Sorry, Mr. President, You’re Not Getting a Shutdown
They’re simply very unlikely to happen, and as Trump’s position continues to weaken, it becomes even less so.
She’s got the upper hand.
Photographer: Michael Reynolds/Pool/Bloomberg
Despite President Donald Trump’s apparent eagerness for a government shutdown, it’s still just as unlikely to happen as it was last week. Trump just may not realize it.
House Republicans still, as Nancy Pelosi said in the Oval Office, probably don’t have the votes to pass a spending bill that includes both funding for Trump’s border wall and funding for the portions of the government that still need their current-year appropriations. Including the wall would lose them all the Democrats and some moderately conservative Republicans; including spending on domestic programs loses them the votes of radical conservatives. Cut enough spending to make the radicals happy, and they probably lose enough mainstream conservatives that they can’t pass it. And even if lame-duck House Speaker Paul Ryan manages to find the votes, it is unlikely that such a bill could win a simple majority in the Senate. Democrats, contrary to what Trump thinks, might not even have to filibuster to kill it.