In the last week before President Trump's 100-day "deadline," the White House was forced to answer the question as to whether they could avoid a government shutdown, saying on Monday that they would be willing to compromise. The issue was over an agreement to fund the government with President Trump's demands that certain Obamacare subsidies be canceled to fund his border wall and/or border security.
Trump scrambled to overwhelm Congressional opposition
Blasting News reported recently that one of the main instigators for the last government shutdown -- which took place in 2013, Trump's budget director Mick Mulvaney -- told the press that elections had consequences when asked about the White House's demands.
In the same article, a White House official reportedly expressed excitement about a shutdown which they described as a clash of the titans. But into the weekend, it was determined that President Trump would not be able to maintain his own momentum of conviction to force Congress to do his bidding, especially since they were just returning from a two-week Easter break.
In another Blasting News article about his 100-day marker, it was pointed out that he wanted to start working on tax reform on Wednesday and likely have it done in time to meet that traditional deadline he felt was ridiculous. Just as he has shown that he has been forced to be flexible over getting Congress to work for him this week, he has also been forced to accept that he would not be getting much else done before those 100-days were over.
Its been noted that neither Democrats or Republicans were interested in supporting Trump's border wall budget proposal, Republicans at least knowing that it wasn't realistic with their time constraints and legislative support. But that was an entirely different view than what the White House had, which thought they could shakedown Congress to do their bidding.
Border wall events move toward continuing resolution
Blasting News also reported on U.S. Attorney General Sessions visiting San Diego where he talked about border security. With him, one Republican lawmaker said that work on the wall would begin by the end of the summer, which upends the promise the President initially made to have it done during the first few months of his presidency.
But even the President had to submit and say that they were looking at doing it at the end of September.
As to the shutdown, Press Secretary Sean Spicer has even said that he doesn't feel a shutdown could be averted, as he could not make any guarantees. Even at that time, it was already clear that Congress would not budge from their view that Trump would not be able to get what he wanted. The overall view was that some element of border security could be angled to keep the government running but there was a consensus from both sides that at the very least a wall would not be funded. Congress has reportedly already implemented a short-term continuing resolution (C.R.) on the last day, to keep the government running for another week.
