Battle looms in Congress over money for
Trump's border wall
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[November 08, 2018]
By Amanda Becker and Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When the U.S.
Congress reconvenes on Nov. 13, it will face a deadline less than a
month later to fund parts of the federal government and a possible
showdown over money for President Donald Trump's proposed U.S.-Mexico
border wall.
Taking a confrontational position on the issue, Trump said at a news
conference on Wednesday he could not commit to avoiding a partial
government shutdown if Congress refuses to provide him all the funding
he wants for his wall.
"We need the money to build the wall, the whole wall, not pieces of it,"
Trump told reporters, days before Congress reconvenes for its
mid-November to mid-December "lame duck" session.
Trump has issued ultimatums about wall funding before, with little
impact, even with his own Republican Party in majority control of both
the Senate and the House of Representatives.
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Even though Tuesday's congressional elections gave the Democrats
majority control of the House, the Republicans will still control both
chambers until January.
That means that they will need Democratic support for any funding bills
in the Senate, where Republicans have 51 of 100 seats. They will need 60
votes to advance legislation.
Having won control of the House in the elections, Democrats said they
will be even less motivated than before to meet Trump's wall demands.
If the two parties cannot reach a funding deal, there would be a partial
government shutdown, with so-called "essential services," including some
at the Department of Homeland Security, likely remaining in operation.
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![](../images/110818pics/news_q31.jpg)
U.S. border patrol agents ride past the U.S.-Mexico border wall on
horseback near San Diego, California, U.S. May 7, 2018. REUTERS/Mike
Blake
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"We need to work this out," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell
said on Wednesday. "Seventy-five percent of the government was
funded before the end of September."
Lawmakers reached a bipartisan agreement in September to fund much
of the federal government. The fight over money for the wall was
delayed until after the elections by including only temporary
funding until Dec. 8 for some government services, including
Homeland Security.
"We're going to do the best we can to try to achieve the president's
priorities and hopefully we will not be headed down that path,"
McConnell said of a partial shutdown.
He said Congress would also try to finalize a five-year
reauthorization of the farm bill during the "lame duck" session. The
legislation expired at the end of September but most of its programs
remain in place through the end of the year.
(Reporting By Richard Cowan and Amanda Becker; additional reporting
by Jeff Mason; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Grant McCool)
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