WASHINGTON _ Calling President Donald Trump's bluff as the holiday looms, Congress hopes to avert a government shutdown by sending him a budget bill funding federal operations for about seven weeks, postponing the fight over the billions he demands for a border wall.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday morning that he would introduce a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running through Feb. 8, with no money for the wall, and bring it to a vote perhaps by late afternoon. The House would act next to send the measure to the president before a Friday night deadline.
Senate Republicans, after a Capitol lunch with Vice President Mike Pence, said they are confident the president would sign it, albeit reluctantly. Pence, however, did not commit publicly to that.
On Tuesday, the administration seemed to back off its insistence on including $5 billion for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. The president indicated in a tweet Wednesday that he was ready to move on, suggesting without details that the military could construct his desired wall.
"In our Country, so much money has been poured down the drain, for so many years, but when it comes to Border Security and the Military, the Democrats fight to the death," he wrote. "We won on the Military, which is being completely rebuilt. One way or the other, we will win on the Wall!"
Money for a wide swath of government agencies is due to run out at midnight EST Friday. The short-term funding bill would avoid a holiday shutdown but kick the spending fight into the new year, when the House will be controlled by Democrats.
Conservative Republicans in the House are skeptical of giving Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, who is poised to become House speaker again, an opportunity for an immediate showdown with Trump. Senate Republicans, however, have consistently vowed to avoid a shutdown and see the short-term option as the only way to do that.
Trump made Republicans' negotiations with Democrats more difficult when he said last week in an Oval Office meeting with Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., that he would be "proud" to shut down the government over the border wall. That bluster assured that Republicans would be blamed for any shutdown, which typically is widely unpopular.
"The president is right that we must secure our borders," said Sen. Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "I hope that this (spending bill) will provide us the time to work out our differences in a thoughtful manner and reach a bipartisan consensus on important national priorities."
Some Republicans, however, were not happy that their party was caving on providing money for the wall, which was one of Trump's key campaign promises.
GOP Sen. David Perdue of Georgia, a Trump ally, doesn't like the measure. Because of Senate rules, any one member could block it from passing before Friday evening, which would risk at least a brief shutdown, although Perdue is not expected to do so.
"I don't like it," Perdue said. "I think we ought to stay here and fight it out and get border security done. It's irresponsible. We're at the end of our first quarter (of the fiscal year), and we can't fund the government."
It is also unclear how some House Republicans will respond, although several Republicans familiar with the discussions suggested that the chamber could act quickly once the Senate votes. House members are not due back in Washington until Wednesday evening.
One leading conservative Republican expressed opposition to the continuing resolution, known as a CR, in a Twitter message Wednesday.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., the leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote, "Punting to Feb. 8 on a CR not only gives Democrats a Christmas present, it offers them a Valentine's Day gift. Democrats will win, the wall will not be built, and Congress will once again have punted when we should've been taking a stand. The time to fight is now. Zero excuse."
The funding bill is not expected to include disaster relief, including money to address this year's massive fires in California, but Shelby said that will be forthcoming in the new year.
California's Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris had asked Congress to include $9 billion for fire recovery. Feinstein has since said that the government's existing recovery funds have enough money to meet immediate needs until additional disaster relief is negotiated.
As for a border wall, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders indicated this week that the administration would find a way to move around existing funds in order to build it. But Schumer warned that the executive branch cannot do that without the approval of Congress.
"They cannot do it on their own, and the House and Senate will not approve a wall," he said on the Senate floor. "From reprogrammed funds or anything else, it won't happen."
Despite the grumbling from Republicans who back Trump's demand for border wall funding, the spending bill is widely expected to cruise through the Senate and House. Negotiations generally speed up at the end of a week as lawmakers look to get out of Washington, a phenomenon known as "jet fuel" or "jet fumes."
Now another element is at play, quipped Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.: "We have jet fuel and jingle bells."
