Trump vows shutdown over border wall funding

By Michael Hernandez</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AA) – U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to shut down parts of the government unless he receives a spending bill that includes funding for his long-promised wall along America's southern border. </p> <p>&quot;Any measure that funds the government must include border security. Has to. Not for political purposes, but for our country,&quot; Trump said at a bill signing shortly after meeting with leaders of the House of Representatives. &quot;I've made my position very clear.&quot;</p> <p>During a contentious meeting with the Democratic leadership last week, the president warned he would be &quot;proud&quot; to shut down the government if a spending bill that reached his desk did not include the $5 billion he is seeking to fund his border wall. </p> <p>The Senate on Wednesday passed a stop-gap spending bill that would have kept the government open and funded through Feb. 8 but did not include the funds requested by Trump.</p> <p>The House was scheduled to take up the Senate's spending legislation before Trump called a meeting with leading House Republicans at the White House. </p> <p>After departing the sit-down, House Speaker Paul Ryan said he would be returning to the House to &quot;work on adding border security to this&quot;. </p> <p>It is unclear if any such legislation would be able to clear the chamber. </p> <p>If House Republicans are able to wrangle the votes, the future of such a bill remains uncertain because Senate Democrats who would be needed to advance the changes through the chamber have resisted efforts to fund the wall.</p> <p>Any bill would require 60 votes in favor in order to clear procedural hurdles in the tightly-contested chamber, and several lawmakers have already departed Washington for the Christmas holiday.</p> <p>Markets tumbled after Trump's announcement, with the Dow falling as much as 560 points before posting a relatively lower loss of 464 points. </p> <p>Should the government shut down Friday at midnight, it would be only partial. Roughly 75 percent of the government would remain open under a bill passed in September, which provided funding for the Department of Defense and the Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services departments.