Trump, top Democrats to discuss border security funding as government shutdown looms

WASHINGTON – The two top Democrats in Congress head to the White House on Tuesday for a meeting with President Donald Trump as the two sides work to end an impasse over border security funding and approve must-pass spending legislation before the end of the year.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will sit down with Trump in the Oval Office with less than two weeks until some government departments and agencies run out of money. The meeting had been scheduled for last week but was delayed because of the death of former President George H.W. Bush.

Trump is demanding that Congress give him $5 billion to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and has warned that he’d be willing to shut down the government unless Congress allocates the full amount – a claim he echoed in a series of early morning tweets in which he said he would have the military build the wall anyway if Congress refuses full funding.

"If the Democrats do not give us the votes to secure our Country, the Military will build the remaining sections of the Wall," Trump claimed in one tweet. "They know how important it is!"

Pressing his demand for a wall, Trump tweeted that Democrats "will fight it at all cost, and Nancy (Pelosi) must get votes for Speaker. But the Wall will get built..."

Lawmakers have until midnight Dec. 21 to resolve the dispute or risk a partial government shutdown.

"Republicans still control the House, the Senate and the White House, and they have the power to keep the government open," Schumer and Pelosi said in a joint statement late Monday.

"Our country cannot afford a Trump shutdown, especially at this time of economic uncertainty," the Democratic leaders said. "This holiday season, the president knows full well that his wall proposal does not have the votes to pass the House and Senate and should not be an obstacle to a bipartisan agreement."

Budget talks have essentially been on pause pending Trump’s meeting with Schumer and Pelosi. A short-term spending bill that has kept the government operating expired last Friday, but lawmakers passed a two-week extension to buy them more time to negotiate.

Congress already has passed five spending bills for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, but seven others still await congressional action.

The bills that need approval would fund the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Homeland Security, Interior, State, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, as well as several smaller agencies.

Those are the departments and agencies that would be impacted if there is a partial government shutdown.

Border security funding remains the major sticking point in passing the remaining spending bills.

Building a wall along the U.S-Mexico border was one of Trump’s pivotal promises during the 2016 presidential campaign. Though at the time he said repeatedly that Mexico would pay for the wall, Trump is now demanding that Congress provide $5 billion to erect the barrier.

In his tweet storm, Trump said U.S. troops, the border patrol, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have done a "FANTASTIC" job of securing the border, but a "Great Wall would be, however, a far easier & less expensive solution." He again accused Democrats of opposing it "for strictly political reasons."

House Republicans have backed Trump’s call for the funding. The House Appropriations Committee approved the spending in July. But a bipartisan Senate bill has earmarked only $1.6 billion for border security.

Schumer has been adamant that Democrats will not provide the full $5 billion. What’s more, the $1.6 billion the Senate has earmarked cannot be used to construct any part of a border wall, Schumer said last week, adding that the money could be spent only on fencing where necessary and for technology currently deployed at the border.

Pelosi, who is expected to become House speaker when Democrats retake the majority in that chamber in January, suggested last week that lawmakers pass six of the remaining spending bills and continue to fund Homeland Security at current levels, which include $1.3 billion for border security.

Meanwhile, four Senate Republicans have introduced legislation that they said would fully fund Trump’s wall.

The WALL Act – sponsored by GOP Sens. John Kennedy of Louisiana, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Ted Cruz of Texas – would provide $25 billion in border wall funding by closing loopholes that the senators say allow undocumented immigrants to receive benefits and tax credits.

Parents, for example, would be required to prove citizenship to apply for benefits such as food stamps and welfare assistance and would need a valid Social Security number to claim refundable tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit. The bill also would increase the minimum fines for crossing the border illegally and establish a minimum penalty for visa overstays.

The legislation is unlikely to gain any traction.

More: Another government shutdown? Congress has a week to pass a spending bill to keep the lights on

More: The Ghost of Shutdowns Past haunts latest talks to keep the federal government open

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump, top Democrats to discuss border security funding as government shutdown looms