Trump’s anniversary as prez marred by shutdown, protests
LAST DITCH EFFORT US lawmakers to launch lastditch bid at 1 am on Monday to end impasse WASHINGTON:
Donald Trump’s first anniversary as US president was marred by chaos on Saturday as lawmakers traded bitter recriminations over a government shutdown while mass demonstrations erupted in cities across the country.
The famed Statue of Liberty was among the federal sites that were shuttered on Saturday. But the real impact of the shutdown won’t be fully felt until Monday morning, when hundreds of thousands of public sector workers are set to stay home without pay.
Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell on Saturday night tried to head off that possibility, setting a key vote for a funding measure for 1 am on Monday.
Highlighting the deep political polarization, crowds estimated to number in the hundreds of thousands took to the streets of major US cities to march against the president and his policies.
“This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present,” Trump, who is in Washington instead of celebrating at his Mar-a-Lago resort as originally planned, tweeted in reference to the shutdown.
“Democrats are far more concerned with Illegal Immigrants than they are with our great Military or Safety at our dangerous Southern Border,” he posted, later accusing the opposition party of “holding our Military hostage.”
The impact of the shutdown would be felt acutely if it lasts into the coming work week.
Essential federal services and military activity are continuing, but even active duty troops will not be paid until a deal is reached to reopen the US government.
A deal had appeared likely on Friday afternoon, when Trump -who has touted himself as a master negotiator -- seemed to be close to an agreement with Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer on a measure to prevent the expulsion of undocumented migrants who arrived in the United States as children.
But no such compromise was in the language that reached Congress for a stopgap motion to keep the government open for four weeks while a final arrangement is discussed. And Republicans failed to win enough Democratic support to bring it to a vote.
Congress reconvened for a rare Saturday session, where leaders of both sides were meant to hammer out their differences to prevent the shutdown from stretching into Monday. Instead, they traded accusations of responsibility for the shutdown.
Schumer said trying to negotiate with Trump “was like negotiating with Jell-O.”
“It’s impossible to negotiate with a constantly moving target,” he said. “President Trump is so mercurial it’s been impossible to get him to agree to anything.”
Meanwhile, McConnell said Schumer “took the extraordinary step” of preventing the legislation from passing and thus “plunging the country into this totally avoidable mess.”
“We’re dysfunctional right now,” said Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who voted in favour of the funding measure.