If the two sides can’t come to terms on special counsel Mueller and the border wall, part of the government will shut down.
Congress is hurtling toward a brutal fight over government funding centered on a pair of contentious issues: President Donald Trump’s border wall and special counsel Robert Mueller.
Democrats said Tuesday they might insist that language protecting Mueller’s job security be included in a must-pass spending bill due by Dec. 7. With Mueller’s probe on Russian inteference in the 2016 election winding down and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) loath to bring up a standalone Mueller-protection bill, Democrats argue it could be their last chance to shield the special counsel from Trump.
Meanwhile, the president and his GOP allies are asking for a significant funding boost for border security in order for Trump to sign the government spending bill. Senate Republicans are advocating for $5 billion, while the outgoing House GOP majority has pushed for as much as $25 billion — figures that Democrats oppose absent a broader deal on immigration.
If the two sides can’t come to terms, part of the government would shut down. Already, each party is heaping blame on the other, and the Senate is in session for only three weeks before the deadline.
“Is [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer going to shut down the government over border security? Strikes me as a bad idea,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) when asked about Mueller and the border wall.
“The president, the House and the Senate are all controlled by Republicans. If they want a shutdown, they’ll have a shutdown,” shot back Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).
If Congress ends up punting by agreeing to a short-term funding bill, it would mean a steep cut in domestic spending favored by Democrats — while denying Trump a significant boost in border funding. Senate Democrats have signaled they could support $1.6 billion in border security money, though Trump and Republicans want more.
Congress took some of the sting out of a potential shutdown earlier this year by agreeing to funding for three-quarters of the government through next fall. But Homeland Security and several other departments were left out, and their funding is set to expire in December.
The prospect of even a partial funding lapse gives each party significant leverage to fight for its policy goals on two of the most divisive issues facing Congress.
When Congress set up the December showdown over some departments’ funding, the idea was to postpone a fight over the border wall until after the midterms. But a new issue has emerged in the past week: Attorney General Jeff Sessions was forced out and Democrats say they are not confident that acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker will protect Mueller from the president.
Schumer said Tuesday that Democrats will “attempt to add legislation to the must-pass spending bill in the lame duck session that will prevent acting Attorney General Whitaker from interfering with the Mueller investigation.” And other Democrats insisted that a bipartisan bill to protect the special counsel, which was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in April, must be on the agenda in the lame duck.
“It needs to happen now. Every day that goes by the special counsel is at risk,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). “The Republicans assured us that the special counsel would be fully protected. And now the only way that we can guarantee that is if we pass a bill by a huge majority in the House and the Senate.”
Warren and other Democrats said that the Mueller provision doesn’t necessarily have to be in the spending bill. They just want a vote on the proposal during the lame-duck session.
“What would be acceptable to me is McConnell bringing our bill to the floor,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii). “That would make me satisfied.”
McConnell has said the bill is unnecessary, a view shared by most Republicans. Even Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who supports the measure, said that while he’d vote for it on the floor, he would not insist it come up in the lame duck.
With McConnell unlikely to take action on the Mueller protection plan on its own, Schumer is suggesting that Democrats use their leverage over spending to ensure it passes.
“I don’t blame them, politically they can make a lot of fuss over it. … To be honest with you, there’s not any reason to worry about it. Any president who would dump [Mueller] would be in real trouble,” said outgoing Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).
As Democrats maneuver on Mueller, Republicans are eyeing a big border wall funding boost. Hatch said that means more than $5 billion that Senate GOP leaders had previously sought.
“I think everybody wants to do border wall funding in a bigger way,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 GOP leader who is expected to be promoted to whip during Wednesday’s leadership elections.
House Democratic aides say the party will take a stand against a Trump-style, physical concrete wall. But they’re open to a border security deal like the one agreed to early this year, which included new fencing that Republicans described as wall money. Plus, Democrats would rather clinch a spending deal now rather than haggle with it in January as they organize their new House majority.
But Democratic leaders say they aren’t willing to go beyond the $1.6 billion that was agreed to earlier this year.
