Raises the likelihood of a government shutdown

House and Senate on collision course as shutdown nears

House approval of a spending bill with money for Trump's wall significantly raises the likelihood of a government shutdown this weekend.

By SARAH FERRIS and JOHN BRESNAHAN

House Republicans passed a stop-gap spending bill on Thursday that delivers $5 billion for President Donald Trump’s border wall, setting up a standoff with the Senate that drastically raises the likelihood of a government shutdown this weekend.

By a 217-185 vote, House Republicans pushed through the measure, which extends the deadline for government funding until Feb. 8. It includes nearly $8 billion in emergency disaster aid for California, Florida and several other states.

House Republicans believe their bill is a starting point for negotiations with the Senate, which unanimously passed a clean funding bill on Wednesday night and quickly left town.

"The House has now passed a bill. The Senate passed a bill," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). "Now we find where the common ground lies."

But the House GOP proposal is D.O.A. in the Senate, where Democrats have vowed to reject any funding for the border wall. Government funding runs out at midnight Friday, meaning a partial government shutdown looks almost certain at this point.

"The bottom line is simple: The Trump temper tantrum will shut down the government, but it will not get him his wall," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters shortly before the House vote. Schumer was joined by House Minority Leader Pelosi (D-Calif.), who is adamantly opposed to the wall.

House Republicans teed off on Pelosi after the House vote, noting repeatedly that she had told Trump at last week's epic White House meeting that there weren't enough votes to pass any bill with $5 billion in wall funding.

"All I know is that just one week ago, Nancy Pelosi was in the Oval Office and she said the House can't pass a funding with border security wall dollars on it," crowed Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, a group of hardliners on immigration. "We just got 217 votes for that bill."

But the House vote capped a chaotic day for Trump and House Republicans, a day when - once again - the Freedom Caucus dictated to GOP leaders what they can do. And the sudden, acrimonious resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis rattled Republicans and Democrats alike, as one of the most highly respected officials in Trump's administration decided he could no longer work for a capricious president.

Trump declared earlier in the day that he wouldn't sign any funding bill that didn't include money for his signature border wall, a position that dramatically increases the risk of a partial government shutdown.

Trump's declaration ended several days of confusion over what the president wanted. The Senate on Wednesday passed a short-term funding bill to keep the government open until Feb. 8, but it included no wall funding.

But Trump finally showed his hand after an Oval Office meeting with GOP House leadership and key members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. The meeting with McCarthy, Jordan, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and two members of the House Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), among others, was held to settle an internal GOP battle over the border wall and a potential government shutdown.

"I've made my position very clear," Trump said as he signed a five-year farm bill. "Any measure that funds the government has to include border security. Has to. Not for political purposes, but for our country, for the safety of our community."

Following Trump's decision, Ryan and other House GOP leaders were forced to change direction on the border wall. The House leadership had earlier backed the Senate bill, but after Trump's declaration, they moved forward with a bill to provide $5 billion for the border wall.

Republican leaders then added the $8 billion in disaster aid to sweeten the pot for members.

Jordan and Meadows had led a revolt on the House floor on Wednesday night after GOP leaders did not fund Trump’s border wall, a demand that was taken up by conservative commentators in the media. All of this proved too much for Trump to resist, leading to an embarrassing setback for Ryan, McCarthy, Scalise and other top House Republicans.

“The president informed us he will not sign the bill that came from the Senate last evening because of his legitimate concerns for border security,” Ryan told reporters after the hour-long meeting with Trump at the White House. “So what we're going to do is go back to the House and work with our members.”

Ryan, McCarthy and Scalise had been urging Trump to avoid a shutdown and agree to a stopgap funding measure that would keep the government open until Feb. 8. The party leaders initially argued that Senate Democrats will never approve Trump's demand for another $5 billion in wall funding.

After the meeting, McCarthy changed direction and embraced Trump’s position.

“We had a great discussion with him now,” McCarthy said. “The president said that what the Senate sent over is just kicking the can down the road. We want to solve this problem, we want to keep the government open.”

Meadows and Jordan argued that once Democrats get control of the House on Jan. 3, Pelosi and her colleagues will never approve any money for the president's border wall project so they had to act now.

Meadows, along with more than a dozen other conservatives, took to the House floor Wednesday night in a series of protest floor speeches demanding more money for the wall.

"[Trump] believes that his request is reasonable and certainly something that should be supported by the vast majority of Americans, and certainly by the vast majority of Congress," said Meadows, who had been in the mix to become Trump's chief of staff. "At this point, I don't see a vote from a clean CR [continuing resolution] that has come over from the Senate being something that will have even close to the majority of the majority."

Meadows — who privately appealed to Trump for support, a move that undermined Ryan and McCarthy — also said he didn't want a stand-alone bill with wall funding. "There's no leverage there, so I can't imagine that would be a tactic anyone would use," Meadows said.

House Republicans moved quickly Thursday night, one sign of progress during an otherwise ugly day for the party leadership. Even so, Sessions warned members of the rules panel to “stick around” through the evening.

"We're gonna get it passed and send a clear message that we stand with the president in securing our border," Scalise said, despite the fact that hours earlier he'd been pushing a short-term spending bill with no border wall money. "What I've always said is we need to support the president and give him the tools to keep the country safe."

Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) said he’s personally heard from GOP leaders that the bill will pass. It helps, Byrne said, that many of the missing GOP lawmakers on Thursday lean moderate.

"The question is, what happens when it goes over there?" Byrne said of the Senate, which he said seems to be missing half its members.

The Alabama Republican then deadpanned that he's begun looking for a place to get a Christmas meal in Washington.

Senators, meanwhile, learned of the news about Trump's hardline decision on the border wall via Twitter, where it was read aloud in a sparsely attended GOP lunch. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell immediately left to talk to Ryan, according to Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson.

Johnson said at least half the conference had gone home and they have been given notice that they may be called back to D.C. But he’s preparing to head back to Wisconsin.

“It’s kind of a ghost town around here,” Johnson said.

Earlier on Thursday, Pelosi reveled in what she described as "sort of a meltdown" among House Republicans, but said Democrats would be open to some potential sweeteners GOP leaders are considering, like disaster aid.

Even though the House approved a bill to give Trump border wall money, Schumer and other Senate Democrats will never allow it move forward in that chamber. That's why McConnell (R-Ky.) was able to push through a short-term funding bill late Wednesday night with no opposition.

The stopgap funding bill initially proposed by House GOP leaders did include some money for border fencing: it maintains current spending at a level of $1.3 billion, just shy of the $1.6 billion that the Senate had sought in a funding deal. Trump had initially demanded $5 billion, though he had since appeared to retreat on that figure.

The seven-week funding bill also had no disaster aid money, which upset a number of members from affected states.

Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) said a group of lawmakers from the Southeast states would oppose any funding bill that didn’t include at least some disaster aid for farmers hit by coastal storms this fall.

“Absolutely not,” Scott said firmly, when asked if he would support the bill in its current form.