BORDER/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump said Tuesday [2-6-18] he would accept a government shutdown if Congress doesn’t strike an immigration deal that includes stricter border enforcement.
‘If we don’t change it, let’s have a shutdown,’ Mr. Trump said during the portion of a meeting at the White House that reporters were invited to observe. ‘We have to strengthen our borders.’
Rep. Barbara Comstock, a Virginia Republican who is among her party’s most vulnerable House Republicans in the November elections, disagreed… Mr. Trump interrupted and reiterated a willingness to risk a shutdown over immigration policy…
The president repeated his position as reporters were ushered out of the room.
‘I can’t speak for everybody at the table but I will tell you, I would shut it down over this issue,’ Mr. Trump said. ‘I can’t speak for our great representatives here, but I have a feeling they may agree with me.’
Congress is gearing up this week to pass another short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown before current spending expires at 12:01 a.m. on Friday. The immigration debate has become entangled with spending negotiations, which caused an impasse that led to the three-day shutdown last month.”
-Julie Bykowicz and Michael C. Bender, “Trump: ‘Let’s Have a Shutdown’ If Congress Can’t Reach Immigration Deal,” The Wall Street Journal online, Feb. 6, 2018 03:21pm