President Donald Trump’s budget director Mick Mulvaney doesn’t want to shut down the government at end of April, but he isn’t afraid to do it either.
A shutdown “is never a desired end,” Mulvaney, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, told John Harwood in a CNBC interview Wednesday.
Shutting down the government isn’t the end of the world, however, because “if you measure it in terms of the dollars out the door, about 83 percent of the government stays open in a government shutdown,” Mulvaney said.
“Social Security checks go out, military still exists. The FBI still chases bad guys. I think the consequences have been blown out of proportion.”
Congress has two weeks to pass legislation before funds dry out April 28, but the legislature is only scheduled to meet one week before the deadline.
Trump sent Congress an extensive list last week of $18 billion worth of programs to cut from the budget in order to add $30 billion to defense spending and $3.6 billion to the Department of Homeland Security for the southern border wall and border protection. (RELATED: Republicans Want To Ignore Trump’s Budget Cuts To Avoid Shutdown Fight)
Mulvaney said he doesn’t see the need to send agencies instructions on what to do in a shutdown, as the chances for a true shutdown are “very low.”
Trump himself is unafraid of a government shutdown, The Daily Caller reports, though it’s unclear whether he has discussed the issue with House Speaker Paul Ryan. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Trump Unafraid Of Possible Government Shutdown)
“And keep in mind, no one entity can shut the government down,” Mulvaney said. “It takes three to tango, the House, the Senate and the White House. And if they can’t agree, you have a lapse in funding.”
Giving Trump his desired spending increases for defense and border security spending is unlikely in the current political climate. “I think it is too late for this year,” Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said of Trump’s the proposed budget cuts, The New York Times reports.
The border wall with Mexico is not an issue Republican leaders want to tackle for the remaining days of the fiscal year. Funding the wall in particular is a “debate that belongs in the next fiscal year,” Collins said.
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