he White House appears to be backing off its demand for $5 billion to fund a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“At the end of the day, we don’t want to shut down the government,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Fox News Tuesday. “We have other ways that we can get to that $5 billion that we’ll work with Congress,” she added.
That’s a much different tone than President Trump took during his on camera discussion with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi last week. During that tense debate, Trump insisted he’d be willing to shut down the government to get the wall built, because without it there’d be no border security. The Democrats were only willing to offer $1.6 billion for fencing upgrades and other security measures. Trump was praised by conservatives at the time for refusing to budge on the $5 billion.
