House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared Thursday that there’ll be no “wall money” in any compromise border security deal as she and President Donald Trump signaled that congressional negotiators may never satisfy his demands for his cherished Southwest border proposal.
Trump, who in recent weeks has expressed indifference to whether the term “wall” or something else is used, clung with renewed tenacity to the word that became his campaign mantra, declaring, “A wall is a wall.” Yet in a series of tweets and statements, he issued conflicting messages about what he’d need to declare victory and suggested that merely repairing existing structures along the boundary could be a major component of a triumph.
Amid signs that Trump’s leverage in Congress is atrophying, he seemed to aim one tweet at his conservative followers. He wrote that Democrats “are not going to give money to build the DESPERATELY needed WALL. I’ve got you covered. Wall is already being built, I don’t expect much help!”
Pelosi, D-Calif., left the door open for an accord that could finance some barriers, citing what she said was already existing “Normandy fencing” that blocks vehicles.
“If the president wants to call that a wall, he can call that a wall,” she told reporters. She added: “Is there a place for enhanced fencing? Normandy fencing would work.”
Yet Pelosi’s other remark — “There’s not going to be any wall money in the legislation” — underscored the linguistic battle underway. It also showed that Democrats see no reason to let Trump claim a win in a cause that stirs his hard-right voters and enrages liberals.
Trump’s political muscle weakened following Democrats’ capture of House control in the November election. It waned further after his surrender last week in ending a record 35-day partial government shutdown without getting a penny of the $5.7 billion he’d demanded to start building the wall.
In another sign of his flagging hold over lawmakers, the GOP-controlled Senate backed legislation on a 68-23 vote Thursday that opposes withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan.
When Trump folded on the shutdown, he agreed to reopen government until Feb. 15, giving lawmakers more time to craft a bipartisan border security compromise.
If there’s no deal by then, Trump has threatened to revive the shutdown or declare a national emergency, which he claims would let him shift billions from unrelated military construction projects to erecting his wall. He criticized Democrats’ negotiating stance so far, telling reporters in the Oval Office that Pelosi is “just playing games” and saying GOP bargainers are “wasting their time.”
Large sections of WALL have already been built with much more either under construction or ready to go. Renovation of existing WALLS is also a very big part of the plan to finally, after many decades, properly Secure Our Border. The Wall is getting done one way or the other!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
Lets just call them WALLS from now on and stop playing political games! A WALL is a WALL!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
Democrats remain united against those tactics. Republican opposition seems nearly as strong, and GOP leaders are becoming increasingly assertive about publicly telegraphing those feelings to Trump.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters that “there are a lot of us that are trying to dissuade” Trump from declaring a national emergency should border security talks deadlock. Cornyn, a close adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, said he has “absolute confidence” that such a declaration would be challenged in court, tying up the money, and said Congress might even vote to defy him.
“The president needs to know that before he heads down that path,” Cornyn said.
No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Thune of South Dakota told reporters that “a lot of folks are uncomfortable” with an emergency declaration. He stopped short of ruling out a challenge by the Senate, calling the question “hypothetical.”
Earlier this week, McConnell, R-Ky., a longtime opponent of shutdowns, called the move “government dysfunction which should be embarrassing to everyone on a bipartisan basis.”
Lawmakers caution that if Trump declares an emergency, future Democratic presidents might do the same for issues they favor that Congress derails. Some are reluctant to cede Congress’ constitutional power to control spending to any president, and many say there is no real border emergency.
With Murders up 33% in Mexico, a record, why wouldn’t any sane person want to build a Wall! Construction has started and will not stop until it is finished. @LouDobbs @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
Democrats offered further details of their border security plan Thursday, unveiling a measure that would provide no wall funds.
It would significantly boost spending for scanners at ports of entry, humanitarian aid for apprehended migrants, and new aircraft and ships to police the U.S.-Mexico border. It would freeze the number of border patrol agents and block any wall construction in wildlife refuges along the border.
Without a border security accord, lawmakers could avert another shutdown by once again temporarily financing dozens of federal agencies, perhaps for months.
