IRS Workers Union Threatens Tax Refund Delays…Does That Include For Illegal Immigrants?

By Patrick Howley

The union representing Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees gave members the option to skip work during the government shutdown if they happened to be one of the 36,000 people who were recalled — some of whom were not paid, but all of whom now get back pay. Now, the IRS workers are wielding their political power the only way they know how: by making themselves even more non-essential.

Now, the union is threatening, courtesy of CNBC: delays are likely for Earned Income Tax Credit refund-receivers, or for any kind of refund that requires “human” and not “computer” labor.

The angry government bureaucrats are not yet resorting to the tactics of the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, who held press conferences in front of trucks full of un-delivered supplies during a hurricane.

Trending: Kelli Ward Wins Arizona GOP Chair Seat in Upset

The IRS must address its official policy of giving tax refunds to illegal immigrants, officially ignoring the massive scam by which illegal aliens use fake Social Security numbers in the United States.

This practice is now coming under scrutiny following the revelation that Gustavo Perez Arriaga was using at least two fake Social Security numbers to live in the United States. Arriaga has been charged with the murder of California police corporal Ronil Singh. It is not known whether the IRS ever ignored Arriaga’s fake Social Security numbers directly.

Arriaga was using two fake Social Security numbers, according to available information provided by a source close to law enforcement: 537-89-0142 and 667-28-2314.

Arriaga lived in the United States long enough to rack up multiple arrests for impaired driving. Arriaga was officially wanted for four years, but ICE officers had no contact with him prior to Corporal Singh’s shooting. Stanislaus County sheriff Adam Christianson blames the lack of contact with ICE on sanctuary laws, saying at a press conference that law enforcement should be able to do its job without legislative interference.

Illegal immigrants are able to pay taxes using ITIN numbers provided by the federal government. The IRS put out an official notice in June: “More than 2 million ITINs to expire this year; Renew soon to avoid refund delays.”

The Treasury Inspector General confirmed that the IRS paid out more than $4 billion in tax refunds to ITIN holders in the year 2010.

How many illegal aliens have been acknowledged by the IRS over the years, even despite warnings from the Social Security Administration that the illegal immigrants are not using actual Social Security numbers? That is a question congressional Republicans and Trump administration agencies might want to seek an answer to.

The IRS practice of excusing illegal aliens was revealed during the IRS scandal, kicked off by documented proof of the IRS improperly targeting tea party groups for politically motivated audits and other penalties.

Look at what current Trump administration director of national intelligence Dan Coats said at a hearing when he was a senator: “What we learned is that … the IRS continues to process tax returns with false W-2 information and issue refunds as if they were routine tax returns, and say that’s not really our job. We also learned the IRS ignores notifications from the Social Security Administration that a name does not match a Social Security number, and you use your own system to determine whether a number is valid,” Coats said.

Then-IRS commissioner John Koskinen excused the practice in the 2016 hearing.

“What happens in these situations is someone is using a Social Security number to get a job, but they’re filing their tax return with their [taxpayer identification number],” Koskinen said.

Koskinen admitted that “they are undocumented aliens.”

Koskinen actually said, “They’re paying taxes. It’s in everybody’s interest to have them pay the taxes they owe.”

WHEN WILL PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THAT PELOSI DOES NOT CARE. – Mother Of Son Killed By Illegal to Pelosi: Which One Of Your Children Is Expendable For An Illegal Life?

By Ian Schwartz

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At a CNN townhall Tuesday night, Nancy Pelosi was asked by a sobbing mother who lost her son to an illegal immigrant, who she said brutally tortured him before death, which one of her grandchildren she would give up to make room for an illegal.

“If you need to go home tonight and line up your babies as you say, and your grandbabies, which one of them could you look in their eyes today, and tell them that they’re expendable for another foreign person to have an a nicer life? Which one would you look to say, you, my child, are expendable for someone else to come over here and not follow the law and have a nicer life?” Laura Wilkerson, who said her son was “slaughtered” by an illegal immigrant, asked Pelosi.

“I pray for you,” Pelosi responded. “Again, we all pray that none of us has to experience what you have experienced. So thank you for channelling your energy to help prevent something like that from happening.”

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“But I do want to say to you, that in our sanctuary cities, our people are not disobeying the law,” Pelosi said. “These are law-abiding citizens, it enables them to, to be there without being reported to ICE in case of another crime that they might bear witness to.”

Wilkerson’s question:

LAURA WILKERSON, SON KILLED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT: Please excuse my voice tonight. There are over 300 cities in this country that are sanctuary cities. Like San Francisco. And you’re not only choosing to disavow a law, but you are adding sanctuary to people who come there and disavow the law. 

In 2010, one of the illegals slaughtered my son. He tortured him, he beat him, he tied him up like an animal, and he set him on fire. And I am not a one-story mother. This happens every day. Because there are no laws enforcing the border. We have to start giving American families first. 

This is not — bad to not put Americans first. We have family that fought and died for this country. 

How do you reconcile in your head about allowing people to disavow the law? 

