US calls urgent border briefing
Democrat and Republican reps to convene at White House
WASHINGTON: Democratic and Republican congressional leaders were expected to attend a briefing on border security at the White House as the government remained partially shut down and President Donald Trump asked in a tweet, “Let’s make a deal?”
The partial government shutdown began on Dec 22. Funding for Trump’s pet project, a wall along the US-Mexico border, has been the sticking point in passing budgets for several government departments.
The briefing was scheduled for 3pm yesterday, the day before Democrats were to assume control of the House and end the Republican monopoly on government.
The exact agenda, however, was not immediately clear, according to a person with knowledge of the briefing who was not authorised to speak publicly about the issue and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the top incoming House Republicans – Kevin McCarthy of California and Steve Scalise of Louisiana – planned to attend, according to aides.
The departing House speaker, Paul Ryan, was not expected.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who is expected to become speaker today, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer planned to attend.
Pelosi said on Tuesday that Democrats would take action to “end the Trump Shutdown” by passing legislation today to reopen government.
“We are giving the Republicans the opportunity to take yes for an answer,” she wrote in a letter to colleagues.
“Senate Republicans have already supported this legislation and if they reject it now, they will be fully complicit in chaos and destruction of the President’s third shutdown of his term.”
The White House invitation came on Tuesday after House Democrats released their plan to re-open the government without approving money for a border wall, unveiling two Bills to fund shuttered government agencies and put hundreds of thousands of federal workers back on the job.
They planned to pass them as soon as the new Congress convenes today.
Responding to the Democratic plan, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday night called it a “non-starter” and said it would not re-open the government “because it fails to secure the border and puts the needs of other countries above the needs of our own citizens”.
Trump spent the weekend saying that Democrats should return to Washington to negotiate, firing off Twitter taunts.
After aides suggested that there would not necessarily be a traditional wall as Trump had described since his presidential campaign, Trump stated that he really still wanted to build a border wall.
On Tuesday morning, after tweeting a New Year’s message to “EVERYONE INCLUDING THE HATERS AND THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA”, Trump tweeted: “The Democrats, much as I suspected, have allocated no money for a new Wall. So imaginative! The problem is, without a Wall there can be no real Border Security.”
But he seemed to shift tactics later in the day, appealing to Pelosi.
“Border Security and the Wall ‘thing’ and Shutdown is not where Nancy Pelosi wanted to start her tenure as Speaker! Let’s make a deal?” he tweeted.
Whether the Republican-led Senate would consider the Democratic Bills – or if Trump would sign either into law – was unclear.
McConnell spokesman Donald Stewart said Senate Republicans would not take action without Trump’s backing. — AP
If they (Senate Republicans) reject this legislation now, they will be fully complicit in chaos and destruction of the President’s third shutdown of his term. Nancy Pelosi