The threat of closure is imminent as Trump seeks funding from the Border Wall

Trump has asked for $ 5 billion in funding from the wall and is stepping up pressure for Congress to allocate money to the wall, which he promised during the election campaign would be paid by Mexico. But Democrats oppose this demand, which exceeds the $ 1.6 billion of a Senate spending bill that would fund fencing along the southwestern border.

Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer pleaded on Monday for Mueller's bill to be included in the spending bill if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would not call him for a vote on the floor. abstain from issuing an ultimatum or announcing that there may be a closure. the problem.

"Nobody said that," Sen. Patty Murray, senior representative and senior member of the Democratic Senate leadership, told CNN if Democrats would draw a red line on the spending bill if the plan Mueller was not included. "I think everyone is confident that we need to get the bill through, the way it was done was not the problem."

When asked if the special advocates bill could be suspended, Murray said, "There are so many others – I do not see that being one."

The best congressional Republicans have meanwhile expressed their confidence that they could reach an expenditure agreement that would avoid a stoppage of the sale, while recognizing that a partial halt could take place even though it was not possible for them to do so. they said they did not want that to happen.

Senator John Cornyn, the Republican in Senate No. 2, told the press that he was convinced by Congress to be able to pass the remaining spending bills by the upcoming deadline. But, he added, "there are a lot of variables to deal with … I do not think the Democrats want to shut the government down on the issue of border security, but they could do it, we'll see."

Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana declared that "a government shutdown would be stupid" and that it would be "a serious mistake" if Democrats insist that Mueller's bill be added to the spending bill must.

"It could very well lead to a government shutdown," he said.

Trump keeps the pressure on Congress

Senate Supply Committee Chairman Richard Shelby told reporters on Monday that the president had said his $ 5 billion request was a red line.

When asked if Trump was going to meet the $ 5 billion request, the Alabama Republican told CNN: "Not from my conversation with him." But the senator said that "there could be a way to get closer to the request of $ 5 billion" depending on the configuration of money "because funds already affected by the Congress n & # 39; 39 have not been spent yet.

"It depends on the configuration," said Shelby. "There is already some of the money we owe and we talked about $ 1.6 billion, the house is $ 5 billion – it depends on the configuration of it."

The Republicans managed to avoid a border confrontation before the mid-term elections by adopting a spending package that financed much of the government, but they actually ended the fight against the border wall until the end of the war. the end of the elections.

Republicans will only control the House and Senate for a little longer, until the new Democrat-led House of Representatives takes office in January. But even under Republican control, spending bills must cross a hurdle of 60 votes in the Senate and Republicans currently have only 51 seats, which means any funding law would still need support democratically to be adopted.

Democrats can be encouraged by the party's mid-term victory to fight even harder against the president's request to finance the wall.

"The president is going to have to decide whether he wants to shut down the government after he gets his hat off in the elections," Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut told reporters on Monday. Hope this would be the case. "It's hard to convince the" Democrats to "give in to what he described as" ridiculous demands to build a border wall that nobody wants. "

But at the same time, some influential Democrats report that it is still possible for an agreement to be reached for the government to remain open on December 7, which would resolve all outstanding issues, including the Trump Border Wall.

Asked about the possibility of reaching an agreement before the deadline, Senator Patrick Leahy, the largest Democrat on the Credit Committee, said: "I could."