Government shutdown looms amid standoff over border wall

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats urged President Trump on Monday to back off his demand to begin funding a Southwest border wall, saying it would risk shutting down the government at the end of the week.

"Instead of risking government shutdown by shoving this wall down Congress' and the American peoples' throats, the president ought to just let us come to an agreement," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a conference call with reporters Monday.

Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Democrats and Republicans have been negotiating well on a bill to fund the government beyond midnight Friday, when a stop-gap funding measure is set to expire. Lawmakers are trying to come up with a bill to fund federal agencies through the end of fiscal 2017, which ends on Sept. 30.

"Our appropriators were well on a path to resolving their differences and finding their common ground, respecting each other's priorities, until the White House intervened," Pelosi said.

Trump has asked Congress to add an emergency funding request for $33 billion to the bill. The president wants $30 billion in extra defense and combat spending and $3 billion more for border security, including about $1.4 billion to begin building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He also called for $18 billion in cuts to domestic programs to help pay for his priorities.

Earlier this month, Congress appeared to be heading toward agreement on a bill giving Trump about $15 billion of the additional money he wanted for defense while largely ignoring his controversial requests for border wall funding and budget cuts. The Republican-led Congress needs support from Democrats to pass the legislation, and Democrats are fiercely opposed to the wall, which Schumer called "a pointless waste of taxpayer money." Some border-state Republicans, including Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, also have said the wall costs too much and would ultimately prove ineffective.

Republican leaders had indicated that they would rather wait and fully debate the border wall funding when Congress takes up the 2018 spending bills.

However, the White House last week stepped up its demands for immediate border wall funding, suggesting that the president might not sign the bill if the money for the barrier is not included. Building a border wall to reduce illegal immigration was one of Trump's top campaign promises.

Read more:

Trump sprinting to 100th day deadline he scoffs

What would a government shutdown mean for you?

With government shutdown threat looming, congressional leaders look for a deal

White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters Monday that the border wall, border security and defense spending remain Trump's top priorities. But he stopped short of saying the president would veto the bill if the wall was not funded.

"The president's priorities have been very clear from the beginning," Spicer said. "To pre-judge where it (the bill) ends up at this point is not prudent."

Spicer added, "We feel very confident the government's not going to shut down."

It still wasn't clear Monday exactly what the funding bill will contain. The legislation was expected to be unveiled Tuesday when the House returns from a two-week recess. The Senate came back Monday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said bipartisan talks were continuing Monday "so we can complete our work on that issue very soon."