Democrats must make wall deal: Trump

Pelosi eyes House bills to reopen agencies, including Treasury Dept.

President Donald Trump stood by his demands for funding for a border wall Sunday as another round of shutdown talks failed to break an impasse, while newly empowered House Democrats planned to step up the pressure on Trump and Republican lawmakers to reopen the government.

Trump, who spent part of the day at Camp David for staff meetings, showed no signs of budging on his demand for $5.6 billion for a wall along the U.S.Mexico border.

A meeting with senior congressional aides led by VicePresident Mike Pence at the White House complex yielded little progress.

Seeking to strike an optimistic note as he returned from the presidential retreat in Maryland, Trump said he had told aides to say that they wanted a steel barrier, rather than the concrete wall he promised during the campaign. Trump said Democrats “don’t like concrete, so we’ll give them steel.”

The president has already suggested his definition of the wall is flexible, but Democrats have made clear they see a wall as immoral and ineffective and prefer other types of border security funded at already agreed upon levels.

With the partial shutdown in its third week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she intends to begin passing individual bills to reopen agencies in the coming days, starting with the Treasury Department to ensure people receive their tax refunds. That effort is designed to squeeze Senate Republicans, some of whom are growing increasingly anxious about the extended shutdown.