House Leader McCarthy: 'We Won't Shut Down the Government'

By Sandy Fitzgerald | Tuesday, 25 April 2017 12:34 PM EDT

There will be no government shutdown this weekend, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday - a "shutdown is not productive."

"There is no need for a shutdown," the California Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program. "We won't shut down the government and we will continue to fund the government. The shutdown talk is by Democrats. That's what their movement is trying to do."

Democrats are saying that they'd blame a shutdown on the Republicans, he continued, but "we can have government move forward, but make the economy continue to grow. That's why we've been doing the work that's needed, and we'll work with this president as we move forward."

On Monday, President Donald Trump stepped back from demanding a down payment for his border wall in must-pass spending legislation, telling a gathering of conservative media reporters he would be willing to return to the wall funding issue in September.

Then on Tuesday, the president tweeted not to "let the fake media tell you that I've changed my position on the wall. It will get built and help stop drugs, human trafficking, etc."

But even though Trump has pulled back on his call for wall funding, McCarthy said that the House will still move forward on "a piece" of border security, pointing out that since Trump took office, illegal border crossings have dropped dramatically.

"We have a number of members on the border, touring it to see what needs to be done," said McCarthy. "We're committed to making sure border security happens."

The "piece" remains under negotiation, said McCarthy, but "we'll get whatever we're able to get into the process right now and whatever we don't, we'll come right back to finish it off."

However, he wouldn't give a definite answer about what price tag the item could carry or what it would finance.

"We have a new secretary in Homeland Security," said McCarthy. "We're looking at all elements of where to go. In 2006 we actually passed a bill here dealing that Democrats voted for. We want to now get the appropriations to finish off that process that we talked about doing back in 2006 prior to President [Barack] Obama."

McCarthy also pushed back on reports speculating that House Speaker Paul Ryan's job could be in jeopardy, telling Fox News that Ryan has "100 percent support from this conference."