Ryan pushes back against Trump’s threat of govt. shutdown over border wall

WASHINGTON- House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) pushed back against President Donald Trump’s threat to provoke a government shutdown if Congress does not allocate funds to begin construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“I don’t think a government shutdown is necessary and I don’t think most people want to see a government shutdown, ourselves included,” Ryan said at an Oregon news conference on Wednesday.

Trump during a Tuesday evening rally in Phoenix, Arizona said: “If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall.”

Congress in May allocated $1.5 billion to beef up border security but did not appropriate money for wall construction.

The Administration has requested that $1.6 billion for wall funding be included in the spending bill that Congress must approve by the end of next month so as to prevent the federal government from running out of money.

Congressional leaders have estimated that the total cost of wall construction could be between $12-15 billion.

This article is republished with permission from Talk Media News