“Winning is good,” Pelosi quipped to a packed House, in a boast more characteristic of her Republican rival. Her victory might be short lived, however, as the leading House Democrat expressed hopes rather than guarantees that a second shutdown would be kept off the table.
By Molly Prince
“I was very delighted when she agreed,” Schumer confirmed to Zach Cohen, the National Journal’s Senate correspondent.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi formally invited President Donald Trump to deliver the State of the Union address on Feb. 5, to which Trump accepted the invitation. The State of the Union was originally scheduled for Jan. 29, however, it was delayed after Pelosi refused to host it during the government shutdown.
“I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the president’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber until the government has been reopened,” Pelosi wrote on Wednesday. (RELATED: Stacey Abrams Allegedly Attempts To Run Illegal Ads In Support Of Non-Existent Gubernatorial Run-Off)
Five days later, after Congress passed a bill to re-open the government, Pelosi sent a second letter to Trump.
“When I wrote to you on January 23rd, I stated that we should work together to find a mutually agreeable date when government has reopened to schedule this year’s State of the Union address,” the Speaker wrote. “In our conversation today, we agreed on February 5th.”
After losing in November to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, Abrams has been mulling over a second run for the position when his term expires in 2022. However, she is also considering running for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat when Republican Sen. David Perdue is up for re-election in 2020.
Abrams and her campaign consistently accused Kemp of racist voter suppression. A spokeswoman for Abrams’ campaign released a statement in October claiming that the he was “maliciously wielding the power of his office to suppress the vote for political gain and silence the voices of thousands of eligible voters — the majority of them people of color.”
Following Abrams’ loss, she has appeared regularly on cable news shows repeating those assertions. There has been no evidence to corroborate Abrams’ claims.
By Ryan Saavedra
Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a press conference following Trump’s announcement that he would sign a short-term continuing resolution to fund the federal government through mid-February.
“The American people do not like it when you throw a wrench into the lives of government workers over an unrelated political dispute,” Schumer said. “Working people throughout America empathized with the federal workers and were aghast at what the president was doing to them. Hopefully, now the president has learned his lesson”
“Now, once the president signs the continuing resolution, we in Congress will roll up our sleeves and try to find some agreement on border security,” Schumer continued. “Today the president will sign the bill to reopen the government along the outlines of what we have proposed and hopefully it means a lesson learned for the White House and for many of our Republican colleagues: Shutting down the government over a policy difference is self-defeating.”
“It accomplishes nothing but pain and suffering for the country and incurs an enormous political cost to the party shutting it down,” Schumer continued.
WATCH:
During the press conference, Pelosi refused to answer whether she would accept “any sort of physical barrier in a border security plan.”
After 36 days of spirited debate and dialogue, I have seen and heard from enough Democrats and Republicans that they are willing to put partisanship aside — I think — and put the security of the American people first,” Trump said at a press conference on Friday. “I do believe they’re going to do that. They have said they are for complete border security, and they have finally and fully acknowledged that having barriers, fencing, or walls — or whatever you want to call it — will be an important part of the solution.”
“So let me be very clear: We really have no choice but to build a powerful wall or steel barrier,” Trump concluded. “If we don’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shut down on February 15th, again, or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and the Constitution of the United States to address this emergency. We will have great security.”
By Charlie Spiering
Trump agreed to reopen the government for three weeks while negotiations continued — with no apparent wall funding concessions from Democrats.
The president warned that if Congress could not successfully negotiate a deal including wall funding in three weeks, he would be forced to announce a State of Emergency, which would allow him to shift funds to build border structures without Congress.
“If we don’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government either shuts down on February 15th again or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and the Constitution of the United States to address this emergency,” he said.
He argued that he had heard from enough Democrats during the shutdown who were willing to support border security including physical barriers as part of the solution, allowing him to reopen the government temporarily.
“Many disagree, but I really feel that working with Democrats and Republicans, we can make a truly great and secure deal happen for everyone,” he said.
The president announced a bipartisan congressional committee to review border patrol requests for security and asked them to come up with a compromise deal.
“They will put together a homeland security package for me to shortly sign into law,” Trump said. He urged both parties to work together to solve the problems at the border. He defended the idea of a wall or a physical barrier as part of the negotiations.
