Breaking News: White House suggests it could back down on $5 billion border wall demand

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/18/white-house-suggests-it-will-back-down-on-5-billion-border-wall-demand.html?__source=facebook%7Cmain

The White House suggested Tuesday that President Donald Trump's could back down from his demand for $5 billion to fund his proposed border wall in a year-end spending bill.

Trump's push for the money has threatened a partial government shutdown when funding for seven agencies lapses after midnight Friday. Last week, the president said he would be "proud" to close parts of the government over border security.

"We have other ways that we can get to that $5 billion that we'll work with Congress," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News on Tuesday morning. She added that the Trump administration could support $1.6 billion in border security funding proposed by Democrats, as long as it can "couple that with other funding resources" to get to $5 billion.

She added that "at the end of the day, we don't want to shut down the government. We want to shut down the border." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have cast the potential lapse in funding as the "Trump shutdown." When Pelosi goaded Trump into an Oval Office fracas last week, the characterization appeared to irritate the president.

Sanders' comments mark a de-escalation in the White House's rhetoric on the proposed barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump has repeatedly threatened to force a shutdown if he cannot secure money for the wall. As a candidate, he promised to force Mexico to fund the barrier.

Still, Trump himself has not weighed in Tuesday on how much money he would accept. As always, a comment or tweet from the president could trample on the message administration officials try to send.

Guess Christmas is coming after all.

Did this happen again?

From March:

"White House aides huddled with Mr. Trump and warned him that he might catch blame for shutting down the government on a weekend he planned to spend at his Palm Beach, Fla., resort.

"F— that,” Mr. Trump said in rejecting the argument, according to people familiar with the discussion. In the end, he signed the bill in a West Wing ceremony but complained that it was so long no one had read it and warned Congress he wouldn’t sign another like it in the future."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-relishes-off-script-approach-1521847907

He knows his base will never even make the connection between the two events and not care if its illustrated

Wouldn't it be cheaper at this point to hire 1,000's of mimes to stand at the border, and have them just pretend that there's a wall there?

@mandzilla: Probably. How much can a mime cost these days? :-P

@mattbbpl: No biggie, invisible money to fund the invisible wall! Think of it like an obstacle illusion. ?

Edit: Dang! So apparently mimes make around $29/hr. I'm in the wrong profession.

So Trump's losing his self created game of chicken? This happened last year as well. I guess this is Trump's 'line in the sand moment'.

Trump. Just like any bully in existence. Posture strong and then back down when stood up to. A pansy.

So, the White house is actually going to build a wall. They have been talking about it for two years and now its seems the construction for part of the wall is going to happen.

The wall is pretty pointless.

If they really wanted to end illegal immigrants from coming, they would have put a policy in place that harshly punishes bureaucrats from giving illegals welfare benefits and businesses that give them work.

Strangle them from ever making any living here in the US.

I mean, it's like an art, and people always undervalue anything with artistic merit involved.

who is going to pay for the maintenance?

That's how Mike Huckabee gets people to buy his witch doctor cures.

In the end a bunch of people are poorer, they're still sick, and Huckabee reaps the benefits.

I forgot about Mike's diabetes 'cure' shilling.

Crazzzaaye new invention you guys! Every real man needs two of em!

@br0kenrabbit: These help on the way down.

https://youtu.be/i3LbynP8GOo

You'd think I'd laugh. I didn't. :-/

I mean, wt actual f?

Do what Israel did on the Egyptian border and build 'em like this

Illegal immigration through that part of the country went from 10,000 a year to a dozen.

And as expected, he lost the battle. Another failure.

They can keep kicking the can down the road, but sooner or later either the president is going to get his wall or he's going to leave office. Whether he leaves office in 2021 or 2025 is still up in the air; even if the Democratic majority House votes for impeachment the Russia investigation is unlikely to result in 67 votes for his removal in the Senate and the Senate isn't going to vote for his removal for paying a porn star to keep her mouth shut (after the fact) either. When Republicans tried to impeach President Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice it just raised his job approval rating despite it being undeniable what happened between him and Monica Lewinsky.

Trump's biggest supporters may be pissed if he backs down on the wall again to keep the government open, but they'll still vote for him in 2020 because they know that if he doesn't get reelected his Democratic successor will do the bare minimum for border security if that. Some of the people most likely to run against him in 2020 have repeatedly called for ICE to be shut down, and Senator Harris made that comparison of ICE with the KKK over a month ago.

I will laugh my arse off to what's going to happen like most crowdfunded campaigns. That veteran is going to run away with that money or do like his orange in chief did with his organization and just spend it on things unrelated to the goal.

It's a losing proposition for them. 70% of this country believes in some kind of immigration enforcement, so something needs to be done, or we just keep doing what we're doing: Rounding these people up in massive detention centers, sending troops to the border every couple years, lobbing tear gas over the border every couple months, cleaning up hundreds of bodies from the border every year, and shrugging shoulder at the rampant drug smuggling and sexual abuse involved in illegal crossings.

Worst part is, if we get a Democratic president in 2020, the media and liberals are going to turn a blind eye to this, like they did with Obama. When stories broke about Trump sending troops down, family separation, or having agents use tear gas, it seems a lot of liberals legit believed that stuff didn't happen under Obama. Hell of a lot more shameful than support for a wall imo.

Why oh why do conservatives fall for this silly narrative time and again. Most illegals are here on expired visas. Which means they entered the country legally.

It's not going to pass the senate. The house did a last ditch effort attempt before they lose control to democrats in January to have some kind of destructive bill pass. However, they need 60 votes in the senate, all democrats will vote against it, hence there is ZERO chance for it to pass.

@LJS9502_basic: It's actually about half, but you're missing the point entirely. 300-600 deaths a year on the border, regularly firing tear gas at innocent people, and 60-80% of young woman and girls being sexually assaulted in illegal crossings is a damn travesty that needs to stop. If we don't get a wall and Dems win in 2020, it's only going to get worse because media don't care about this stuff when a D is in charge

You know what if you wealthy conservatives want a wall............you can all contribute to the wall.

LOL, come on, LJ, you and I both know that that logic is fraudulent.

There are plenty of legitimate reasons not to build a wall.

and what's that supposed to do?

The wall is a xenophobic reaction and a waste of money. We need border security, but not this. And, the people are good people, not "really bad people" like Trump likes to put out there so much. It's just flat out rascism and is wrong on every level.

Yes but fascist leaders need an enemy............

5 billion in the US budget is a drop in the bucket, but nonetheless, it's 5 billion that would be wasted. Better to spend it on something more worthwhile. Like my retirement.