Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and White House budget director Mick Mulvaney differed on Sunday in what what they thought President Trump would do regarding a potential government spending bill that did not include funding for a southern border wall.
Kelly said on CNN's "State of the Union" that he believes President Trump would be "insistent" that any spending bill include such a provision, while Mulvaney said on "Fox News Sunday" that he does not know if Trump would sign a bill without wall funds.
"If Congress doesn't send President Trump a government funding bill by midnight on Friday, the government will run out of money and a shutdown would begin," CNN host Dana Bash said to Kelly. "So, will the president go to the mat and insist on funding his border wall as part of the stop-gap government funding measure?"
"Well, Dana, I think it goes without saying that the president has been pretty straightforward about his desire and the need for a border wall, so I would suspect he'll do the right thing for sure, but I will suspect he'll be insistent on the funding," Kelly said.
Mulvaney took a different tack on "Fox News Sunday."
"Will he sign a government funding bill that does not include funding for the border wall?" host Chris Wallace asked.
"Yeah, and I think you saw his answer just in your little lead-in, which is: We don't know yet," Mulvaney said.
Trump told the Associated Press last week that he does not know if he will sign a spending bill that doesn't have funding for the wall:
AP: Obviously that's going to come in a week where you're going to be running up against the deadline for keeping the government open. If you get a bill on your desk that does not include funding for the wall, will you sign it?
TRUMP: I don't know yet. People want the border wall. My base definitely wants the border wall. My base really wants it–you've been to many of the rallies, OK, the thing they want more than anything is the wall. ... They want to see the wall, they want to see security.
The deadline to keep the government funded is Friday. Democrats are strongly against any spending bill that allocates money for the wall, which Trump promised during the 2016 campaign would be paid for by Mexico.