WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump pushed the country closer to a partial government shutdown Thursday after telling House Republicans that he no longer plans to sign the stopgap funding measure approved by the Senate on Wednesday night because it does not include money for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
After receiving a torrent of criticism from backers in Congress and conservative media upset that he appeared to be caving on his signature campaign issue of a border wall, Trump, who had indicated earlier this week that he would approve a short-term continuing resolution to keep the government running into February, told a small group of House Republicans that was no longer the case.
"The president informed us that he will not sign the bill that came over from the Senate last evening, because of his legitimate concerns for border security," House Speaker Paul D. Ryan told reporters following a meeting at the White House. "So what we're going to do is go back to the House and work with our members _ we want to keep the government open but we also want to see an agreement that protects the border."
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed that in a statement:
"President Trump just met with Republican members of the House. Not surprisingly, they all feel strongly about border security _ stopping the flow of drugs, stopping human trafficking, and stopping terrorism. We protect nations all over the world, but Democrats are unwilling to protect our nation. We urgently need funding for border security and that includes a wall," she said.
The statements deepened the chaos in the House as GOP leaders confronted an impending deadline for a portion of the government to run out of money. Funding for about a quarter of federal agencies expires at midnight EST Friday, and a shutdown of the affected agencies would threaten paychecks for thousands of federal workers over the holidays.
Earlier in the day, conservatives left a closed-door House caucus meeting determined to reject the bill the Senate passed Wednesday night. They balked at the idea of heading out of town without funding the border wall, a campaign promise that the president and many of them made to their voters.
The money bill, which would keep agencies operational through Feb. 8, represents the last chance to fund the wall before Democrats take control of the House in January. The White House has demanded $5 billion for the wall but Republicans don't have the votes to pass that in the House and Democrats have refused to support any money for Trump's signature project.
"It's a very fluid situation right now," said North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows, leader of the Freedom Caucus, the group of conservatives that has often clashed with the party's leadership.
Meadows had warned Wednesday that if Trump didn't fight for the border wall, it would hurt his chances for re-election in 2020.
Democrats, meantime, couldn't be more excited to see the eight-year GOP reign in the House end in mayhem.
"Republicans are in a state of disarray," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in a year-end news conference.
The White House has sent mixed signals for days about whether Trump would sign a spending bill that didn't cover the wall. On Wednesday, Senate Republicans met with Vice President Mike Pence and afterward said Trump would sign the bill.
But on Thursday morning, shortly after speaking to Ryan, R-Wis., Trump suggested in a tweet that he was not prepared to sign the measure the Senate passed.
"When I begrudgingly signed the Omnibus Bill, I was promised the Wall and Border Security by leadership. Would be done by end of year (NOW). It didn't happen! We foolishly fight for Border Security for other countries _ but not for our beloved U.S.A. Not good!" he wrote.
Moments after the tweet was sent, Ryan's office canceled a scheduled news conference, which would have been his last as speaker. He headed to the White House soon afterward.
