Trump demands wall funding, increasing threat of U.S. government shutdown

[webfact]

Trump demands wall funding, increasing threat of U.S. government shutdown

By Steve Holland and Ginger Gibson

 

U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan speaks after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 20, 2018. REUTERS/Jim Young

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said border security must be part of legislation to fund the U.S. government, a position that raises the threat of a partial federal shutdown on Saturday.

 

Republicans in the House of Representatives were scrambling to try to amend a Senate-passed bill to appease Trump after he said he would not sign the legislation.

 

The House was slated to hold a procedural vote on Thursday evening, although many Republicans were not confident they had enough members present to pass what Trump wants.

 

"I've made my position very clear. Any measure that funds the government must include border security," Trump said at a White House event.

 

Trump has demanded $5 billion to put toward building a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico that he argues is needed to keep out illegal immigrants and drugs, a down payment on a massive project which Democrats have rejected as ineffective and wasteful.

 

"I don’t know if there’s a wall that’s ever been built that hasn’t been climbed over or dug under," said Democratic Representative Jim McGovern during House floor debate.

 

The latest plot twist in a long-running drama over government spending, occurring just as lawmakers pushed to take their Christmas break, emerged 36 hours before funding expires for agencies responsible for federal law enforcement activities, airport security screenings, space exploration and farm programs.

 

Trump was expected to start a two-week vacation in Florida on Friday.

 

U.S. stocks, which were already sharply lower on the session, extended losses on the possibility of a shutdown, with the S&P 500 down 1.6 percent on the day.

 

Trump, who accused Democrats of playing politics on the issue, has said he sees the border wall as a winning issue for his 2020 re-election campaign. Last week in a White House meeting with Democratic congressional leaders, he said he would be "proud to shut down the government for border security."

 

The Senate bill approved on Wednesday had provided a seven-week extension of existing funds for agencies, punting the funding issue into the next Congress.

 

“We’re just waiting to see what the House is going to do,” said an administration official. “Then we’ll figure out what the next steps are.”

 

PUSH FROM THE RIGHT

Hard-right conservative pundits and lawmakers have urged Trump to push for border wall funding now, even if it leads to a shutdown, arguing that it would be impossible to get once Democrats take control of the House on Jan. 3.

 

"He (Trump) campaigned on the wall," Republican Representative Mark Meadows said. "It was the centre of his campaign ... the American people's patience is running out."

 

House Republicans lost 40 seats in Nov. 6 congressional elections. Some members who lost their re-election bids are not in Washington, making it unclear whether the party could pass the funding hike. If it fails, the House may end up voting on the original bill passed by the Senate but panned by Trump.

 

In that scenario, it is unclear how Trump would respond, House Rules Chairman Pete Sessions said. "We’re all putting that in the calculator," he said.

 

The amended bill also includes $7.8 billion in aid for states hit by recent natural disasters.

 

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has said including border wall money in the bill would be a "non-starter" for her members. They were, however, open to the disaster aid, she said.

 

If the government goes into partial shutdown starting on Saturday, it could last until the new Democratic majority takes over in the House. Then it will have enough votes to pass a funding bill to send to the Republican-controlled Senate, leaving it up to Trump to decide whether to veto it.

 

Trump administration officials were looking for ways to build the wall by reassigning money already doled out to U.S. agencies for other projects.

 

The White House has not provided details of that effort but leading Democrats have warned that shifting funds around in such a way would have to be approved by Congress.

 

During his 2016 campaign Trump repeatedly said Mexico would pay for the border wall but never specified how. Last week he said that a new trade deal his administration had negotiated with Mexico and Canada would generate enough savings to be equivalent to Mexico financing the wall.

 

Money for the wall also led to a partial government shutdown during a weekend in January and a second funding gap in February lasted only a few hours. Impact on government services was negligible in both cases.

 

In a 2013 shutdown, conservative Republicans made an unsuccessful effort to use funding bills to repeal President Barack Obama's healthcare law.

 

(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Steve Holland and Ginger Gibson; additional reporting by Lisa Lambert, Susan Heavey, Makini Brice, Mohammad Zargham and Chuck Mikolajczak; Writing by Roberta Rampton; editing by Bill Trott, Howard Goller and Cynthia Osterman)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-12-21

[Tug]

Don’t think so Donald but he is certainly creating a genuine threat with his fiasco in Syria and now Afghanistan isis will come roaring back thanks Donald ya imbecile 

[mtls2005]

If he doesn't get his wall will he take his ball and go home (to Russia)?

[Boon Mee]

 The Wall is going to happen. Whether it comes to fruition thru Congress or a Go Fund Me which btw, is over a billion dollars already. 

