Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, on Tuesday night said that President Donald Trump was willing to sign a temporary funding measure that did not include money to build a border wall.
During an interview on CNN, host Jake Tapper noted to Mulvaney that Republicans have proposed a funding measure without money for the wall and asked if Trump would be willing to sign that. Mulvaney replied that he was.
He added that the White House has agreed with Democrats on including funding for other aspects of border security.
“The offer that we received from the Democrats the last couple days included a good bit of money for border security,” Mulvaney said, adding that those funds will allow Trump to “follow through on his promise to make that border more secure.”
Mulvaney said that the Trump administration is “not backing down” from its plans to build a border wall, however.
“We just thought that it would be a good first step to get these things that everybody agrees on and take that idea of a government shutdown off the table,” he said.
Mulvaney’s comments came after the Trump administration waffled on its demand that the funding measure include money for the border wall on Monday and Tuesday. Trump reportedly told conservative journalists Monday night that he would be willing to wait on funds for the border wall, but White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer insisted Tuesday afternoon that Trump’s priorities had not changed regarding the wall.