Donald Trump not ‘thrilled’ with border deal, but doesn’t want government shutdown
United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday expressed his displeasure with a border security agreement that would prevent another government shutdown, but did not reject it outright as fellow Republicans asked for his support.
The tentative funding deal, struck by Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Monday, offered close to $1.37 billion (€1.21 billion) for 55 miles (88 kilometers) of new metal fencing at the US-Mexico border, far less than the $5.7 billion Trump demanded in December for 215 miles of concrete wall.
“I can’t say I’m happy. I can’t say I’m thrilled,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Another shutdown?
However, Trump did say he did tell his cabinet that he did not intend to force another government shutdown.
“I don’t think you’re going to see a shutdown. I don’t want to see another shutdown. If you did have it, it’s the Democrats’ fault,” trump said.
Trump’s demand for border wall funding in December triggered a 35-day shutdown of about a quarter of the federal government, which caused 800,000 government employees to go more than a month without pay and put several government services on hold. When Democrats refused to budge, the US president was forced to backtrack and in January he approved a bill that reopened the government for three weeks, which ends on Friday.
Along with border fencing, Monday’s tentative agreement addressed capacity at immigration facilities, but a Democratic proposal to cap the number of detained illegal immigrants caught by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency was rejected. Democrats said formal legislation could by ready by Wednesday, leaving Congress little time to pass the measure by Friday’s deadline.
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US government shutdowns: A chronology
Sundown shutdown
As midnight approaches on September 30 of each year, it’s go time for Congress: approve a budget or shut down government operations. Originally, Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution required lawmakers to approve the budget. Honing it further in 1870, the Antideficiency Act targeted agencies that spent money without asking. But meeting deadlines was a chronic problem. That is, until the 1980s.
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US government shutdowns: A chronology
No money, no pay, no work
At the behest of President Jimmy Carter, the US attorney general revisited the Antideficiency Act in 1980 to answer the question: “Without a budget, are government employees required to work?” According to Benjamin Civiletti’s legal opinion, no money meant no work. Carter’s presidency saw only small shutdowns, but the new interpretation of the law turned shutdowns into a negotiating tactic.
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US government shutdowns: A chronology
Ronald Reagan and the first shutdown
The first real shutdown — over 240,000 workers furloughed, more than $80 million (€65 million) down the drain — occurred in November 1981. Still in his early days, President Ronald Reagan refused to sign a budget without billions in tax cuts. The Republican-controlled Senate and the Democrat-controlled House found a solution by the next day. This happened seven more times by his last year in 1989.
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US government shutdowns: A chronology
Bill Clinton and the rise of the partisan shutdown
Budget impasses were largely drama-free until 1995, when President Bill Clinton faced off against Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich (pictured left). The Republican-led Congress wanted a balanced budget within seven years, higher Medicare premiums and rollbacks on environment regulations. It took 27 days in total to strike a deal. The cost: at least $1 billion.
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US government shutdowns: A chronology
A game for Congress, a headache for the agencies
Many departments such as the military, national security and any deemed essential to the protection of life continue working during shutdowns. But agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must cease operations. This results in delays on tax decisions, food inspection and disease research among other problems.
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US government shutdowns: A chronology
Barack Obama and Congress on Cruz-control
The next major shutdown came in 2013 under President Barack Obama. His Affordable Health Care Act — or Obamacare — faced stark opposition from conservative House Republicans. Led by Senator Ted Cruz, the group pushed for drastic curbs on the health care act in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. The 18-day shutdown resulted in the furlough of some 850,000 workers. The cost: $24 billion.
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US government shutdowns: A chronology
A shutdown lasting years?
The latest shutdown, which lasted 35 days, was the longest in history. Hundreds of federal workers went without paychecks. Despite the disruption, President Donald Trump refused to budge on his insistence that funding for the Mexico border wall be included in the budget. In fact, the president had said he was prepared for the impasse to go on for years — before he gave in and reopened government.
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US government shutdowns: A chronology
Cost of playing politics
The prohibitive cost of shutting down some government operations has not tamed the trend. Washington loses millions not just in revenue, but also in back pay, even though furloughed employees stay at home. So, time lost, work lost — and money lost. According to ratings agency Standard and Poor’s, the current rate for a shutdown will cost the US roughly $6 billion per week.
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US government shutdowns: A chronology
Shutdowns contributing to distrust?
But the biggest loser is not the economy, or the party that makes the most concessions. Arguably, it’s the government itself. According to a Gallup poll in the aftermath of the 2013 shutdown, public dissatisfaction with the government in general rose to 33 percent. The previous all-time high regarding political dysfunction was 26 percent during the Watergate scandal.
Unilateral action at border
Though Trump sent mixed messages about a government shutdown, he did once again insist that the wall, a campaign promise from his 2016 presidential run, would get built.
“The bottom is on the wall: We’re building the wall,” Trump said, adding: “We’re supplementing things, and moving things around, and we’re doing things that are fantastic and taking, really, from far-less-important areas (of the government).”
Trump had previously threatened to declare a “national emergency” if Congress did not provide him with the funds to build a concrete wall at the border. Fellow Republicans have warned him that such a move would certainly prompt a legal challenge, either in Congress or in the courts.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that Trump got a “pretty good deal” and that he hopes the president will sign it into law. McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, added that Trump should “feel free” to use what ever tools he can “legally use” to find funding for border security.
dv/rc (AFP, AP, Reuters)
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