Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday he would introduce a bill to keep the government funded through Feb. 8 — averting a partial shutdown this weekend.
The move came as the White House shifted its rhetoric after days of impasse over $5 billion in funding for President Trump’s border wall.
While Trump has not said he would sign the funding extension, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway signaled Wednesday that he may consider it, saying that “he’ll take a look at that, certainly.”
Just last week, Trump said he would be “proud” to shut the government down over the wall.
On Twitter on Wednesday, Trump appeared to respond to criticism that he was backing down, insisting that “One way or the other, we will win on the Wall!” He also argued that Mexico will pay “indirectly” for the wall because the terms of a new trade deal will boost US revenue. But that outcome is not assured and is not the same as his campaign promise that Mexico would pay for the wall, which the country has refused to do.
Without a resolution, more than 800,000 government workers could be furloughed or sent to work without pay beginning at midnight Friday, disrupting government operations days before Christmas.
With Post wires