“Walls should not be controversial,” Trump said.
The president delivered his remarks in the Rose Garden at the White House. Vice President Mike Pence together with several members of Trump’s cabinet attended the speech including Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Other White House staff including senior adviser Jared Kushner watched the speech. They clapped as Trump announced his decision.
Trump announced his decision as Federal workers face a second missed paycheck as the government shutdown enters its 35th day.
The president thanked federal workers who suffered financial difficulties as a result of the shutdown, vowing that they would receive back pay.
“You are very, very special people. I am so proud that you are citizens of our country,” he said. “When I say ‘Make America Great Again,’ it could never be done without you.”
Trump made his announcement after Congress reached an impasse on a bill to reopen the government. Both Senate measures failed to meet the necessary 60-vote threshold needed to move a bill forward. Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to compromise with Trump on any wall funding, demanding unconditionally that the government be reopened first.
The White House finally caved to Democrats demands, despite Trump’s repeated assertions this week that he would not do so.
By Gregg Re
Although each of the dueling measures was expected to fail even before Thursday, it was hoped twin defeats might spur the two sides into a more serious effort to strike a compromise. Almost every proposal needs 60 votes to advance in the Senate, which is under 53-47 Republican control.
The final vote on the GOP bill was 50-47. West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin was the lone Democrat to cross over and support the GOP package, which would have provided $5.7 billion for President Trump’s proposed border wall while also offering several immigration-related concessions and tightening asylum rules. GOP Sens. Tom Cotton and Mike Lee voted against the Republican measure.
“If this had been a vote to begin debate on a deal to end the shutdown, I would have happily voted yes,” Lee told Fox News. “But this was a vote to end debate on a bill that I believe is fundamentally flawed. In fact, after specifically asking for assurances that we would be allowed to offer amendments, no assurances were given. This bill as is simply does not do enough to reform our immigration system or address the crisis at our southern border.”
The Democrats’ plan would have reopened agency doors through Feb. 8 while bargainers seek a budget accord, but included no wall funding. The vote was 52-44 on the Democratic bill, with all Democrats voting yes and several Republicans crossing over, including Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, Maine Sen. Susan Collins, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson, and Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander. Not voting on the bill were Sens. Richard Burr, Rand Paul, James Risch, and Jacky Rosen.
Both the GOP and Democratic measures would have reopened federal agencies and pay 800,000 federal workers who are about to miss yet another paycheck amid the shutdown, now in its 34th day.
In the wake of the failed votes, a bipartisan colloquy was underway on the Senate floor between senators trying to forge a bipartisan solution to reopen the government.
Several House Democratic representatives, including Reps. John Lewis, Bobby Scott, Gregory Meeks, and Jamie Raskin, were gathered in the back of the Senate chamber during the vote, apparently to protest the Senate’s failure to consider several bills to end the shutdown that passed the Democratic-controlled House.
Border Patrol agents in Yuma, Arizona apprehend a group of over 100 Central Americans who illegally scaled the border wall.
Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate, told Fox News before the votes that she would support both of the proposals, and that Congress has an obligation to work on further negotiations through the weekend.
“I personally think both of them are flawed, but having said that, I’m going to vote for both of them,” Murkowski said. “We’re going to have two show votes, and my hope is that after that, it will allow us to really get down to work.”
Murkowski continued: “So to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, if you don’t like the provisions that have been laid down, then let’s let’s work them through. Let’s get to yes here. I don’t like the asylum provision, quite honestly, that the president laid out there. So let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about this. But if we do these two votes this afternoon and then everybody skedaddles for the weekend –Wow. What kind of a message is that?”
WATCH: TRUMP UNVEILS NEW SLOGAN FOR BORDER WALL
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the Democratic plan was a “down the middle (to) reopen government and has received overwhelming support from both sides before President Trump said he wouldn’t do it.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., countered that the GOP proposal was “a compromise package the president will actually sign,” calling Schumer’s alternative a “dead-end proposal that stands no chance.”
“It’s hard to imagine 60 votes developing for either one,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. GOP moderates such as Murkowski and Susan Collins of Maine are expected to vote for the Democratic plan, as is Cory Gardner of Colorado, one of the few Republicans representing a state carried by Hillary Clinton in 2016.
