President Trump’s campaign pledge to make Mexico pay for a border wall doesn’t impact his threat to shut down the government if Congress doesn’t pass funding to construct it, the White House said Thursday.
The president sent shock waves across Washington when he threatened Tuesday to “close down” the government over funding the wall.
“He will continuing fighting for funding,” said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. “This president is going to see it through.”
Mr. Trump ran on building the wall and was elected president while pledging to build the wall, and he wasn’t going to back down, said Mrs. Sanders.
Capitol Hill Republican leaders have said a government shutdown won’t happen. But Democrats remain solidly opposed to the wall, saying it is a waste of money and a symbol of bigotry.
Mr. Trump campaign on making Mexico pay for the wall. At every campaign stop, he would engage in a call and response with supporters, asking who’s going to pay for the wall and the crowd shouting “Mexico!”
Mexican leaders have insisted that their country would not foot the bill. Since taking office, Mr. Trump has backed off that part of the promise, but he continues to say there a ways to extract payments from the neighbor to the south.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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