The U.S. government is on the verge of shutting down, after President Donald Trump said he would not sign a short-term funding bill that was passed by the Senate on Wednesday.
Paul Ryan, outgoing House speaker told members of the media that the President said he “will not sign the bill that came up from the Senate last evening because of his legitimate concerns for border security.”
The President is annoyed because lawmakers have not managed to raise sufficient funds needed to finance the wall he promised to construct on the border between the U.S. and Mexico.
Trump didn’t appear to be happy with the short-term funding bill that members members of Congress passed to keep the government in operation until Feb. 8, 2019. Congress failed to include funding for the border wall in the bill, which is also know as a continuing resolution (CR).
The President sent out a tweet on Thursday saying, “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!”
The bill came after a month of heated discussions over the deadline of the shutdown. Trump is asking congress to set aside $5 billion to fund the wall. However, Democrats are not backing him and have only promised to him $1.6 billion meant to fund normal border security.
Senate members passed the bill on Wednesday and a vote in the House was expected on Thursday. Ryan said GOP lawmakers will now have to go back to the House to prevent a shutdown.
