Shutdown 2019: Trump says he hasn’t decided if he’ll sign bipartisan deal

Despite expressing his unhappiness about the deal, President Donald Trump is expected to sign a bipartisan budget agreement that would avert another partial government shutdown, according to multiple reports. But he hasn’t committed to that publicly.

“I have not seen it yet," Trump said of the deal. "We’ll take a look at it when it comes. I don’t want to see a shut down. A shutdown would be a terrible thing.”

CNN, NBC News, and the Wall Street Journal all report that Trump intends to sign the agreement into law once Congress passes it, preventing the government from shutting down for the third time during his tenure as president. The House is scheduled to vote on the legislation on Thursday, where it is expected to pass easily. It will then move to the Senate, where it already has the support of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

“I think he’s got a pretty good deal here,” McConnell told reporters. “I hope he’ll decide to sign it.”

Here are the latest updates:

Democrats are pushing to add a provision to the bipartisan spending bill to provide back pay to tens of thousands of federal contractors impacted by a 35-day partial government shutdown that ended earlier this month.

“Thousands of federal contractors have not been reimbursed from the 35-day shutdown," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) told reporters Wednesday. “No one should stand in the way of that. It’s just not fair to them. They were hostages.”

But Sen. Roy Blunt (R., Mo.) told reporters any effort to offer back-pay to federal contractors would be a deal breaker for Trump.

“I’ve been told the president won’t sign that,” Blunt told reporters, according to the Washington Post.

During an appearance in the Oval Office with Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez, Trump told reporters he had not yet seen the bipartisan spending bill, and hadn’t made up his mind whether he would sign it into law.

"We will be getting it. We’ll be looking for landmines, because you could have that, you know. It’s been known to happen before to people,” Trump said. “I don’t want to see a shut down. A shutdown would be a terrible thing.”

Trump also alluded to reports that he would seek to gather additional funds — possibly by declaring a national emergency at the border — in order to fully fund construction of his proposed border wall.

“Regardless of what I do, we already have, as you know, a lot of money,” Trump said. “We have options that most people don’t really understand.”

The House will vote Thursday on the bipartisan bill, according to House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries.

“The overwhelming majority of the House Democratic Caucus will support this legislation,” the New York Democrat said, according to USA Today.

Once it passes through the House, the bill would go to the Senate, where McConnell has already issued his support. Then it’s up to the president to sign it before Friday’s deadline.

On his Fox News show Tuesday night, Sean Hannity, who reportedly advised Trump on his shutdown strategy, called the bipartisan budget deal “pathetic” and “garbage,” but also told his viewers he wouldn’t be angry at Trump for signing it.

“I’m not as concerned as some other conservatives if the president signs the bill,” Hannity said, provided Trump declares a national emergency at the border to fully fund his proposed border wall.

Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, who also reportedly advised Trump, called the deal “embarrassing” and “insulting” on his show Tuesday night.

Conservative columnist Ann Coulter called the president a “coward” for what she called his refusal to fight for the border wall he campaigned for during the 2016 presidential campaign. “Call this his ‘Yellow New Deal’ ” Coulter tweeted to her 2.13 million followers.

CNN commentator and former Pa. Senator Rick Santorum said Trump was “clearly not a winner” on the shutdown deal. “The president was the one who had the big show, and didn’t deliver,” Santorum said on Anderson Cooper 360 Tuesday night.

The bipartisan deal reportedly includes $1.375 billion for 55 miles of new barriers along the border (though it prohibits the use of concrete walls) and maintains detention beds for undocumented immigrants at current levels (Democrats wanted to lower that number). Overall, the bill increases Department of Homeland Security spending by $1.7 billion, and would fund the nine departments impacted by the last shutdown through Sept. 30.

White House officials told CNN and the Washington Post that the president was likely to search for other options — including declaring a national emergency at the border — to secure the funds necessary to construct his border wall.