President Donald Trump stalked out of his negotiating meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday — “I said bye-bye,” he tweeted soon after — as efforts to end the 19-day partial government shutdown fell into deeper disarray over his demand for billions of dollars to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers now face lost paychecks on Friday.
The president is to visit the border in person on Thursday, but he has expressed his own doubts that his appearance and remarks will change any minds.
The brief session in the White House Situation Room ended almost as soon as it began.
Democrats said they asked Trump to re-open the government but he told them if he did they wouldn’t give him money for the wall that has been his signature promise since his presidential campaign two years ago.
Just left a meeting with Chuck and Nancy, a total waste of time. I asked what is going to happen in 30 days if I quickly open things up, are you going to approve Border Security which includes a Wall or Steel Barrier? Nancy said, NO. I said bye-bye, nothing else works!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2019
Republicans said Trump posed a direct question to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: If he opened the government would she fund the wall? She said no.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Trump “through a temper tantrum”, slammed his hand on the table and walked out. Republicans said Trump, who passed out candy at the start of the meeting, did not raise his voice and there was no table pounding.
One result was certain: The shutdown plunged into new territory with no endgame in sight. The Democrats see the idea of the long, impenetrable wall as ineffective and even immoral, a terrible use of the $5.7 billion Trump is asking. He sees it as an absolute necessity to stop what he calls a crisis of illegal immigration, drug-smuggling and human trafficking at the border.
“The president made clear today that he is going to stand firm to achieve his priorities to build a wall — a steel barrier — at the southern border,” Vice President Mike Pence told reporters afterward.
That insistence and Trump’s walking out were “really, really unfortunate,” said Schumer.
Trump had just returned from Capitol Hill where he urged jittery congressional Republicans to hold firm with him. He suggested a deal for his border wall might be getting closer, but he also said the shutdown would last “whatever it takes.”
He discussed the possibility of a sweeping immigration compromise with Democrats to protect some immigrants from deportation but provided no clear strategy or timeline for resolving the standoff, according to senators in the private session. He left the Republican lunch boasting of “a very, very unified party,” but GOP senators are publicly uneasy as the standoff ripples across the lives of Americans and interrupts the economy.
Trump insisted at the White House “I didn’t want this fight.” But it was his sudden rejection of a bipartisan spending bill late last month that blindsided leaders in Congress, including Republican allies, now seeking a resolution to the shutdown.
GOP unity was being tested further late Wednesday with the House voting on a bipartisan bill to reopen one shuttered department, Treasury, to ensure that tax refunds and other financial services continue. Republicans were expected to join Democrats in voting, defying the plea to stay with the White House.
Ahead of his visit to Capitol Hill, Trump renewed his notice that he might declare a national emergency and try to authorize the wall on his own if Congress won’t approve the money he’s asking.
“I think we might work a deal, and if we don’t I might go that route,” he said.
‘BYE-BYE’: Trump walks out of ‘waste of time’ meeting after Schumer, Pelosi refuse to support border wall funding.
Should congress fund the border wall & re-open the government?
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 9, 2019
There’s growing concern about the toll the shutdown is taking on everyday Americans, including disruptions in payments to farmers and trouble for home buyers who are seeking government-backed mortgage loans — “serious stuff,” according to Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was among several senators who questioned Trump at the Capitol.
“I addressed the things that are very local to us — it’s not just those who don’t receive a federal paycheck perhaps on Friday but there are other consequences,” she said, mentioning the inability to certify weight scales for selling fish. The president’s response? “He urged unity.”
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said “the president thinks there will be increasing pressure on everybody to come to the table once people start missing their paycheck.”
Earlier, Cornyn called the standoff “completely unnecessary and contrived. People expect their government to work. … This obviously is not working.”
Like other Republicans, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia said she wants border security. But she said there was “no way” the shutdown fight would drag on for years as Trump warned last week.
“I think certainly I have expressed more than a few times the frustrations with a government shutdown and how useless it is,” Capito said Tuesday. “That pressure is going to build.”
Democrats said before the White House meeting that they would ask Trump to accept an earlier bipartisan bill that had money for border security but not the wall. Pelosi warned that the effects of hundreds of thousands of lost paychecks would begin to ripple across the economy.
“The president could end the Trump shutdown and re-open the government today, and he should,” Pelosi said.
But the meeting breakup put an end to that idea.
Pence: “The president walked into the room and passed out candy. It’s true.”
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 9, 2019
Tuesday night, speaking to the nation from the Oval Office for the first time, Trump argued that the wall was needed to resolve a security and humanitarian “crisis.” He blamed illegal immigration for what he said was a scourge of drugs and violence in the U.S. and asked: “How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?”
Democrats in response accused Trump appealing to “fear, not facts” and manufacturing a border crisis for political gain.
A growing number of Republicans are uncomfortable with the toll the partial shutdown is taking, and Trump’s response to it. They are particularly concerned about the administration’s talk of possibly declaring a national emergency at the border, seeing that as an unprecedented claim on the right of Congress to allocate funding except in the most dire circumstances.
