Trump's precious border wall hits a funding snag

Donald Trump's "big, beautiful" border wall might turn out to be like so many other things he fixates on—a figment of his imagination. Although the White House had wanted Congress to fold an initial outlay for Trump’s wall into a government funding bill, the GOP's governance meltdown has necessitated Democratic help in keeping the government funded by the April 28 deadline. Democrats, in turn, have threatened to withhold their votes if any funding for the wall is included in that bill.

“Senate Democrats are prepared to fight this all the way,” Sen. Chuck Schumer told attendees of a National Council of La Raza event Tuesday.

In order to avoid yet another GOP #fail in the form of a government shutdown, Republican leadership is weighing the idea of separating money for the wall from the government funding bill. Politico writes:

While no decision has been made by GOP leadership, Republican lawmakers may decide to decouple the two to avoid a confrontation with Democrats. If they do, the chances of getting Trump’s wall funding passed this spring become slim.

“It remains to be seen,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) in an interview. “What I would like to see is a plan for how the money would be spent and a good faith discussion about what border security is really composed of. We haven’t had that.”

Asked about the prospects for a lapse in government funding, Cornyn was definitive: “There’s not going to be a shutdown.”

Trump had aimed to get about $1.4 billion for the wall out of the initial funding bill with more to follow in a subsequent funding measure. But it turns out building the $20- to $50-billion wall is equally as unpopular as the man who insists on building it, with only 35 percent of American taxpayers supporting the wall, especially if taxpayers are footing the bill. That leaves very little incentive for Congressional Republicans to supply funding for an unpopular project being pushed by a pr*sident with abysmal approval ratings.

This little funding snafu is going to absolutely tweak Trump, who's been obsessed with building the wall since the day he announced his candidacy. Trump put his weight behind health care mostly because he was desperate to get a win—any win—under his belt, but the wall is his baby. If Congress stiffs him on it, there'll be hell to pay on Capitol Hill.