South Korean man rescued from drowning near Koh Racha, Phuket

[webfact]

Trump's concession on wall funding removes obstacle from spending talks

By Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan

REUTERS

 

U.S. President Donald Trump says the border wall with Mexico will get built.

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The threat of a U.S. government shutdown this weekend appeared to recede on Tuesday after President Donald Trump backed away from a demand that Congress include funding for his plannedborder wall with Mexico in a spending bill.

 

However, even if the fight over wall funding is over, Republicans and Democrats still have some difficult issues to resolve as they face a Friday night deadline.

 

There was growing sentiment in Congress that they will need to opt for a short-term extension of current spending, possibly of one week's duration, in order to finish up negotiations on the longer-term bill for funding through the end of September.

 

“Yeah, it looks like it,” said Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Senate Appropriations Committee member, when asked by a reporter about the likelihood of a short-term extension.

 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, however, that it was too soon to talk about such a possibility and that negotiations were still under way to reach a longer-term deal.

 

Trump removed a crucial sticking point when he said on Monday evening that he may wait until Republicans begin drafting the budget blueprint for the fiscal year that starts on Oct. 1 to seek funds for the wall.

 

The president's fellow Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but the current spending bill, which has to be passed by Friday night, will need 60 votes to clear the 100-member Senate, where Republicans hold 52 seats. Democratic leaders had said they would not support a bill that included funds for the wall.

 

If no spending measure covering April 29 to Sept. 30 is in place before 12:01 a.m. (0401 GMT) on Saturday, government funds will halt and hundreds of thousands of the country's several million federal employees will be temporarily laid off.

 

Trump had run the risk of being blamed by Democrats for a shutdown whose start would coincide with the day he marks 100 days in office.

 

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer welcomed Trump's Monday night comments and noted that there were opponents of the wall among Republicans too.

 

“It’s really good news that the president seems to be taking the wall off the table," Schumer said on the Senate floor on Tuesday. “It would remove the prospect of a needless fight over a poison pill proposal that members of both parties don’t support. ... If the threat of the wall is removed, as I hope is the case, our negotiations can continue and we can, hopefully, resolve all of the outstanding issues by Friday.”

 

SHORT-TERM OPTION

 

The border wall, which Trump says is the best way to halt the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into the country, was a signature election pledge last year.

 

By dropping his call for immediate funding for it, he may clear a path to a spending bill but he loses something to tout as progress on his agenda since taking office on Jan. 20. A White House effort later this year to get Congress to fund the wall could face a similar fate given that some Republicans also oppose it.

 

Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who represents the southwestern border state of Arizona, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, said there is a need for a wall in some border locations and alternative deterrents in others.

 

“A lot of us have been pushing for additional border security funding for a while, but a solitary 2,000-mile wall has never been a must-have for anybody in a border state,” he said.

 

Trump, however, said he had not changed his stance, tweeting on Tuesday, "It will get built and help stop drugs, human trafficking etc."

 

Trump has said Mexico will eventually repay the United States for the wall, but the Mexican government has been adamant it will not do so, and Trump has not laid out a plan to compel it. Internal Department of Homeland Security estimates have put the cost at $21.6 billion.

 

Republican Senator Roger Wicker said there was a "substantial figure" in the spending bill dedicated to border security. Such spending, not explicitly for awall, would likely be acceptable to both parties.

 

Congressman Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives, said he would advise his colleagues to support a short-term funding proposal only if a longer-term fix was imminent.

 

Short-term funding measures, which are known as continuing resolutions and which cover periods of days or weeks, have been used to avert government shutdowns in the past. But in 2013, conservative Republicans forced a 17-day shutdown in a failed attempt to repeal then-President Barack Obama's healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act.

 

(Additional reporting by Amanda Becker; Writing by Frances Kerry; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-04-26

[sirineou]

Winning!!

[Silurian]

First 100 days of broken promises and shattered voter dreams.

 

Keep on, keeping on, Mr clown POTUS! 

[Srikcir]

When Trump promised the public that with his election, they'll get tired of "winning."

But he didn't think it would be the Democrats winning.

[ilostmypassword]

2 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

When Trump promised the public that with his election, they'll get tired of "winning."

But he didn't think it would be the Democrats winning.

Actually, it's by no means just Democrats. Every Republican congressional rep for a district that borders with Mexico is also against the wall as are several Republican senators.

[dunroaming]

Trump will continue to fail to deliver but the die hard fans will just keep making excuses for him.  Sad but true.

[sirineou]

1 hour ago, dunroaming said:

Trump will continue to fail to deliver but the die hard fans will just keep making excuses for him.  Sad but true.

People have invested so much of their hopes in this man they find it difficult to admit they were so wrong so they engage in all short of intellectual gymnastics in order that they rationalist the situation.

 My neighbor in the US, a very good man but not the brightest light bulb on the Christmas tree. had a Trump flag on his front yard. he quietly took it down. As have many in this forum.

Very quite from the Trump camp in this forum , except for some lone ineffective voices, all   you can hear are crickets.

[dunroaming]

26 minutes ago, sirineou said:

People have invested so much of their hopes in this man they find it difficult to admit they were so wrong so they engage in all short of intellectual gymnastics in order that they rationalist the situation.

I totally get that and I am sure I would also find it hard to face the fact that I had been sold a pup and believed all the lies.  It doesn't help when the chorus line keep rubbing it in as we are doing now.  For that I apologise but I guess many of us feel the need to keep up the pressure until Trump has been removed from office and for that I do not apologise at all.

[dunroaming]

Disturbing news just in from the White House.  Apparently Trump has a red button on his desk to push when he wants his butler to bring him a coke (I assume the drink rather than the powder).  He has another red button and one hopes he won't mistake the two and instead of ordering a soft drink actually triggers a nuclear war!