“We think that’s more than adequate for reasonable investment in border security,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). “At this point, [Trump] can’t spend it. He can’t spend it responsibly. We know it’s a lead in to the 2020 cycle.”
House Republicans have already crushed multiple Democratic attempts to protect Mueller’s investigation by adding language to spending bills taken up at the committee level. Since Trump took office, Democrats on the powerful House Appropriations Committee have twice tried to force language that would block the Department of Justice from any attempt to “obstruct, hinder, frustrate, impede, or prevent” Mueller’s investigation.
House Democrats don’t believe House Republicans will go along with the bill to protect the special counsel. But with the House changing hands and unpredictable leadership elections underway, lawmakers are prepared for just about anything to happen ahead of Dec. 7.
“I’m not sure what the House is going to do,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the No. 3 Democratic leader. “You’ve been around long enough to know the chaos.”
source: politico.com
I could care less about foreign leaders, especially the French. They don’t do anything for us anyway. I am happy and proud to have a president that does put our country and us first and isn’t afraid to let other countries know it.
Dems don’t want to spend the money to build a wall to protect our country from undesirables from coming in but they don’t mind continuing to spend millions to keep Muellers worthless investigations going and going and going. The American people are tired of hearing Muellers name. Dems know if we stop the free flow of illegals they won’t be able to get their illegal votes. President Trump is right, they are evil and I will say what he didn’t, un-American. Keep pushing for a big wall President Trump. Keep illegals out of our country.
All Them trumps should be in jail, weather as a fake president or not, Donald should be in jail for his tax returns like other celebrities did, he use the White House like a bakery selling bread to run his private business together with ivanka they must answer for all wrongs comitted, and the democrats was voted in to make sure of health care and to put trump and the rest in jail for wrong doing, knowone is above the law, we all know that a lier is a thief and a thief can kill, we want justice in America no getting away, we also want that illegal attorney general must be investigated for past wrong doing over his head with money matters, I hope people in America is checking what is going on with this fake president everyone that man pick for big position in his administration is a bunch of crooks, they must be investigated and bring to justice also pay back all monies they took plus jail time for them weather they are working still or they are not, these crime doers must pay including Carson to who is doing brain work on furnitures.
This man say caravan coming they are at the boarder just for the sake of winning the midterm election, we are awaiting to see the caravan at the boarder and we can’t see them it appear they went under ground by the fence he put the poor army in the heat for nothing just to lie and create a false impression for his base to come out and Vote for them but God don’t like liers and thieves the almighty does act and that is what happen in the election and he would act again in the coming 2020 election against all the demons in White House and that Republican Party to much sinners trying to control under hate,power, bias, greed,lies, and selfishness you cannot survive for long under those conditions it must stop now, I had like the Republican Party once but not again they let this lier take over the party and tramp on it use it and use them as a football to do and get away with all kind of scampish and crooked moves for he and his family benefits and the people mostly responsible for that is Mitch, Devin, Grassley, Ryan, Jordan, Cotton, and now Lindsey. I wonder how they all does face their family knowingly they are seeing red and saying it is green for what – money,power, greed, position,you sin your soul for a sinner, mash up your party for a sinner, is that the values you are living for? Come on men be grownups and stand firm against wrong doing let your families learn and say he was a man of integrity not a man copying a lier or a crook, The Almighty God won’t stand for that.
I really dislike the disrespect the Democrats show to
Our President and the average legal, American citizen! They know these illegals are not just all
Poor immigrants but expect us to buy into what ever loemthey come up with. When they can take care of our vets and homeless then talk to us about illegals who come in the U. S. unlawfully. Take our side for a change. I don’t know anyone who will vote Democrat again. You’ve all gone over to the dark side of get what you want anyway you can side.
I really dislike the disrespect the Democrats show to
Our President and the average legal, American citizen! They know these illegals are not just all
Poor immigrants but expect us to buy into what ever lie they come up with. When they can take care of our vets and homeless then talk to us about illegals who come in the U. S. unlawfully. Take our side for a change. I don’t know anyone who will vote Democrat again. You’ve all gone over to the dark side of get what you want anyway you can side.