WASHINTON, D.C. — Facing the prospects of a government shutdown this Friday over a fight to fund President Donald Trump’s Mexican border wall, members of Congress are prepared to pass a short-term stopgap to give the White House and lawmakers additional time to resolve their differences.

 

Still bruising from failure last month to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Congress is working to avoid another setback, complicated by Trump’s latest request for $1.4 billion in initial funding to build his promised “badly needed border wall.”

 

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) called the funding “a political stunt” that jeopardizes a spending agreement. His message to Trump is, “Don’t try any political stunts … don’t put any poison pills in the process.”

 

Trump also raised the prospect of asking the House to take up the ACA again but House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said his priority for the week is to avoid a government shutdown. Ahead of Trump’s 100th day in office, April 29, Republican negotiators have been mulling the wall funding, to be paid in part by $18 billion in cuts to domestic programs sought by the White House from the remaining five months of the 2017 budget, including many initiatives with strong bipartisan support.

 

The $18 billion in targeted cuts is spread around 30 domestic programs, including $718 million from the USDA and $242 million at the EPA, according to a budget outline. The most cuts would be $3 billion at the Education Department, $1.6 billion from Housing and Urban Development, $1.5 from the State Department and $1.5 billion from Energy, as proposed by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

 

A footnote in the budget document said the Food and Drug Administration would lose $40 million in staff salaries and other expenses: “The FDA can absorb some of the reductions through administration savings, including slower than anticipated hiring.”

 

The 115th Congress is made up of 237 Republicans and 193 Democrats in the House and in the Senate, 52 Republicans and 48 Democrats.

 

Compounding the looming budget deadline is strong opposition to the wall that has surfaced within the past few days from 17 members of Congress. They represent the U.S. territories along the Mexican border, including nine members of the House and eight senators across Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

 

Little is known about how other members of House will vote for the border wall, but to pass in the Senate, 60 votes are needed. Senior Republicans have said they wished the border funding was not among Trump’s current requests, but are determined to avoid a shutdown.

 

Meanwhile, the White House says Trump is not backing down and wants the wall funding now, according to OMB Director Mick Mulvaney, a former member of the House, although over the weekend he too said Trump doesn’t want a government shutdown.

 

Trump also announced late on April 21 that he expects to release a massive tax overhaul plan April 26, intended to cut the federal corporate tax rate to 15 percent from its current level of 35 percent. This is the same rate Trump promised during his campaign.

 

Regardless of its reception on Capitol Hill, his tax plan is expected to cause continued protests from Democrats and others demanding to see his tax returns and wanting to learn how the tax cuts will affect Trump and his businesses.