[mtls2005]

10 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

 The Wall is going to happen. Whether it comes to fruition thru Congress or a Go Fund Me which btw, is over a billion dollars already. 

 

Just to back away from the precipice of "alternative facts"...the goal is $1 B, the last time I checked the total was $8 million.

 

Maybe set-up the GoFundMe page in Spanish? Get Mexicans to chip in?

 

 

[Credo]

10 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Just to back away from the precipice of "alternative facts"...the goal is $1 B, the last time I checked the total was $8 million.

 

Maybe set-up the GoFundMe page in Spanish? Get Mexicans to chip in?

 

 

I wonder how much of that has come in Russian Rubles?

 

[Becker]

25 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

 The Wall is going to happen. Whether it comes to fruition thru Congress or a Go Fund Me which btw, is over a billion dollars already. 

And here I thought that Mexico would pay for it. Silly me!

[mtls2005]

7 minutes ago, Becker said:

And here I thought that Mexico would pay for it. Silly me!

 

No clue why the trump organization hasn't just created Trump Wall Mexico, and then sold "slats" to his base? It could big, beautiful, self-funding - the best wall ever. "Owners" could decorate their "Slat", visit it on holiday, time-share it with friends, will it to children. And they can pay an annual Slat-fee for maintenance. Win-win-win.

 

 

 

 

[lannarebirth]

9 minutes ago, Becker said:

And here I thought that Mexico would pay for it. Silly me!

Not only are they not paying for it, but....

 

https://www.apnews.com/0fcda32812024680ad98676379c47233

[Becker]

1 minute ago, mtls2005 said:

 

No clue why the trump organization hasn't just created Trump Wall Mexico, and then sold "slats" to his base? It could big, beautiful, self-funding - the best wall ever. "Owners" could decorate their "Slat", visit it on holiday, time-share it with friends, will it to children. And they can pay an annual Slat-fee for maintenance. Win-win-win.

 

 

 

 

Indeed. Why not make it into a charity so that the man-child and his family has a proper slush fund to dip into now that New York has shut down the last one.

[lannarebirth]

3 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

No clue why the trump organization hasn't just created Trump Wall Mexico, and then sold "slats" to his base? It could big, beautiful, self-funding - the best wall ever. "Owners" could decorate their "Slat", visit it on holiday, time-share it with friends, will it to children. And they can pay an annual Slat-fee for maintenance. Win-win-win.

 

 

 

 

The Trump Organization is holding on line one.

[stevenl]

Maybe Trump Foundation could make a sizeable donation to the wall funding.

[DM07]

1 hour ago, Boon Mee said:

 The Wall is going to happen. Whether it comes to fruition thru Congress or a Go Fund Me which btw, is over a billion dollars already. 

a) no it won't!

b ) 4 Million, not one Billion!

c) sad enough- says a lot about the US-education system, if people are dumb enough to GoFundMe that BS!

d) ...what was that Mexico- thing, I hear all the time? Promise made, promise kept, huh?

 

Troll!

[Cryingdick]

1 hour ago, Becker said:

And here I thought that Mexico would pay for it. Silly me!

 

It will be much easier to accomplish this after it is built. User fees would easily cover this.  

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Profiles in courage from imbecile Trump.  This is what a nation needs a president for...

 

Courtesy of the Washington Post:
 

Quote

 

Trump’s opposition to the short-term deal brings him full-circle. Last week, he told incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) that he would be “proud” to shut the government down if he didn’t get the $5 billion for the wall.
 

This Tuesday, when it became clear Trump didn’t have enough support in Congress for the $5 billion, the White House began backing down from the ultimatum. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump would find other ways to fund the construction of the wall.
 

On Wednesday, Trump wrote in a Twitter post that the military would build it, though a number of budget experts said that would be illegal, as money can’t be redirected without Congress’s approval. When Trump appeared to be backing down, conservative media outlets and Congress’s most conservative members revolted, demanding the president rethink his decision. By Thursday, Trump was back to demanding his wall and insisting the money come from Congress.

 

 

Of course, some -- but not Trump Republicans -- might wonder why he's demanding $5 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars for his Mexico wall -- a wall he's repeatedly promised to make Mexico pay for.

 

BTW, the lame-duck lunatic Republican led House of Reps passed a budget bill Thursday night that included $5.7 billion in funding for the wall. But that bill is expected to go nowhere in the Senate.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[attrayant]

2 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

the goal is $1 B, the last time I checked the total was $8 million.

 

 

It's up to $10M now.  Only $990,000,000 to go!

 

[Burma Bill]

Build a wall and withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan - is he creating "Fortress USA"?

[Silurian]

3 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

 The Wall is going to happen. Whether it comes to fruition thru Congress or a Go Fund Me which btw, is over a billion dollars already. 

