Trump forced into embarrassing reversal over wall shutdown

US President Donald Trump has been forced into a massive reversal after he brought the country right to the brink over his signature promise.

Donald Trump has been forced into an embarrassing retreat after threatening a government shutdown if he could not get funding for his border wall.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the White House was willing to work with Congress to avert the partial shutdown, with just days before it is due to kick in, at midnight on Friday.

The US President last week said he would be “proud to shut down the government for border security” as he demanded a new funding bill should include $US5 billion ($A7 billion) for his infamous wall.

Democrats have refused to sign off on more than $US1.3 billion ($A1.8 billion) for security at the border with Mexico.

Donald Trump has been forced into an embarrassing reversal over the US government shutdown. Picture: AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

“If we don’t get what we want, one way or the other — whether it’s through you, through a military, through anything you want to call — I will shut down the government,” Mr Trump told House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a heated argument last Wednesday.

But Ms Sanders has now backtracked from his comments during that explosive televised Oval Office meeting, telling Fox News there were “other ways that we can get to that $5 billion.”

She referred to a bill she said would provide $US26 billion ($A36 billion) in border security, including $US1.6 billion ($A1.8 billion) for the wall.

“That’s something that we would be able to support,” she said. “At the end of the day, we don’t want to shut down the government. We want to shut down the border from illegal immigration.”

She said it would need to be coupled with other funding sources, such as defence money.

Mr Trump has said in tweets that the military could build the border wall “if the Democrats do not give us the votes to secure our Country”.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said there were ‘other ways’ to reach the $A2.2 billion the President wants for his wall. Picture: AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Still, the shutdown could happen, after Democrats said they would only support $US1.3 billion ($A1.8 billion) rather than $1.6 billion ($A2.2 billion) in the House of Representatives.

Senate leaders are furiously negotiating to avert the federal shutdown, which could see nine of 15 vital agencies — including the departments of transport, commerce, homeland security and agriculture — closed for the Christmas holidays.

A shutdown could drain billions from the economy, and would be “a costly way to engage in a fight”, Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, told the US ABC.

It would be the third in just two years, taking place just as the President departs to spend Christmas at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida at the end of the week.

In late 2017, analysts from Standard & Poor’s predicted a government shutdown would cost taxpayers $US6.5 billion ($A9 billion) per week, in a report entitled, “With a US Government Shutdown, There Will Be Blood.”

Reporter: Where are the additional monies for this wall going to come from and why is [Trump] asking the American taxpayer for them when he promised Mexico was going to pay?

Sanders: We’re not asking American taxpayers…We are looking at existing funding through other agencies pic.twitter.com/9YaXRL4UTG

— POLITICO (@politico) December 18, 2018

Note: Sarah Sanders told Fox News that the president would find the $5 billion for the wall somewhere other than this upcoming spending bill so that’s President Trump backing down from what he told Sen Schumer and Rep Pelosi. https://t.co/qdodFVluN0

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) December 18, 2018

Anytime you hear a Democrat saying that you can have good Border Security without a Wall, write them off as just another politician following the party line. Time for us to save billions of dollars a year and have, at the same time, far greater safety and control!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 17, 2018

I often stated, “One way or the other, Mexico is going to pay for the Wall.” This has never changed. Our new deal with Mexico (and Canada), the USMCA, is so much better than the old, very costly & anti-USA NAFTA deal, that just by the money we save, MEXICO IS PAYING FOR THE WALL!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018

It would leave hundreds of thousands of federal employees on leave without pay or working without pay over the break, costing billions of dollars and leading to transport delays and the closure of iconic sites such as the Statue of Liberty.

Mr Trump does not have the votes from the Republican-led Congress to support his demand for border wall construction. Democrats have only offering to continue funding at current levels, $US1.3 billion, not for the wall but for fencing and other border security.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed $1.6 billion ($2.2 billion) for border security, as outlined in a bipartisan Senate bill, plus an additional $1 billion ($A1.4 billion) that Mr Trump could use on the border, according to a senior Democratic aide unauthorised to speak publicly about the private meeting.

But the aide said Democrats were likely to reject that and characterised the additional money as a “slush fund.”

Mr Trump had been clear he was ready to shut down the government if he did not get support, with White House senior advisor Stephen Miller saying on Sunday there would “absolutely” be a shutdown “if it comes to it”.

But reports stated that the White House was privately comfortable with the spending bill agreed by the Senate — and Mr Trump was accused of using the wall as a political tool.