Wall negotiations devolve into on-camera fracas
Trump vows he will get project funded or he’ll shut down government
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer berated one another on camera Tuesday over Trump’s border wall, an Oval Office spectacle that underscored the distance between the two sides as they confront a fast-approaching deadline for a partial government shutdown.
The stunning public spat, during which Schumer accused the president of throwing a “temper tantrum,” ended with Trump declaring that he would be proud to shut down the government in order to get the money he wants for his long-promised U.S.-Mexico border wall.
If the president follows through on the threat, about 25 percent of the federal government would begin to run out of money on Dec. 21, putting hundreds of thousands of federal workers at risk of getting furloughed without pay just before Christmas.
The two sides remain billions of dollars apart on border-security spending — the president is demanding $5 billion for a wall, and Democrats will offer no more than $1.3 billion for fencing — and Tuesday’s talks brought them no closer to a resolution.
The three leaders pointed fin-
gers, raised their voices and interrupted one another repeatedly as they fought over policy and politics, laying bare their differences for all to see.
Pelosi, D-Calif., and Schumer, DN.Y., had not expected the session to be televised and repeatedly asked Trump to take the discussions off-camera. But the president allowed the acrimonious encounter to continue for nearly 20 minutes before kicking the media out of the Oval Office.
As the argument dragged on, Schumer lectured Trump, saying, “Elections have consequences, Mr. President.”
Trump claimed that, because she is working to nail down the votes to become speaker, “Nancy’s in a situation where it’s not easy for her to talk right now.”
Pelosi retorted: “Please don’t characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting as the leader of the House Democrats who just won a big victory.”
It was the first meeting of the three leaders in more than a year, and if it offered a taste of politics in Washington in 2019, when Democrats will control the House, the capital is in for a rough ride.
And while Trump has dangled shutdown threats in the past over funding the wall, Democrats’ upcoming House takeover has given both sides incentives to dig in, raising the prospects of an extended shutdown.
Republicans are about to lose their grip on full control of Washington and know this is their last chance to deliver on Trump’s border wall, a presidential promise many GOP members echoed in their own campaigns.
GOP congressional leaders had urged Trump to put off a shutdown fight until after the midterm elections for fear of losing more seats. Now, with the midterms over, the president appears to want that fight, even though few congressional Republicans desire a shutdown.
Democrats feel emboldened by their success in the midterm elections and are in no mood to give in to Trump’s demands, especially with Pelosi and Schumer facing pressure from liberals in their party to not back down. Trump long promised Mexico would pay for the wall but is now demanding that U.S. taxpayers foot the bill, a reversal that has hardened Democrats’ resolve against a project Pelosi has termed “immoral.”
During the private portion of the meeting, Pelosi pressed Trump on his claim that Mexico would pay for the wall, and he told her that the money would come from the newly renegotiated North American trade deal. It wasn’t clear how this would work .
The $1.3 billion proposed by Democrats would extend current funding levels for border fencing contained in a spending bill for the Homeland Security Department a level that would give Trump no new money for work on a wall.
Absent an agreement by the end of next week, funding will run out for the Homeland Security Department and other agencies, including the Justice, Interior and Agriculture departments. Those agencies, making up about 25 percent of the federal government, are operating on a short-term spending bill Congress passed last week to move the shutdown deadline. .
Any shutdown would be limited in scope, but there are still numerous federal workers employed by agencies large and small that are at risk of shutting down everything except operations deemed critical.
Pelosi and Schumer implored Trump to steer clear of a shutdown.
“I think the American people recognize that we must keep government open, that a shutdown is not worth anything and that you should not have a Trump shutdown,” Pelosi said, to which Trump replied, “Did you say ‘Trump’?”
Trump initially said he did not want a shutdown, but in the end, he announced he was willing to close the government.
“I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck,” Trump declared. “Because the people of this country don’t want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into this country. So I will take the mantle, I will be the one to shut it down. I won’t blame you for it.”
During the private part of the meeting, Pelosi told reporters later, she warned Trump that if he doesn’t accept the deal Democrats have offered him, the House will go ahead and pass it next year, under Democratic control.
Pelosi told Trump the House would not even be able to pass his $5 billion wall bill this session, but Trump insisted that the House could but it would be pointless because it would not pass the Senate.
“OK, then do it,” Pelosi challenged the president.
“Nancy, I’d have it passed in two seconds,” Trump said. House GOP leadership aides agree that a $5 billion wall bill could pass the House, and it may come up for a vote by the end of next week.
Trump continued: “Nancy, I need 10 votes from Chuck,” referring to Senate math requiring 60 votes to advance spending bills.
Schumer sought to interject and told Trump: “We have solutions that will pass the House and Senate right now and will not shut down the government, and that’s what we’re urging you to do. Not threaten to shut down the government because you can’t get your way.”
The leaders also argued about the meaning of the midterm election results. As Pelosi and Schumer pointed to Democrats’ resounding win in the House, Trump said: “Excuse me, did we win the Senate? We won the Senate.”
“When the president brags that he won North Dakota and Indiana, he’s in real trouble,” Schumer remarked in response.
Vice President Mike Pence sat near Trump in an armchair the entire time without saying anything.
By the end of the day, Pelosi was crowing over her performance in the meeting, telling fellow Democrats privately that getting Trump to own a potential shutdown was an accomplishment.
Pelosi gave this version of events, according to the aide: “The press is all there! Chuck is really shouting out. I was trying to be the mom. I can’t explain it to you. It was so wild. It goes to show you: You get into a tinkle contest with a skunk, you get tinkle all over you.”