Veto override? House Republican suggests Congress will overrule Trump on another shutdown

The government will partially shut down again if President Trump and Congress cannot come to deal on border security funding by February 15. But it may not come to that if Republicans in Congress decide keeping government open is more important than fighting for Trump's position on a border wall.

Some Republicans are there already. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, told Politico that if the bipartisan committees in the House and Senate put forward a border security deal that members of both parties could support, it may have the votes to override a presidential veto.

“I think the committee will come up with a deal ... If they come up with something that isn’t crazy, I think it’ll have enough votes to override a veto in the House and Senate,” Simpson said. “Because we’ve all learned, hopefully, that shutdowns don’t work, and they’re stupid."

"Shutdowns don't work" is a sentiment shared by Senate Republicans who also spoke to Politico, several of whom are raising concerns about shutting down the government again.

“I don’t think we want to face another shutdown. And I certainly don’t think we want to have emergency action taken. So the president and Congress will have to come together," said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah. “It goes almost without saying that shutdowns are a very bad idea. And we should not use them as a political weapon."

Romney was one of six Senate Republicans who voted to open the government with out wall funding, supporting the Nancy Pelosi bill. With Trump's polling at the lowest it's ever been and the bad media coverage from the shutdown, it's not outside the realm of possibility that Congress has enough votes to override a Trump veto.

President Trump hasn't vetoed any bills as president. He may want to avoid the issue altogether, bypassing Congress by declaring a national emergency on the border and repurposing military funding to build the wall. Another option Trump might consider is using his statutory authority under Title 10 of U.S. code to build fencing and infrastructure along drug corridors on the border.

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