House conservatives continue to mull whether to block a combined spending package to push for wall funding, according to a report by Roll Call on Wednesday.
According to Roll Call, House Republicans continue to fear whether the enactment of the Defense and Department of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education spending package, would leave little leverage for conservatives over immigration and border security.
Blocking the spending package could serve as an incentive for President Donald Trump to push for wall funding as well as more conservative border enforcement in the stopgap spending bill to fund the government beyond September 30.
Some conservatives have voiced concerns that if the Department of Homeland Security funding runs until sometime in December, their lobbying over border policy and funding will be overshadowed by retiring or defeated Republican moderates and Democrats in the lame-duck session of Congress.
One conservative House aide said, “This is the exact scenario that produces outcomes on immigration policy [conservatives] have worked against for a decade. So we would much rather have some version of the fight in September.”
The House aide suggested strategy is to “prevent a situation where the fight over wall money or DHS appropriations flips into a lame duck, and that involves in this scenario making sure that other bills don’t pass.”
President Trump threatened a government shutdown on Wednesday if Congress fails to fund his border security and immigration reform priorities, however, the White House signaled that the fight could happen after the 2018 midterm elections.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters on Wednesday, “He said, whether a shutdown happens before or after the elections, his focus is getting the problem fixed.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) responded to Trump’s shutdown threats, signaling that any wall funding fight would likely happen after the 2018 midterm elections.
“I’m optimistic we can avoid a government shutdown,” McConnell said on Wednesday.
Gidley emphasized that President Trump wants to deal with border security and immigration reform soon.
“It’s been a 40-year problem in the making. It’s been dumped on his plate. He wants to fix it,” Gidley said.
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