Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced that President Donald Trump will not sign the short-term funding bill the Senate passed last night. From Politico:
“The president informed us he will not sign the bill that came from the Senate last evening because of his legitimate concerns for border security,” Ryan told reporters after meeting with Trump at the White House. “So what we’re going to do is go back to the House and work with our members.”
Ryan confirmed that the House also has “very serious concerns” when it comes to border security.
The government may shut down on Friday if officials cannot agree on a spending bill.
The Senate passed a short-term spending bill on Wednesday night that received bipartisan support. It would have funded “several major government departments until Feb. 8, a measure that would avert a partial government shutdown at the end of the week but does not include any new funds President Trump sought for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.”
But Trump told GOP leaders this morning he will not sign it:
The odds of a shutdown rose dramatically Thursday as Republican leaders, as well as Freedom Caucus members Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan, headed to the White House for a sit-down with Trump himself. Ryan and his deputies began making plans to put a funding bill on the floor that would deliver $5 billion to the border wall, in an attempt to make good on Trump’s promise in the final days of a GOP-controlled Congress.“I think we’re going to put $5 billion for the wall in,” Jordan told reporters. “I’m talking to [Steve] Scalise and Kevin [McCarthy]… That’s definitely the mood of the conference… I think that’s where it’s headed, toward $5 billion for the wall.”White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president “does not want to go further without border security, which includes steel slats or a wall” and is “weighing his options” amid conservative pressure to oppose the bill.
Ryan said the leaders will go back to the House and try to find a way to keep the government open and protect the border.
Fox News wrote that “the House will try to amend the Senate bill with an additional $5 billion for a border wall, as sought by Trump.”
If a bill like that passes the House it’s likely to face trouble in the Senate.
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