
President Trump has repeated multiple times that he is highly willing to shut down the government if his border wall doesn’t get the funding it requires, reports Todd J. Gillman of Dallas News. A key issue during his election campaign, Trump is frustrated that talks within the government have been fruitless concerning this issue so far. The Senate floated a $1.6 billion spending bill, but this is far too little for the president. Even though he is frustrating some within the GOP, Trump is determined to get what he wants in this case and not show weakness through compromise. A government shutdown has been used before, in February.
Keep on reading at Dallas NewsWhile President Trump has said that he will shut down the government over funding for a border wall, this is unlikely to happen, argues Jonathan Bernstein of Bloomberg. Shutdowns have been used as a threat before, without ever going into effect. Key is that Trump doesn’t have the necessary votes in Congress. It already dismissed his border wall funding plan earlier in 2018. Trump's proposal is simply unpopular and largely caters to his loyal but narrow base. Even Republican leaders Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan have opposed shutting down the government over this. Politically costly, it's not worth doing for an issue of only relative importance.
Keep on reading at Bloomberg