President Trump has announced that he will not sign legislation passed in the Senate to avert a government shut down unless it provides for stronger border security.
According to Fox News:
President Trump told House Republican leaders Thursday he will not sign a Senate-passed spending package that does not include sought-after border security funds, upending negotiations to avert a government shutdown by the end of the week.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters after meeting the president at the White House that Trump told them he will not sign the stopgap spending measure approved by the Senate Wednesday night because of “legitimate concerns for border security.”
“What we’re going to do is go back to the House and work with our members,” Ryan said. “We want to keep the government open but we also want to see an agreement that protects the border. We have very serious concerns about securing our border.”
Fox News has learned the House will try to amend the Senate bill with an additional $5 billion for a border wall, as sought by Trump. But it’s unclear whether that would pass — and it would face an even tougher time in the Senate, with the clock ticking before a Friday shutdown deadline.
The White House initially indicated that it would be open to signing the bill to keep the government running but reversed course amid pressure from Republicans about caving on the border wall.