“I prefer that we get this resolved the old-fashioned way,” Thune said.
WATCH: Trump vs ABC’s Jon Karl
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 9, 2019
Trump did not mention the idea of a national emergency declaration Tuesday night. A person unauthorized to discuss the situation said additional “creative options” were being considered, including shifting money from other accounts or tapping other executive authorities for the wall.
Trump on Wednesday floated ideas that have been circulated for a broader immigration overhaul. Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham has suggested a compromise that would include wall funding as well as protecting some immigrants from deportation.
In their own televised remarks, Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Trump of misrepresenting the situation on the border as they urged him to reopen closed government departments and turn loose paychecks for federal workers.
Negotiations on wall funding could proceed in the meantime, they said.
Reporter: “How long are you willing to let this shutdown last, Mr. President?”
President Trump: “Whatever it takes.”
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 9, 2019
Schumer said Trump “just used the backdrop of the Oval Office to manufacture a crisis, stoke fear and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration.”
In an off-the-record lunch with television anchors ahead of his speech, Trump suggested his aides had pushed him to give the address and travel to the border and that he personally did not believe either would make a difference, according to two people familiar with the meeting. But one person said it was unclear whether Trump was serious or joking.
The people familiar with the meeting insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the meeting publicly.
MOMENTS AGO: President Trump says he may still declare a national emergency to build a border wall:
“I have the absolute right if I want. My threshold will be if I can’t make a deal with people that are unreasonable”
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 9, 2019
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Immigrants trying to enter America are more American than law enforcement officers upholding the law
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 9, 2019
(AP)
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14 Responses
A pickup without a reverse in it has very few options…
1. it could smash headfirst into that “beautiful” wall it insists on building
2. it could continue on it’s present course.. up poop’s creek without a paddle in sight
or…
3. for the good of the entire country instead of one man’s ego, it could make a left turn somewhere and seek some common ground and consensus
Trump raised a valid point which I do not think is being addressed, the proposed physical barrier is not new and was actually something that Schumer has agreed to in the past, yet now it seems that since Trump is the one pushing for the physical barrier, for some reason it is now idealistically a bad idea and not something we should stand for.
Go Trump go! The patriots of America who want secure borders are behind you! Don’t listen to the traitors who have no problem leaving the borders insecure!
“through” a temper tantrum? After awl that he’s been through??? Try the word “threw” instead. I no you’re spell chequer had know problem with” through.”
Wow what a brilliant deal maker! We’ve got the worst, most incompetent dumbbell in history sitting in the White House.
for the good of the entire country instead of one man’s ego, it could make a left turn somewhere
Off a cliff
This is about denying the President a comittment he made to the Americans that voted him into office. The Demos only want to obstruct him, though they were willing to fund it under their candidates. Who financed the invasion at the border? Who seeks to demolish the border enforcement and allow illegals entry and benefits they deny to citizens? Finally, why isn’t the UN sanctioning the countries at the root of illegal migrations? They are all afraid to fight terrorism and drug cartels. Quarantine them!
Mexicans come in now last chance!!!
Poster#1, Whose ego, may I ask? Shumer or Pelosi?
The president’s might be bigger but he was duly elected to be president while Shumer and Pelosi were elected to their post by only their district.
I thought Trump claimed he was a great deal maker but so far he hasn’t shown any skill in negotiating. It’s almost like he thinks he can do like he did in Atlantic City, just pick up and leave after declaring bankruptcy.
The president could end the Trump shutdown and re-open the government today, and he should,” Pelosi said.
Interesting thought.
You know who else could end the shut down today?
Nancy Pelosi.
Just agree to fund the wall.
Let’s see her put millions of Americans paychecks before one woman’s ego.
I’m not saying trump is correct. I’m just pointing out the logical absurdity of this specific argument.
I am happy to see that Pelosi has met her match
For years people complained about politicians with no principles who compromised on everything and never kept campaign promises. Trump and the Democrats are demonstrating what happens if politicians have high integrity when it comes to principles and keeping campaign promises. Its very dramatic, and very inefficient. It was with good reason that “politics is the art of compromise”. But we should note the American people decided they were bored with “West Wing” type governance, and what to try a “reality” TV style – so enjoy.
Where were the republicans for the last 2 years when they controlled both houses of congress? If this is such a huge crisis, why didn’t they pass funding this stupid wall a year ago? It could be because there is no crisis, Immigration is at its lowest points, and for all of the president’s insistence that illegal immigrants are coming here to kill us, there is simply not a shred of evidence to back up that lie. I am not saying we should have open borders, but the 5.7B that the president wants for the wall is just a down payment, this wall would cost well over 25B and take decades to finish, not including cost overrruns. This crisis is purely Trump trying to prepare for re-election in 2020, and saving face for his base.
This entire saga is Schumer’s & Peloli’s fault! Simply because these 2 hotheads cannot stomach that President Donald Trump was duly elected as the 45th president, and their idol, Hillary, who went to the abattoir instead of to her firework party at the Javits Convention Center.