Trump has been unpredictable in the shutdown debate, mixing softer rhetoric about a multifaceted approach to border security with campaign-style bluster about the wall. Lawmakers negotiating the bill are aware that he could quash an agreement at any time, plunging them back into crisis.
“Obviously, it makes it more challenging,” Cornyn told reporters. “You keep talking and try to understand where he is and try to work it out.”
Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee are wasting their time. Democrats, despite all of the evidence, proof and Caravans coming, are not going to give money to build the DESPERATELY needed WALL. I’ve got you covered. Wall is already being built, I don’t expect much help!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
Democrats are becoming the Party of late term abortion, high taxes, Open Borders and Crime!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
Very sadly, Murder cases in Mexico in 2018 rose 33% from 2017, to 33,341. This is a big contributor to the Humanitarian Crisis taking place on our Southern Border and then spreading throughout our Country. Worse even than Afghanistan. Much caused by DRUGS. Wall is being built!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
(AP)
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7 Responses
I wish the Democrats would remember that they are supposed to represent the interests of the United States and its legal citizens. Regardless of what the Dems say, the border is not secure. The federal government is responsible for ensuring that the border is secure. Obama and previous presidents were not responsible in their duties to secure the border. So now there are millions of people here illegally, and taking advantage of the services that the country, through its taxpayers, are supposed to be used by legal citizens. I’ll just take one education. Someone comes here illegally, and receives a free education. Of course it’s not free, we’re paying for it. How about medical care? Illegals go into emergency rooms and can’t be refused treatment. They’re not going to pay the bill. Who’s paying the bill? You guessed it, the legal, taxpaying American.
We have a system already in place with laws regarding how to come here legally. We need to enforce those laws and secure the border to ensure the safety of the citizens.
If Nancy and Chuck are so concerned about the illegals, they can take them to their homes, and house and feed them.
Maybe it’s already being built. Maybe it’s not. President Trump’s truths are not always the same as your’s or mine. He’s very bendy that way. Whatever shuts him up and helps him sleep at night…
The DemonRat party has morphed into a socialist Marxist America hating one world government TRAITOROUS party.
on top of it,it has accommodated and taken ito it’s party the most vicious anti-semites and Israel haters.
If God forbid these filthy traitorous and murderous communist swines ever win the Presidency our great republic is finished
Chugbugi…..mazel tov on adding a few new words to your vocabulary…..DemonRat, socialist, Marxist, communist swines Tratorous, murderous etc. Perhaps you could apply for a position on the Trumpkopf’s tweeting team. You also demonstrate an impressive use of the ALL CAPS communications technique.
The reality, as the Trumpkopf has tweeted s over 60 times in the past month, is that great big beautiful WALL is either already under construction or has already been built from “Sea to Shining Sea” (as he promised in one of the early MAGA rallies until the Junior Dumpkopf told him the Mexican border doesn’t extend to the Atlantic so perhaps from “Sea to Shining Gulf (of Mexico”). Even better, this great big beautiful wall was paid for by Mexico and is “invisible” and can only be seen by illegal migrants who when they see this great, big beautiful (invisible) Wall tremble in fear and return to Mexico City and simply take a flight to New York (using fake Russian passports) and take jobs at one of the Trumpkopf’s golf clubs. Isn’t America great??
The President should say he has changed his mind and no longer wants the wall, and then the Democrats would start demanding it!
Chugbgi is correct. Think of the Democratic party of they 80s, 90s and early 2000s. Was not like this at all
Under the Constitution, the Congress has exclusive control of the budget. For the president to spend the government’s money without authorization would be an impeachable offense (as opposed to being politically incorrect, which is what the Democrats have been screaming about).
However most of the wall was build by previous presidents (with Democratic approval), so Trump is correct in saying the wall is already being built. And he could attempt to raise funds privately or use money approved for “security” that was left in a non-specific line in the budget, but that would hardly cover building a wall, especially since the unwalled areas tend to be in remote locations with higher construction costs.