 

Yeah, currently a little over 10M on Go Fund Me. Around 1% of the 1 Billion goal. Maybe they can put up some chicken wire.

 

Oh, and it is being run by Brian Kolfage (Mr. Conspiracy Theorist), whom I am sure you can trust with the money. Go ahead and take a look at Brian's wonderful resume of failure and debunked theories. Let me know if you can trust him with the money. Well, you know what they say about fools and their money.

 

But heck, I am all for the Go Fund Me page rather than use US taxpayer money to build an ineffectual wall.

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by Silurian

[johnnybangkok]

3 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

 The Wall is going to happen. Whether it comes to fruition thru Congress or a Go Fund Me which btw, is over a billion dollars already. 

Never let the facts get in the way of a Trump devotee eh Boon.

To date it's $7 million (http://digg.com/2018/gofundthewall-gofundme-trump-border-wall) and the goal is $1 billion. At the current rate of donations of approx. $2 million per day, that would mean the $1 billion would take some 500 days to raise (that's assuming the initial enthusiasm lasts, which is highly unlikely), however the ACTUAL cost of the wall is conservatively estimated at $21 billion, which would take....wait for it... 28 years to raise!

So basically donate away as even a billion is a loooong way off what's needed so even if by some miracle the billion is raised, you still don't get a wall.

This kind of simple arithmetic and logic is of course usually way beyond the capabilities of most Trump fans.

 

 

[FritsSikkink]

3 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

 The Wall is going to happen. Whether it comes to fruition thru Congress or a Go Fund Me which btw, is over a billion dollars already. 

Fake news again

[mtls2005]

1 hour ago, attrayant said:

It's up to $10M now.  Only $990,000,000 to go!

 

At the current rate they'll reach the goal in ~ 50 years, by which time Mexico will be wanting to build a wall to keep us out, and making us pay for it. Good thing we'll have this GoFundMe pot to dip into.

 

In other news...sorry but Ms. Nielsen is a dimbo and should probably slide over to the "blonde" slot on Fox.

 

DHS Secretary Nielsen struggles to answer basic questions during hearing

The DHS boss couldn’t even say how many people have died in her department’s custody.

 

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen faced a heated House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday — and she couldn’t answer a number of basic questions lawmakers asked her about immigration and border security.

 

https://www.vox.com/2018/12/20/18150586/nielsen-house-hearing-dhs

[Pedrogaz]

Problem with Trump is that you cannot believe anything he says. Take Syria, this isn't the first time he has threatened to bring the troops home who are engaged in an illegal occupation of eastern Syria. I support bringing the troops home....how can the uS have any moral authority or talk about the rule of law when they are illegally occupying a large part of Syria? Things the warmongers will get Trump and he will like reverse his position, but I love how it freaked out the Brits who followed the US read and then got wrong footed. The Syrian army can mop up ISIS along with their allies who are in Syria legally.

On the wall, again I support a strong border security stance. Will a wall be 100% effective in keeping illegals out? No, of course not but it should substantially reduce numbers coming in, the amount of drugs flooding in, and people trafficking, provided there are enough border guards to police the wall. In political terms the country voted to have a wall so what are the Dems doing opposing it? 

[Chomper Higgot]

39 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

Problem with Trump is that you cannot believe anything he says. Take Syria, this isn't the first time he has threatened to bring the troops home who are engaged in an illegal occupation of eastern Syria. I support bringing the troops home....how can the uS have any moral authority or talk about the rule of law when they are illegally occupying a large part of Syria? Things the warmongers will get Trump and he will like reverse his position, but I love how it freaked out the Brits who followed the US read and then got wrong footed. The Syrian army can mop up ISIS along with their allies who are in Syria legally.

On the wall, again I support a strong border security stance. Will a wall be 100% effective in keeping illegals out? No, of course not but it should substantially reduce numbers coming in, the amount of drugs flooding in, and people trafficking, provided there are enough border guards to police the wall. In political terms the country voted to have a wall so what are the Dems doing opposing it? 

“ In political terms the country voted to have a wall so what are the Dems doing opposing it? “

 

The country also voted to ‘drain the swamp’.

 

Come January 3, the Dems will give this their full attention.

 

.....

 

Mexico is paying for the wall.... right?!

[Cryingdick]

4 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

 

 

Quote

Just to back away from the precipice of "alternative facts"...the goal is $1 B, the last time I checked the total was $8 million.

 

Maybe set-up the GoFundMe page in Spanish? Get Mexicans to chip in?

 

 

 

$10,686,100 now and that's only four hours after you posted that. I am verifying it is legit and will add $1,000 of my own. Let's see where it's at in a month. Even $10 million is enough to start assembling parts of the wall now, Rome wasn't built in a day.

