US: Congress Battle Over Money for Trump Wall

Following mid-November elections, some of the results of which are still inconclusive, the U.S. Congress will now have to face controversy over funding for President Donald Trump’s Mexico-border wall.

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“We need the money to build the wall, the whole wall, not pieces of it,” President Trump stated. But, Democrats have not given much leeway to Trump’s wall funding demands. “The president’s a very poor negotiator on those issues. He sort of backs off so we’re sort of dubious of the president," Senate Minority Leader Chuck remarked.

For their part, Republicans in the Senate and the House are looking for ways to accommodate the Oval Office’s demands.

“We’re certainly going to try to help the president achieve what he’d like to do with regard to the wall and border security and that will obviously have to be done in some sort of bipartisan discussion,” Republican Senator, Mitch McConnell explained. 

“I can’t imagine we’ll do anything [on immigration] other than trying to deal with this funding issue on the wall here at the end of the session,” McConnell added referring to the so-called mid-November to mid-December “lame duck session.”

Trump is putting pressure on Congress to fulfill his border wall wishes. The U.S. leader could effect a government shutdown if the funding deal is not reached during the prescribed session, according to Reuters.

In context, despite the Democrats having won House majority, in the midterm elections, Republicans hold both majorities, Senate and the House, until January. However, Republicans will need the support of Democrats to move bills forward.