Dec. 20 (UPI) — President Donald Trump said he will not sign a stopgap spending bill because it doesn’t include enough funding for border security, House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters Thursday.
Trump’s refusal throws a wrench in Congress’ plans to pass the bill, which would avert a government shutdown the deadline for which is Friday. Earlier this month, the president said he would be “proud” to shut down the government if the spending bill doesn’t include the $5 billion in funding he requested to build a border wall.
“The president informed us he will not sign the bill,” Ryan said after meeting with Trump at the White House.
“We have very serious concerns about securing our border. The president said, ‘I will not sign this bill.’ So we’re going to go back and work on adding border security to this,” Ryan added.
Paul’s announcement came as the House prepared to vote on the bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday. It provides funding for about 25 percent of the federal government for seven weeks through Feb. 8.
If the stopgap bill fails and the government runs out of money, it would be the third shutdown of Trump’s presidency. The first one started on Jan. 20 and the second one on Feb. 9 lasted a few hours.
On Wednesday, it appeared as though Trump was backtracking on his promise to shut down the government over the wall funding. He changed course Thursday morning.
“When I begrudgingly signed the Omnibus Bill, I was promised the Wall and Border Security by leadership. Would be done by end of year (NOW). It didn’t happen! We foolishly fight for Border Security for other countries – but not for our beloved U.S.A. Not good!” he tweeted.
White House press secretary, in a tweet posted after Trump’s Thursday meeting with members of the House, said the country “urgently” needs funding for border security that includes a wall.
“Not surprisingly, they all feel strongly about border security — stopping the flow of drugs, stopping human trafficking and stopping terrorism. We protect nations all over the world, but Democrats are unwilling to protect our nation,” she said.
