Ryan: 'I don’t think anyone’s interested in having a shutdown'

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday he did not think Republican lawmakers are interested in shutting down the government over funding for President Donald Trump’s long-promised border wall.

Trump told the crowd at a rally Tuesday night in Phoenix, “believe me, if we have to close down our government, we're building that wall,” a promise that prompted the crowd to chant “build that wall.”


But Ryan (R-Wis.), who spoke to reporters during a visit to Intel Corp. offices in Oregon, said the House has already passed border security legislation that includes money for a wall. He said lawmakers shouldn't have to choose between keeping the government open and making good on the president’s border security pledge.

“I don’t think a government shutdown is necessary, and I don’t think most people want to see a government shutdown, ourselves included. And Congress, in the House, has already done its work on this issue. There are very legitimate problems and concerns on the border that need to be addressed,” Ryan said. “I don’t think anyone’s interested in having a shutdown. I don’t think it’s in our interests to do so while we work on doing what we actually said we would do, what we’ve done already in the House and we need to do, which is to control our border. So I don’t think you have to choose between the two.”

Congress must pass funding legislation by the end of next month in order to avoid a government shutdown, and lawmakers are scheduled to have just 12 working days after their Sept. 5 return before the deadline hits. Ryan said he expects Congress will keep the government open via a short-term continuing resolution, as opposed to a full appropriations bill, because the schedule won’t offer sufficient time for the Senate to process the latter.

“The fact is though, given the time of year it is and the rest of the appropriations we have to do, we’re going to need more time to complete our appropriations process, particularly in the Senate. So that’s something that I think we all recognize and understand, that we’re going to have to have some more time to complete our appropriations process,” the speaker said.

Asked if that meant a continuing resolution, he replied, “I think that will probably be necessary, yes, because I can’t imagine the Senate will be able to process the appropriations bill as quickly as the House is.”