President Trump may be tweeting demands for southern border wall funding, but in private he has agreed to GOP leaders demands that he sign spending bills into law by the end of September and postpone the wall fight until the new fiscal year.
“We have a good understanding,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Thursday. “I’m confident our understanding will stick.”
Trump has delivered a mixed message on fiscal 2019 spending in recent weeks.
He’s tweeted a willingness to let government funding lapse if he can’t get significant wall funding, but has also told reporters he has no interest in a government shutdown.
On Wednesday, Trump added to the confusion ahead of a meeting with GOP leaders suggesting to reporters the fate of 2019 government funding is up in the air. “If it’s about border security, I’m willing to do anything,” Trump said.
But Ryan suggested to reporters the talk about a shutdown is not what Trump is actually planning to do.
The House is now negotiating with the Senate on a final deal on three different spending packages that would fund about 90 percent of the government.
Lawmakers plan to send the packages to the president before the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year.
