Senate appropriators are considering a two-month spending bill to avoid a partial government shutdown over the Christmas break.
The measure would keep the Department of Homeland Security and eight other government departments operating until Feb. 8 and would avert a government shutdown at the end of this week, when current funding expires, leadership aides told the Washington Examiner.
The short-term solution would have the approval of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a Democratic leadership source said. But it’s not clear whether Trump would sign a temporary funding measure.
Senate Republican leaders said Tuesday they are still searching for a deal to fund the departments through the end of the year that would provide enough border security and wall funding to satisfy President Trump.
The short-term plan could be used if a longer deal can’t be reached by Friday, said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.
Trump said a border wall is needed to keep out illegal immigrants and to protect national security, but Democrats say a wall is ineffective and wrong.
Democrats rejected an offer from the GOP to provide $1.6 billion in border security agreed to in a bipartisan Senate Appropriations Committee deal, in addition to an extra $1 billion for border security.
The move would punt the seven bills into the new Congress, when Democrats will retake the House majority.
Trump tweeted Tuesday that Democrats are opposed to a concrete wall “but we are not building a Concrete Wall, we are building artistically designed steel slats, so that you can easily see through it. … It will be beautiful and, at the same time, give our Country the security that our citizens deserve. It will go up fast and save us BILLIONS of dollars a month once completed!”
