Does President Trump want border-wall funding in this week’s spending bill, or doesn’t he? Just over the weekend, top administration officials were suggesting they might push for money to begin construction on a wall along the southern border with Mexico as Congress gets ready to deal with the current continuing budget resolution, which ends on Friday. And on Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that while negotiations were ongoing in both the House and the Senate, one of Trump’s two priorities for any spending bill would be “for our homeland border security and the wall.” (The other priority? Defense spending.)
Still, Spicer was unwilling to say whether funding the wall was a requirement to get Trump’s signature. And in a White House meeting with a group of conservative journalists Monday night, the president reportedly suggested the funding fight over the wall could get pushed to the fall.
“On funding the border wall, Trump said he could get it this week or the administration could come back to it in September,” tweeted One America News correspondent Trey Yingst, who was at the Monday meeting with Trump.
In backing off of a fight over the border wall this week, Trump is acknowledging the political reality: He has little room to operate if he and the Republicans on Capitol Hill want to avoid a shutdown, which will occur if no one can agree on a spending bill. And as much and as fervently as Trump campaigned on building a wall, the White House is in no mood for a government shutdown—especially as it closes out its first 100 days.
A Swift Push for a Big Business Tax Cut
The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump has requested a tax reform proposal from his aides to cut corporate taxes to 15 percent—and to have the plan ready to be unveiled on Wednesday. Here’s the Journal:
Trump will meet with Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin, National Economic Council director Gary Cohn, and congressional leadership on Tuesday afternoon to discuss tax reform.
Pence Talks Defense Budget at Pearl Harbor
Vice President Mike Pence returned to American shores Tuesday, cutting his 10-day trip through the Pacific region one day short. Pence made a visit to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu, Hawaii, and delivered a brief speech to the stationed troops there.
“I just really came by to say thanks,” said Pence. “Thank you for stepping forward to serve your country.”
The vice president also referenced the busy week on Capitol Hill, which the administration cites as the reason he ended his trip to Asia and Australia early.
“I can tell you I’m headed back to Capitol Hill. There’s a spending bill that’s being considered as we speak,” Pence told the troops. “And the budget that the president submitted, you may be glad to know, had the largest single-year increase in military spending since the days of the Reagan administration.”
Trump’s budget proposes increasing defense spending by $54 billion, a significant hike from the most recent Obama administration proposals but still below what some Republicans say is necessary.
Filling Out Positions at the Pentagon
The Trump administration announced two more nominations to key positions in the Department of Defense Monday. Both nominees should be reassuring to defense hawks.
For principal deputy under secretary of defense for intelligence, Trump will nominate Kari A. Bingen, currently the policy director at the House Armed Services committee. Bingen has worked elsewhere as a policy analyst on defense and intelligence issues. One congressional aide told me Bingen is “top notch” and a “strong defense conservative.”
Additionally, Robert Karem, a national security policy veteran of both the George W. Bush White House and Republican leadership on Capitol Hill, has been nominated for assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. Karem also advised Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign and later served on the Trump transition team with Mike Pompeo, who is now the director of the CIA.
Song of the Day
“Soul Bossa Nova,” Quincy Jones.