The White House was eagerly watching Thursday’s votes. Officials think it will be harder for Democrats to keep sticking together amid Trump’s offers, according to a person familiar with White House thinking who was not authorized to speak publicly. They are hopeful for defections by Democrats who may cross party lines to vote with the president.
At a panel discussion held by House Democrats on the effects of the shutdown, union leaders and former Homeland Security officials said they worried about the long-term effects. “I fear we are rolling the dice,” said Tim Manning, a former Federal Emergency Management Agency official. “We will be lucky to get everybody back on the job without a crisis to respond to.”
DEM CAUCUS MEETING ROILED BY TALK THAT SUPER BOWL SECURITY MAY BE AFFECTED BY SHUTDOWN
The partial shutdown began just before Christmas after Trump indicated that he wouldn’t sign a stopgap spending bill backed by top Republicans like McConnell, who shepherded a bill through the Senate that would have funded the government up to Feb. 8. The House passed a plan with money for the wall as one of the last gasps of the eight-year GOP majority.
On Thursday, almost five weeks later, House Democrats continued work on a package that would ignore Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion for a wall with Mexico and would instead pay for other ideas aimed at protecting the border.
How do past border proposals stack up to President Trump’s? GOP strategist Lauren Claffey explains.
Details of Democrats’ border security plan and its cost remained a work in progress. Party leaders said it would include money for scanning devices and other technological tools for improving security at ports of entry and along the border, plus money for more border agents and immigration judges.
A poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research was the latest indicator that the shutdown is hurting Trump with the general public. While his approval among Republicans remains strong, just 34 percent of Americans like his performance as president and 6 in 10 assign a great deal of responsibility to him for the shutdown, about double the share blaming Democrats, according to the poll out Wednesday.
By Mike Lillis
In a letter sent to Pelosi (D-California) on Day 33 of the shutdown, Trump said that he had already accepted her “kind invitation” when he got another letter about security concerns, on January 16. However, both the Secret Service and Homeland Security assured him “there would be absolutely no problem regarding security” and even said so publicly.
“Therefore, I will be honoring your invitation, and fulfilling my Constitutional duty, to deliver important information to the people and Congress the United States of America regarding the State of our Union,” the president wrote on Wednesday.
“It would be so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!” he added at the end, in a typical Trumpian flourish.
Pelosi responded within a couple hours, telling Trump that the House will “not consider a concurrent resolution” authorizing the president’s speech in the House chamber until the government has reopened, in effect rescinding her invitation.
The letter exchange is just the latest twist in the war of words between Trump, a Republican, and the congressional Democrats. At the end of last year, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) blocked the approval of a bill passed by the Republican-majority House giving $5.6 billion to Trump’s proposed border wall, triggering a government shutdown. Pelosi, who became Speaker on January 3, after a new Democrat-majority House was sworn in, has flat-out refused any funding for the wall, ever, calling it “immoral.”
About a quarter of the government has been shuttered as a result, with some 800,000 federal workers either sent home or made to work without pay until the impasse is resolved.
Attempting to leverage Trump into surrendering, Pelosi sent the January 16 letter about security concerns, bringing up the fact that Trump’s Secret Service security detail and indeed the entire Department of Homeland Security are among the furloughed feds.
Both DHS and the Secret Service immediately chimed in to say that this mission was critical and would not be affected. Trump also fired back the following day, denying Pelosi the use of US military assets for congressional travel – including a trip she and a delegation of House Democrats have already embarked on, to Belgium and and Afghanistan. Pelosi fumed, but did not take the final step of dis-inviting the president at the time.
Under Article II, Section 3 of the US Constitution, the president “shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” It was traditionally delivered in writing until President Woodrow Wilson appeared in person before the joint session of Congress in 1913.
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January 17, 2019
According to Fox News reporter, Chad Pergram, furious phone calls are flying back and forth from The Hill to the State to the Pentagon and White House.
JANUARY 17, 2019
President Trump puts the squeeze on Nancy Pelosi over the government shutdown by cancelling a planned trip overseas on Thursday – just an hour before her congressional delegation was set to depart. The move is the latest shot fired by Trump as he urges Democrats to negotiate on a border security deal that would include funding for a border wall.
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