Deal Needs Wall: Trump Tells Lawmakers

Date: 30 January 2019 - 20:58

News ID: ۶۲۶۷۳

WASHINGTON (AP) — Capitol Hill negotiators were hopeful of an agreement as they were about to officially kick off talks on a homeland security spending bill stalled over funding for President Donald Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday.
Left on their own, the seasoned House and Senate lawmakers say they could easily reach a border security deal as they have for two years in a row. But whether Trump would sign it is another matter altogether.
Trump tweeted Wednesday morning, hours before the negotiators were to sit down for their first meeting, that the group of Republicans and Democrats is "Wasting their time!” if they aren’t "discussing or contemplating a Wall or Physical Barrier.”
Democrats, who hold the House, remain united against Trump’s vision for a massive wall project, yet some are signaling a willingness to deal in the wake of the 35-day partial government shutdown.
"We’ve consistently said that we do not support a medieval border wall from sea to shining sea,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a member of the House Democratic leadership. "However, we are able to support fencing where is makes sense, but it should be done in an evidence-based fashion.”
"We’ve come to big agreements before,” said the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New York. Schumer said that "when the president stays out of the negotiations we almost always succeed. When he mixes in, it’s a formula for failure. So, I’d ask President Trump, ‘Let Congress deal with it on its own.’”
For their part, GOP leaders want to de-escalate the battle over the border wall and suggest they too could be flexible as bargainers, who hold their first session Wednesday, seek a bipartisan agreement.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who pressured Trump last week to end the shutdown, warned the president against triggering another shutdown or declaring a national emergency on the Southwest boundary, a move that could let him redirect budget funds to building segments of the wall.