past Friday, namely his controversial wall for the southern border.
Spicer told reporters Trump is negotiating with House and Senate leaders on the continuing resolution to keep the government open and avoid a partial shutdown. It appears the wall along the border with Mexico might end up being one of the major sticking points in negotiations to get a bill on Trump’s desk by Friday.
The wall was Trump’s central campaign policy promise and is a big issue for his base, but Republicans in Congress are much less enthusiastic about the proposal while Democrats remain steadfastly opposed. The Texas delegation, on both sides of the aisle, is united against the wall.
But, Spicer said it’s clear what Trump wants in the continuing resolution, and he wants $1.4 billion for the wall.
“The president has made it very clear that he’s got two priorities in this continuing resolution,” Spicer said. “Number one, the increase in funding for the military and number two for our homeland and border security, and the wall.”
He added, “I don’t want to get ahead of those negotiations, they are ongoing. But the president’s priorities have been very clear since the beginning.”
The wall is estimated to cost upward of $20 billion, but Trump said in an interview last week that he believes he can get it done for about $10 billion. He once promised to get Mexico to pay for the wall, but now says taxpayers will have to front the money and then Mexico will pay the U.S. back in some way in the future.
Trump has been non-committal about whether he would sign a spending bill that doesn’t include any funding for the wall.
