By Denny Gulino
CAPITOL HILL (MaceNews) – The presumed next Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi Wednesday told Mace News there will be no government shutdown midnight Friday, that the House Thursday will OK the continuing resolution to keep the government open until at least February 8.
“No,” she said to the question, “Will there be a government shutdown?” posed following a morning picture taking session in the press room of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Smiling as she acknowledged to a reporter that she walks into a press room at her own peril, she answered a followup question, “Will the House approve the CR tomorrow?” “Yes,” she said.
As Mace News has been reporting, President Donald Trump Tuesday had earlier hinted he was backing off his threat to trigger a shutdown, answering only, “We’ll see what happens” when asked about it.
His spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders had also told Fox News Tuesday morning the White House did not want a shutdown. Later Tuesday, at her regular news briefing, she confirmed Cabinet secretaries had been asked to find available funds for the wall in their already appropriated budgets, a dubious exercise in the eyes of some congressional leaders.
Still Sanders had said the White House was waiting to see what the Senate could pass before a final decision whether the president was considering signing it, leaving some doubt as to how the Friday deadline would be handled.
“We’re disappointed in the process and their inability to put something forward,” she said. “Once they make a decision and they put something on the table we’ll make a determination.”
Wednesday, as House members returned to Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would vote on a continuing resolution that would extend current spending levels until Feb. 8. Now Pelosi has confirmed the House will go along on Thursday. Her answers appeared to signal the White House has informed congressional leadership that the president will sign it. The White House had no immediate comment.
Trump has asserted both that the military will now build the wall and Mexico – not U.S. taxpayers – is still ultimately and “indirectly” paying for it via revenues to be generated by the USMCA, the successor to NAFTA.
At stake had been the next paychecks for the several hundred thousand government staff of the Homeland Security offices around the country, including those at the border, as well as for those at the Departments of State, Justice, Agriculture, Transportation and Interior – necessary to keep national parks open. About half of them would have been forced to continue working without immediate pay. About three quarters of the government is already funded for the 2019 fiscal year and would have remained operating.
Trump was always assumed to be extremely reluctant to delay his scheduled departure Friday for his Mar a Lago resort, the beginning of a 16-day Christmas-New Year escape from Washington. When he returns Jan. 6, the House will have formally switched to Democratic Party control.
UPDATE: About two hours after speaking to Mace News, Rep. Pelosi issued the following statement: “This is a missed opportunity to pass full-year funding bills now. However, Democrats will be ready to fully, responsibly fund our government in January, and we will support this continuing resolution.”