WASHINGTON (AP) — Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says President Donald Trump is prepared for another government shutdown if Congress won’t work with him to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
Mulvaney says Trump doesn’t want to see federal agencies closed again and doesn’t want to declare a national emergency either. But he says Trump is prepared to do either.
He says Trump agreed to reopen the government for three weeks to give Democrats a chance to negotiate. Mulvaney says some Democrats agree with Trump’s plan to better secure the border, but said they couldn’t work with the White House as long as there was a partial government shutdown.
Mulvaney spoke Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation” and “Fox News Sunday.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Marco Rubio, said he felt that there is plenty of bipartisan support for strong border security. He was all over the Sunday morning programs he does not support another shutdown and says he also doesn’t want President Trump to use the National Emergency card to build the wall.
Rubio said Sunday that he would oppose an effort by President Trump to declare a national emergency to construct a wall along the southern border, calling the prospect a “terrible idea.”
“I hope he doesn’t do it. I don’t think it’s leverage,” Rubio said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Rubio argued that an emergency declaration would likely be tied up in the courts, and would set a poor precedent for future administrations.
“It doesn’t mean that I don’t want border security,” he said. “I do. I just think that’s the wrong way to achieve it. It doesn’t provide certainty. And you could very well wind up in sort of a theatric victory at the front end and then not getting it done.”
“I think the best way to do it is to have a law passed that funds border security so we know it’s going to happen,” he added.