Donald Trump Watching for ‘Landmines’ in Compromise Funding Bill

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was not ready to commit to signing the congressional compromise funding bill for border security until he read the final text.

“We haven’t gotten it yet,” he confirmed. “We’ll be getting it and we’ll be looking for landmines because you could have that, it’s been known to happen before to people.”
The president commented on the pending legislation as he met with the president and first lady of Columbia in the Oval Office.

Earlier Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that the White House would examine the text closely before signaling their support for it.

“Unlike Nancy Pelosi, we actually like to read legislation before we agree to it,” she said.

White House sources told the Wall Street Journal that the president was prepared to sign the bill, despite telling reporters Tuesday that he was “not happy” with reports of the “agreement in principle” announced Monday by the bipartisan bill writing committee.

Congress has until midnight Friday to deliver a bill to the president’s desk or face another government shutdown.

But the bill drafting process is in danger of unraveling, Politico’s Playbook revealed Wednesday, as Republicans and Democrats continue to disagree about basic principals in the funding bill.

Democrats in the minority increasingly feel they have the upper hand to make more demands as Republicans appear desperate to prevent another government shutdown.

Sanders said Trump did not want another government shutdown.

“If that’s what Democrats choose to do, then that’s going to be on them,” she said. “If it happens again it will be because the Democrats completely failed to do their job.”

In the meantime, the president continues to weigh options for additional wall funding sources within existing law or by declaring a State of Emergency on the border.

“The president’s got a number of options, he’s going to keep all those on the table,” Sanders said. “We’ll make a determination of what is necessary, based on what the final piece of legislation looks like.”