(ROBERTO SCHMIDT / Contributor / Getty Images)
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders suggested Tuesday that the White House has found an alternative way to get its requested $5 billion in funding for a US-Mexico border wall, marking a reversal from President Donald Trump’s consistently tough rhetoric on illegal immigration.
“We have other ways that we can get to that $5 billion (for a border wall),” Sanders said Tuesday morning during an interview with Fox News. “There are certainly a number of different funding sources that we’ve identified that we can use — that we can couple with money that would be given through congressional appropriations — that would help us get to that $5 billion that the President needs in order to protect our border.”
The White House is attempting to avert a partial government shutdown ahead of a Friday deadline, but members of Congress on both sides of the aisle appear to be considering a short-term extension of funding to move the deadline beyond the year-end holiday season into Congress’ new term, which begins January 3.
Conservatives were angered by the Trump administration’s decision to soften its position on the wall.
Trump appeared ready and willing to shut the government down in an Oval Office meeting last week with Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Trump flatly declared to Schumer last week, “I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck.”
Did the President cave on the wall? It depends on your perspective, according to WIBC host Tony Katz:
“Some people might say you live to fight another day. Some people might say ‘Okay, you got $1.6 billion; now go for the next.’
Maybe this is Trump all along – ask for this, get that, then ask for it again, get something else, and then slowly but surely you put something together – just not all at once.”
Click below to hear Tony’s full commentary:
