Digging in over a border wall

It is almost as if he is eager to do it. President Donald Trump isn’t backing off his pledge to shut down the federal government if Congress doesn’t give him $5 billion to build a border wall. The clock will run out at midnight this Friday if Congress doesn’t approve a Homeland Security spending bill if it doesn’t include the money for a wall along the Mexico border. The problem is the votes aren’t there in the House of Representatives, boosting the likelihood of a government shutdown. And the House doesn’t return to work until tomorrow, leaving only a few precious days to get a deal done. Both sides are digging in their heels, but this is not a game. The only job of Congress is to appropriate money to keep the federal government operational. Members of Congress find themselves in a familiar position, having to meet last-minute to try to work out a deal to keep the lights on in Washington. This has happened too many times, because Congress can’t seem to agree on any long-term funding bills. They continually pass stop-gap spending measures because they aren’t willing to do the heavy lifting it takes to pass long-term spending bills. That would take compromise. We aren’t seeing much of that in the nation’s capital these days.