US President Donald Trump and congressional leaders were set on Friday to meet and discuss ways to break an impasse pitting his demand for building a border wall against Democrats’ call for alternative security measures, coming after the partial US government shutdown hit the two-week mark.
About 800,000 federal workers have been impacted by the December 22 closure of about one-quarter of the federal government as Trump withheld his support for new funding until he secures $5 billion to start building the wall along the US-Mexico border that he promised during his campaign.
Such a wall, he has argued repeatedly before, is needed to curb the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs over the southwestern border. When he ran for presidents in 2016, he vowed Mexico would pay for the wall, which it had refused to do.
On Thursday, Trump attempted to keep the pressure on Democrats, even as they gained significant new power with their takeover of the House of Representatives at the start of a new Congress.
“Build the Wall,” the Republican president demanded via Twitter. In remarks to reporters during that same day, Trump said, “You can call it a barrier. You can call it whatever you want. But essentially, we need protection in our country.”
As Trump dug in, opposition Democrats also did, leaving many to wonder just how much progress might be made during Friday’s White House meeting.
“We’re not doing a wall,” said Democrat Nancy Pelosi late on Thursday, several hours after she was sworn in as the new speaker of the House of Representatives. “It has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with a wall is an immorality between countries. It’s an old way of thinking. It isn’t cost effective.”
Late on Thursday, the House passed two Democratic bills to quickly reopen government agencies for varying lengths of time, in spite a White House veto threat. Earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, labeled the House effort “political theater, not productive lawmaking,” even though the Senate late month approved identical legislation.
Democratic Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard, speaking to reporters late on Thursday, argued that funding a border wall, which ultimately could cost more than $24 billion, would hamper other, more important national security protections.
She also noted that more federal law enforcement agents were needed to intercept illegal opioids and other “contraband” moving through US ports of entry. She added more money was needed for the Coast Guard to beef up the US presence in the Arctic at a time when Russia and China increasingly were on the prowl for that region’s natural resources.
Without a deal to end the partial government shutdown, the Department of Homeland Security will not be able to bring some laid off workers back to their jobs while others continue to be forced to work without paychecks for the time being.
Arrays of other federal agencies are similarly hobbled, including the Justice Department, Commerce Department, and departments of Agriculture, Labor, Interior, and Treasury.
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