White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller hedged Thursday on whether President Trump will sign a spending bill that does not include $5 billion for his long-promised border wall, even though Trump has clearly said he would not sign a bill without funding for the wall.
Miller, who is Trump’s lead White House adviser on immigration, was asked repeatedly by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer whether Trump would veto a bill that failed to include the money.
“We want a bill that keeps America safe. The president’s been clear about that and in his remarking today at the signing ceremony for the farm bill,” Miller said on CNN Thursday evening. “I’m not going to negotiate with you on air. The House is going to pass a bill and send it to the Senate. We’ll see what happens next.”
When pressed on whether his answer is sufficient for the near 1 million federal employees that will go without a paycheck if the government partially shuts down, Miller said that was a question to ask Democrats.
“That’s the question for the Senate Democrats,” Miller said. “Especially, for Chuck Schumer, who, apparently at Nancy Pelosi’s bidding, rescinded their support for a bill supporting border security.”
Miller’s comments come as the White House continues to battle Democrats over its demand for $5 billion in funding for a wall on the southern border. Democrats have resisted that demand, but the White House and conservatives in Congress have thus far been unwilling to back down from that price tag.
In a meeting with Democratic leadership in Congress last week, the president publicly announced he would be happy to shut down the government and take responsibility for it if it meant he could secure funding for border security. That statement caused widespread concern that Trump was going to force a partial government shutdown of the federal government if Congress failed to give him his border wall funding.
The White House first hinted Tuesday that it was considering options outside of Congress to fund the wall. The idea of using unspent money within the government has been talked about in Congress for the last few weeks, but it hasn’t led to a final solution yet.
The House is set to vote on a bill that includes more than what the president is asking for the border wall, but there is no guarantee it will pass the House, let alone the Senate. Portions of the federal government will shut down Friday evening at midnight unless Congress can pass a spending bill.
