Government Spending Bill: What Stopgap Funding to Avert Shutdown Means for Trump's Border Wall

Congress will presumably avert a partial government shutdown after both the House and Senate on Thursday passed a two-week continuing resolution that will fund the federal government through December 21.

Update: The temporary spending bill was signed by President Donald Trump on Friday, confirming that a shutdown will not occur.

Had Congress not passed such a measure, a partial government shutdown would have ensued on Friday at midnight.

Democrats and Republicans have not been able to come to a long-term agreement on funding for the Department of Homeland Security and Trump's southern border wall. Trump has demanded that $5 billion be allocated for the wall, which is what Congressional Republicans are now pushing for.

Senate Democrats have only offered $1.6 billion for "border security." It's likely that none of the money would be used for Trump's desired concrete border wall. Many of the details are yet to be determined.

But some within the Democratic Party also aren't on the same page. The presumptive next Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has said she wants to wait until next fiscal year to address the border wall funding, signaling she does not support a measure that would provide any money for the wall. Such a position does not align with Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's proposal for $1.6 billion, an amount that had previously received bipartisan support in the Senate.

Pelosi and Schumer are expected to meet with Trump next week to discuss the border wall funding.

Trump has previously said he would "love to see a shutdown" over immigration and border security reform.

"If we don't change the legislation, if we don't get rid of these loopholes where killers are allowed to come into our country and continue to kill, gang members, and we're just talking about MS-13, there are many gang members that we don't even mention," Trump said in February. "If we don't change it, let's have a shutdown. We'll do a shutdown, and it's worth it for our country. I'd love to see a shutdown if we don't get this stuff taken care of."

Update: This story has been updated to include that Trump signed the temporary spending bill on Friday.

government funding bill, stopgap, border, wall
A Senate staffer attaches a sign to a podium during a news conference on the government shutdown at the U.S. Capitol, October 9, 2013, in Washington, D.C. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

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About the writer


Ramsey Touchberry is a Washington Correspondent for Newsweek based in the nation's capital, where he regularly covers Congress. 

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