US budget in limbo as Democrats stonewall Trump’s border wall proposal
US president says he is prepared for a government shutdown over the wall issue
Washington — President Donald Trump and Congress, embroiled in a feud over his proposed US-Mexico border wall, have only five days to reach a deal before a partial government shutdown could leave about a quarter of the federal workforce without pay cheques. Trump has demanded $5bn as a down payment on construction of a huge wall that he argues is the only way to keep illegal immigrants and drugs from crossing into the US,again pushing the proposal in a tweet on Monday. Democrats and some Republicans argue there are less costly, more effective border controls. The money Trump wants is only a small fraction of the roughly $450bn Congress was poised to approve — before the latest battle over the proposed wall — to fund several agencies which will otherwise run out of money on December 21. Large swaths of the government already are funded to next September, including the US military and agencies that operate public healthcare, education and veterans’ programmes. Several Republican and D...
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