 

At the current rate of 2.5 million a day it will take 400 days to raise a billion. Usually these  things pick up steam. I wasn't even aware of this until I saw this thread. It's nice this thread was able to give the gofundme some additional exposure it wouldn't have received typically. 

Edited December 21, 2018 by Cryingdick

[Cryingdick]

2 hours ago, attrayant said:

 

It's up to $10M now.  Only $990,000,000 to go!

 

$649,000 in two hours since your post not bad! That means the pace has picked up to $7.5 million a day and it's the middle of the night here 1:40 AM. So the rate has about doubled in the past day. 6 months to a billion 

Edited December 21, 2018 by Cryingdick

[mtls2005]

If trump supporters want to pay for the wall that sounds fine to me.

 

That said, GoFundMe does charge 5% for donations, the administrator (admittedly a severely wounded Air Force vet) has a dodgy background and there is no method for him to transfer funds to the Treasury, or to insure the funds get used for a wall.

 

And I thought there were no suckers left, I mean other than the few remaining trump supporters.

 

Founder of viral fundraiser for Trump's border wall has questionable news past

Brian Kolfage told NBC News he didn’t want to mention his previous projects because he “didn’t want it to be a distraction.”

 

 

The Florida man behind the GoFundMe page, a triple-amputee Iraq War veteran named Brian Kolfage, spent a large portion of the fundraising campaign’s description outlining his past, including a bolded section titled “How do you know this is not a scam?”

 

He implored users to look up his history, pointing donors to his verified Facebook page, and saying “I'm credible and a real person.”

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/founder-viral-fundraiser-trump-s-border-wall-has-fake-news-n950636

 

[Cryingdick]

2 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

If trump supporters want to pay for the wall that sounds fine to me.

 

That said, GoFundMe does charge 5% for donations, the administrator (admittedly a severely wounded Air Force vet) has a dodgy background and there is no method for him to transfer funds to the Treasury, or to insure the funds get used for a wall.

 

And I thought there were no suckers left, I mean other than the few remaining trump supporters.

 

Founder of viral fundraiser for Trump's border wall has questionable news past

Brian Kolfage told NBC News he didn’t want to mention his previous projects because he “didn’t want it to be a distraction.”

 

 

The Florida man behind the GoFundMe page, a triple-amputee Iraq War veteran named Brian Kolfage, spent a large portion of the fundraising campaign’s description outlining his past, including a bolded section titled “How do you know this is not a scam?”

 

He implored users to look up his history, pointing donors to his verified Facebook page, and saying “I'm credible and a real person.”

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/founder-viral-fundraiser-trump-s-border-wall-has-fake-news-n950636

 

 

As I have said a few times I hope there is a user fee later on the wall. Nice little earner. No, I don't want my money back. If any scam is attempted that guy will go to prison for the rest of his life. 

 

Republican Representative Steven Palazzo of Mississippi is introducing legislation to direct the Treasury Department to issue government savings bonds which would allow us to fund the wall with this method. This is just one option, there are others on the table being discussed. 
 

[mtls2005]

5 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

As I have said a few times I hope there is a user fee later on the wall.

 

A "user fee"? For what? A ladder rental? Tunnel fee?

 

 

Again I am happy that you're happy giving $1,000 for the wall. Feel free to donate more, I mean in the holiday spirit.

 

For once I am totally in sync with trump supporters.

 

 

Will Mexico buy these bonds? Hmmm, not only will they redeem them in the future, they'll earn interest too. What an odd idea. Well, it makes sense to a doofus from Mississippi.

 

Forget these options, just get Mexico to pay for it, or sit down and be quiet.

 

 

[Cryingdick]

4 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

A "user fee"? For what? A ladder rental? Tunnel fee?

 

 

Again I am happy that you're happy giving $1,000 for the wall. Feel free to donate more, I mean in the holiday spirit.

 

For once I am totally in sync with trump supporters.

 

 

Will Mexico buy these bonds? Hmmm, not only will they redeem them in the future, they'll earn interest too. What an odd idea. Well, it makes sense to a doofus from Mississippi.

 

Forget these options, just get Mexico to pay for it, or sit down and be quiet.

 

 

Just extend ESTA to apply to the land crossing. Simple stuff. Tax stamp on migrant workers. It doesn't take a genius to monetize a wall or a bridge.

Edited December 21, 2018 by Cryingdick

[Becker]

28 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

Just extend ESTA to apply to the land crossing. Simple stuff. Tax stamp on migrant workers. It doesn't take a genius to monetize a wall or a bridge.

Well, it seems beyond the stable genius in the WH...