Anyone who’s witnessed President Trump’s First 100 Days would be hard pressed to imagine a more needlessly dramatic scenario than crashing headfirst into the end of federal government funding. Yet this is what will happen on Friday, and between now and then, Congress must come to an agreement on a new budget or risk the dreaded government shutdown. To put things simply, Congress will not only battle over the usual spending issues, but they’re also dealing with a president who has something — anything — to prove before his opening act draws to a close.
Federal funding often comes down to the wire, but the issue feels more urgent this time around because Trump brings the drama. Plus, Congress was never able to agree on a 2017 appropriations bill last year, so it settled for passing a Continuing Resolution (CR), which kept the government running in its 2016 state on a short-term basis. And both the House and Senate took a lengthy recess this month, which leaves only a few precious days to agree on a comprehensive funding bill for the rest of fiscal 2017.
Both Democrats and Republicans, not to mention Trump, are willing to fight for their funding demands, and even more significantly, Trump made some huge promises that he’s yet to fulfill. On the immigration front, he’s 0 for 2 after judges shut down both his quest to defund sanctuary cities and his revised travel ban. Plus, Trumpcare exploded on impact. So, that leaves … the Great Wall that he wants to build between the U.S. and Mexico. Will Trump budge if Congress isn’t willing to fund this monstrosity?
The president signaled early this week (at a conservative media reception) that he was cool with “delaying a fight” over the Wall to avoid a shutdown. However — and you knew this was coming — he later tweeted, “Don’t let the fake media tell you that I have changed my position on the WALL.”
So, perhaps the Wall will be the sticking point, which makes sense from a Trump standpoint. He’s maneuvering to end his 100 days with a major accomplishment other than his nebulous (and ongoing) “jobs” claims and successfully appointing a Supreme Court justice, Neil Gorsuch, to the bench. However, Democrats aren’t likely to okay Wall funding on the first go.
The last time a shutdown happened was in 2013 when Congress couldn’t agree on a budget while the GOP tried to defund Obamacare. This shutdown lasted 16 days. Prior to that, a major shutdown occurred in 1996 when Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich clashed and shut down federal ops for 21 days.
What would actually happen in the case of a 2017 shutdown? Lots of minor inconveniences and a few big ones. Let’s break this down.