Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Democrats, Trump clash on wall funds
President says in public spat he’s willing to force shutdown
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer clashed Tuesday over funding for the border wall, an Oval Office encounter that ended with Trump declaring he’d shut down the government to get what he wants.
The public spat, during which Schumer accused the president of throwing a “temper tantrum,” ended with no resolution and appeared to increase the chances of a partial government shutdown at the end of next week.
While Trump has suggested he may be willing to trade with Democrats and has publicly praised Pelosi, he was focused Tuesday on reinforcing his hard-line
immigration promises, repeatedly stressing border security and the wall as a critical part. Democrats were in no mood to sympathize, emphasizing their newfound political strength.
“Elections have consequences, Mr. President,” said Schumer.
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 answered: “Please don’t characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting.”
It was the first encounter among the three leaders in more than a year.
Pelosi and Schumer both implored Trump not to shut down the government.
“I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck,” Trump said, insisting the public doesn’t want criminals and others coming into the country. “I’m going to shut it down for border security.”
“I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it,” Trump added.
Trump wants $5 billion for the wall in 2019 while Democrats are offering only $1.3 billion — a gulf that on Tuesday showed no signs of getting bridged.
The meeting occurred several hours after House Republicans dug in on their demand for $5 billion in support of Trump’s stance.
“Our position is the president’s position,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters at a news conference. “We share the president’s goal. … We need to secure the border.”
Funding for the Homeland Security Department and a number of other agencies dries up Dec. 21 unless Congress and Trump act first.
Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday urged Democrats to accommodate Trump’s wall demands, warning lawmakers either needed to cooperate or “prepare for a very, very long month.”
“For the nation’s sake, I hope that my Democratic friends are prepared to have a serious discussion and reach an accommodation with the president on funding for border security,” he said in a speech on the Senate floor.
There were two brief government shutdowns earlier this year, one of them provoked by Senate Democrats over immigration.
The $1.3 billion would extend current funding levels contained in the spending bill for the Homeland Security Department — which Democrats want to maintain at existing levels if no new deal can be reached.
If there is no 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 shortterm spending bill Congress passed last week to move the shutdown deadline. The rest of the federal government, including the Pentagon, has already been funded through the 2019 budget year.
Both sides came into the negotiating session ready to debate. Trump soon dug into Democrats on the border wall, starting a back-and-forth with Pelosi when she said there should not be a “Trump shutdown.”
“Did you say Trump?” the president said, as the two argued over whether Trump had enough Republican votes in the House to support his border wall plan.
“The fact is that you do not have the votes in the House,” Pelosi declared.
Trump shot back: “Nancy, I do.”
Trump’s approach to Schumer was initially friendly, but it soon turned sour.
“The wall, that’ll be the one that will be the easiest of all,” Trump said with a smile when he raised the issue for the first time as reporters looked on. “What do you think Chuck — maybe not?”
“It is called funding the government, Mr. President,” a stern-faced Schumer said.
“You don’t want to shut down the government,
Chuck,” Trump later told his fellow New Yorker, referring to a brief shutdown in January when Democrats insisted that protections for migrants brought to the United States as children must be part of any funding measure. “The last time that you did, you got killed” politically.
Pelosi and Schumer both repeatedly asked to make the conversation private, without success, as Trump argued that the public meeting was a good thing: “It’s called transparency.”
Trump repeatedly returned to his argument that the border wall is needed for security reasons. He also said that “tremendous” portions of the wall have already been built. In fact, some barrier renovation has happened, but little wall construction has been completed under Trump.
If Democrats refuse to support the wall, the military will build the remaining sections, Trump said. “The wall will get built,” he insisted.
Pence, a former House member, sat silently as Trump and the two Democrats bickered. He later called the meeting a “good discussion.” Asked to describe the atmosphere in the private meeting that followed the public quarrel, Pence said, “candid.”
Trump later called it a “friendly meeting,” saying “I’ve actually liked them for a long period of time and I respect them both. And we made a lot of progress.”
Pelosi and Schumer have urged Trump to support a measure that includes a half-dozen government funding bills largely agreed upon by lawmakers, along with a separate measure that would fund the Department of Homeland Security at current levels through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. The homeland bill includes the $1.3 billion for fencing and other security measures at the border.
If Trump rejects that, Democrats are urging a continuing resolution that would fund all the remaining appropriations bills at current levels through Sept. 30.
“We gave the president two options that would keep the government open,” Pelosi and Schumer said in a statement after the meeting. “It’s his choice to accept one of those options or shut the government down.”
Pelosi said she and many other Democrats consider the wall “immoral, ineffective and expensive.”
Earlier Tuesday, Trump expressed his desire for border wall funding across five tweets.
He touted his administration’s efforts to deter illegal border crossings, praising Border Patrol officers and the military for doing a “FANTASTIC job” and claiming that “Our Southern Border is now Secure and will remain that way.”
Yet Trump argued that the “Great Wall” he repeatedly promised on the campaign trail would be “a far easier & less expensive solution,” and he accused Democrats of resisting his plans “for strictly political reasons.”
“People do not yet realize how much of the Wall, including really effective renovation, has already been built,” Trump wrote in one of the messages. “If the Democrats do not give us the votes to secure our Country, the Military will build the remaining sections of the Wall. They know how important it is!”
He did not elaborate on how that would be funded. Trump had long promised that Mexico would pay for the wall but Mexico has refused.
“I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck. I’m going to shut it down for border security.” — President Donald Trump