9, January 2019
US: Trump reiterates call for border wall funding amid government shutdown 0
US President Donald Trump has described the situation along the country’s border with Mexico as a “growing crisis,” reiterating his call for funding a wall that he claimed was “absolutely critical to border security.”
In a televised speech from the Oval Office on Tuesday night, Trump said there was a “humanitarian and national security crisis” at the southern US border, adding that all Americans had been hurt by illegal immigration.
“This barrier is absolutely critical to border security,” Trump said in his address. “This is just common sense. This is a choice between right and wrong, between justice and injustice.”
The US president pointed the finger of blame at congressional democrats for the partial government shutdown which has caused political turmoil in Washington for nearly three weeks over disagreement on funding the construction of a border wall.
Trump stressed that the only solution to resolve the deadlock was for democrats to pass a spending bill which would include funding for a border wall with Mexico.
The US president said that law enforcement needed $5.7 billion to build border fence, which he claimed would stop the influx of drugs, criminals and illegal immigrants to the country.
Trump also said that he would invite congressional leadership to White House on Wednesday to negotiate a deal over border security.
Results of a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday showed 51 percent of Americans believe Trump deserves most of the blame for the shutdown, up 4 percentage points from last month.
Roughly one-third said congressional Democrats were to blame and 7 percent blamed congressional Republicans.
Congressional Democratic leadership swiftly responds to Trump
Shortly after the Oval Office address, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Charles Schumer condemned Trump’s remarks in a joint statement and accused him of trying to “stoke fear” with his calls for a wall on the Mexican border.
“Sadly, much of what we have heard from President Trump throughout this senseless shutdown has been full of misinformation and even malice,” said Pelosi, who spoke first. “The President has chosen fear. We want to start with the facts.”
Schumer criticized Trump for using the Oval Office to make his pitch for the US-Mexico border wall.
“Most presidents have used Oval Office addresses for noble purposes. This president just used the backdrop of the Oval Office to manufacture a crisis, stoke fear, and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration,” he said.
Schumer insisted that the US president should separate the government shutdown from the debate over border security, calling on Trump to end the shutdown “now.”
Source: Presstv
10, January 2019
US: Trump storms out of meeting with Democrats on shutdown 0
President Donald Trump said “bye-bye” and stormed out of negotiations Wednesday on funding a US-Mexico border wall when Democratic opponents refused to agree to the project.
“A total waste of time,” Trump tweeted about his White House meeting with top Democratic congressional leaders. “I said bye-bye, nothing else works!”
Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, told journalists Trump “sort of slammed the table,” then “got up and walked out.”
“Again, we saw a temper tantrum because he couldn’t get his way,” Schumer said. Although the two sides agreed that the meeting ended abruptly, they argued over who was to blame.
According to supporters of Trump at the meeting, the president asked Democratic leaders whether they would agree to fund his wall project in exchange for him ending a painful shutdown of swaths of government, which he has instigated in retaliation for the standoff.
The Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, “raised her hand and said no, not at all,” said Kevin McCarthy, the senior Republican in the House, who was also present. “We heard once again that Democratic leaders are unwilling to even negotiate,” Vice President Mike Pence said.
The vice president insisted that Trump came in good faith.
“The president walked into the room and passed out candy,” Pence said. “I don’t recall him ever raising his voice or slamming his hand.”
Shutdown
Trump wants $5.7 billion to fund a wall he says is needed to keep out dangerous illegal immigrants, drug dealers and people smugglers from Mexico.
Democrats say the wall would have little impact on real border problems and that Trump’s tough approach has instead created a humanitarian crisis among vulnerable, unthreatening migrants.
Trump’s main lever to exert pressure on Congress has been to refuse signing spending bills that cover large areas of government. As a result, some 800,000 federal employees and many more contractors have now been without pay for almost three weeks.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer: “we saw a temper tantrum”
Democrats insist they will not lift their opposition to the wall project and believe Americans will tire of the shutdown chaos and blame Trump.
But Trump indicated Wednesday on a visit to Republican allies in Congress that he will continue to play hardball.
“Whatever it takes,” he told journalists, when asked how long the shutdown could continue.
Earlier at the White House, Trump told journalists that if he cannot get his way, he could declare a national emergency — a measure that allows him to bypass Congress and take the wall funds he needs from the military.
“I think we might work a deal, and if we don’t, we might go that route,” he said, insisting he has the “absolute right” to declare an emergency, despite warnings in Congress that this could be seen as serious presidential overreach.
‘American blood’ speech
Trump’s triumphant 2016 campaign relied heavily on his “build the wall” slogan and since then, he has pushed the idea that the United States is being overwhelmed by dangerous migrants who enter the country illegally.
But with Democrats winning control of the House in November midterm elections, Trump’s wall push has come up against a wall of its own.
This week, an increasingly frustrated president is trying to seize the initiative. On Thursday, he will fly down to the southern border that he described in a prime-time television speech Tuesday as an open door to murderers and other criminals.
“How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?” Trump said.
“For those who refuse to compromise in the name of border security, I would ask to imagine if it was your child, your husband, or your wife whose life was so cruelly shattered and totally broken,” he said in the nine-minute speech.
Trump claimed Wednesday that his address had been a success.
But Schumer scoffed: “I don’t think he persuaded a soul with his talk last night. It was same old same old — mistruths, divisiveness. Didn’t have the effect he had hoped.”
Washington is now waiting for either side to make a move — and to see whether Trump will dare invoke emergency powers.
“Neither side feel they can cave and not pay a terrible political price,” Republican Senator Marco Rubio said on Fox News.
“Unfortunately, two things caught in the middle are securing our borders, and the men and women in federal government,” he added.
(AFP)