Top Mexican official calls US border wall a ‘hostile’ act

He said they had yet to get a response after they told Democrats they would accept a bill without wall funding. “We’re now talking about another week’s delay to figure out how to fund the federal government”.

The No. 2 Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin of IL, said Tuesday that Trump is sending “mixed signals” on the wall and negotiators need clarity to wrap up the bill. We’re doing plans. We’re doing specifications. “In case anybody has any questions, the wall is going to get built”.

What the president calls his “big, handsome wall” would be an outrageously expensive eyesore requiring condemnation of private lands and serving little objective.

And Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, echoes that.

Had he forced the issue, it likely would have made it impossible for Congress to meet its weekend deadline for funding the government for the next five months. “But a 2,200-mile wall, I don’t think there’s a whole lot of support for it”.

The spending plan being negotiated this week would keep agencies running through the September 30 end of the 2017 fiscal year.

Of course, the President has denied that he is backing down from the wall’s construction. They called it a “poison pill”.

A senior White House official told ABC News the White House will not agree to include money for Obamacare subsidies in the fiscal year 2017 spending bill, saying, “Why don’t you ask the Democrats if they are willing to shut down the government over that?”

On Monday it was reported by various news outlets that U.S. President Donald Trump indicated an openness to delaying his effort to secure funds for the U.S. border wall with Mexico, according to Reuters.

He said any increase in defense spending had to be matched with the same level of increase in domestic spending, a traditional demand from Democrats.

There also is a dispute over health benefits for retired miners who face the loss of their coverage, an issue that a near-shutdown a year ago. Sen. “Yeah, it looks like it”, said Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Senate Appropriations Committee member, when asked by a reporter about the likelihood of a short-term extension.

Some of these issues have bipartisan support, such as taking care of the miners.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., accompanied by, from left, Sen. The White House has attributed that to Trump’s tough rhetoric and bolstered enforcement. Mr. Trump said. “One hundred percent it’s getting built”.

Republicans do not have the necessary 60 votes for passage of any spending deal in the Senate, which gives the Democrats leverage despite their minority status in both houses.

They are able to block the spending proposals, and so the White House budget director will have to rewrite his plans – minus the funding for the border wall.

Mr Trump vowed to fight for the wall. The border wall and funding portions of the Affordable Care Act were seen as the two main sticking points of the legislation.

“But they said no to that and we agreed to put that off for another day”, he said. It is the law. “It ought to be done”, said the Maryland Democrat.

And some Republicans have balked at the estimated cost of $21.6bn – more than the price tag the president cited as $12bn. However, technology works best when augmenting a physical barrier-such as the one promised by Trump.