President Trump is willing to shut down the federal government to get funding for the U.S.-Mexico border wall, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told CNN this weekend.
“I think it goes without saying that the president has been pretty straightforward about his desire and the need for a border wall so I would suspect that he’ll do the right thing for sure, but I would suspect that he’ll be insistent for funding,” Kelly said in an interview on “State of the Union.”
.@DHSgov Sec. Kelly to @DanaBashCNN on if @realDonaldTrump would shut down govt over wall funding: "he will be insistent on the funding." pic.twitter.com/vqZ8V9F8T9— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) April 22, 2017
Congress will likely look to pass a short-term measure by midnight Friday to fund the government. Trump is expected to insist the House GOP include funding for an executive order he made in late January that called for a southern border wall, which is estimated to cost more than $21 billion.
The last government shutdown was Oct. 1, 2013, and lasted 16 days. Congressional Republicans had pulled funding for Obamacare, prompting Senate Democrats and the Obama White House to reject the proposal.
Both parties continue to argue over who was to blame for that shutdown. Nearly 800,000 federal employees were out of work and went unpaid.
