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Trump's Border Wall Could Again Become Obstacle in Last Minute Budget Talks

   During his run for the presidency in 2016, Donald Trump found a
   surefire method for changing the mood at his political rallies.
   Whenever he sensed that he was losing the crowd, he told the editorial
   board of the New York Times, "I just say, We will build the wall!' and
   they go nuts."

   This week, with impeachment hearings in the House of Representatives
   dominating the headlines, the border wall may reappear as a distraction
   for Trump's staunchest supporters. Lawmakers have agreed in principle
   to adopt a stop-gap spending bill to avert a partial shutdown of the
   federal government on Thursday, with the hope that negotiators from
   Congress and the administration can use the 30-day reprieve it grants
   to finalize spending authorizations for the remainder of the fiscal
   year.

   A possible sticking point? Funding for the president's wall.

   Last year, when Democrats refused to provide $5 billion in wall funding
   in a budget deal, the result was a 35-day shutdown.

   So, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared on the political talk show
   Face the Nation on Sunday, and said that she was optimistic that a deal
   would be reached to avoid a shutdown, the natural follow-up question
   was whether that meant that Democrats would be providing wall funding.

   Pelosi replied with a definitive "No." She went on to suggest that she
   doesn't believe that the president is truly committed to the effort.

   "The President hasn't built any new wall in a whole term of office,"
   she said. "I think that his comments about the wall are really an
   applause line at a rally, but they're not anything that he's serious
   about."

   Pelosi's comments pointed to a central issue with regard to the border
   wall: widespread confusion about its current status.

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