And the second part of my question is this — if you need to go home tonight and line up your babies as you say, and your grandbabies, which one of them could you look in their eyes today, and tell them that they’re expendable for another foreign person to have an a nicer life? Which one would you look to say, you, my child, are expendable for someone else to come over here and not follow the law and have a nicer life?

Pelosi’s response:

REP. NANCY PELOSI, HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Well, again, I commend you for sharing your story. I can’t even imagine — 

WILKERSON: You can’t.

PELOSI: — the pain. I can’t even imagine. There is, there is nothing, I’m sure that can compare to the grief that you have. And so I pray for you. I pray for you. Again, we all pray that none of us has to experience what you have experienced. So thank you for channelling your energy to help prevent something like that from happening. But I do want to say to you, that in our sanctuary cities, our people are not disobeying the law.

These are law-abiding citizens, it enables them to, to be there without being reported to ICE in case of another crime that they might bear witness to.

The person who followed Wilkerson was a man born in Mexico and brought to the U.S. as a one-year-old who garnered applause after he told his story.

“The DREAMers are so spectacular and so inspirational to all of us. And that is why when we had the majority in the Congress, the House of Representatives, led by our Congressional Hispanic Caucus, passed the DREAMers act,” Pelosi said.

Elizabeth Warren’s Wealth Confiscation Tax Would “Redistribute” 2.75 Trillion Dollars Over 10 Years

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Elizabeth Warren is making it exceedingly clear that she is a socialist, and that is quite frightening considering the fact that she could potentially become our next president. 

Unless some really big name unexpectedly enters the race, there is a decent chance that Elizabeth Warren could win the Democratic nomination in 2020.  And if she ultimately won the general election, the Democrats would likely have control of both the House and the Senate during her first two years in the White House as well.  So that means that the proposal that you are about to read about could actually become law in the not too distant future.

After AOC’s proposal to raise the top marginal tax rate to 70 percent received so much favorable attention, it was just a matter of time before Democratic presidential candidates started jumping on the “soak the rich” bandwagon, and the first one to strike was Elizabeth Warren.

When she announced her new proposal on Twitter, she dubbed it the “Ultra-Millionaire Tax”

We need structural change. That’s why I’m proposing something brand new – an annual tax on the wealth of the richest Americans. I’m calling it the “Ultra-Millionaire Tax” & it applies to that tippy top 0.1% – those with a net worth of over $50M.

It would be bad enough if this was just a one-time tax on wealth.

But it isn’t.

Please note the use of the word “annual” in Warren’s tweet.  That means that the rich would keep getting hit with this tax year after year after year.

Those with more than 50 million dollars in assets would pay a 2 percent tax each year, and those with more than a billion dollars in assets would pay 3 percent each year

The Post reported that Warren has been advised by Saez and Gabriel Zucman, left-leaning economists affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley, on a deal that would levy a 2 percent wealth tax on Americans with $50 million-plus in assets. For Americans with assets above $1 billion, that tax rate would increase to 3 percent.

The newspaper, citing a person familiar with the plan, reported that Warren’s plan would try to counter tax evasion by boosting funding for the IRS, and by levying a one-time tax penalty on people with more than $50 million who try to renounce their U.S. citizenship. It would also require that a certain number of people who pay the wealth tax be subject to annual audits, the Post reported.

3 percent may not sound like a lot to many of you.  But over the course of a couple of decades many families could have their fortunes almost completely wiped out by this wealth confiscation tax.

According to economist Emmanuel Saez, this new tax would be imposed upon approximately 75,000 families and would raise 2.75 trillion dollars over 10 years.

Clearly this is a move by Warren to appeal to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.  I really like how Zero Hedge made this point…

Elizabeth Warren has never been a friend to the wealthy. But in the age of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, merely advocating for “holding the rich accountable” simply doesn’t penetrate like it did back in 2008. And that’s because, on the left flank of the Democratic Party, you’re not really a progressive unless you believe that the existence of billionaires is a policy error.

And surprisingly, there is actually a lot of public support for such a proposal.  In fact, a recent Fox News poll found that Americans overwhelmingly support soaking the rich…

Voters support tax increases on families making over $10 million annually by a 46-point margin (70 percent favor-24 percent oppose), and support a hike on those making over $1 million by 36 points (65-29 percent).

There is less support for a broader tax increase: 44 percent favor raising rates on those with income over $250,000, and a small minority, 13 percent, approves of an increase on all Americans.

Of course so much depends on how a survey is worded.  For example, I would be willing to bet that a survey would show that well over 50 percent of all Americans would back my proposal to abolish the income tax completely.

Over the coming months, Democratic presidential contenders are going to be continuously trying to one up each other with their promises to tax the rich and give out free stuff.  By the end, someone out there may even be promising to give free rides to the Moon to everyone.

But if Elizabeth Warren really wants to be considered a serious contender, she needs to eliminate the ridiculous gaffes that have plagued her in the past.  For instance, she recently claimed that we have “two co-equal branches of government”

Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., already has declared that the government has “three chambers of Congress,” the House, the Senate and the presidency.

Now, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has claimed on Twitter that the government has “two co-equal branches of government, the president of the United States and Congress.”

“The Notorious RBG (Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg) is gonna be ticked off that she’s been forgotten again,” said a post on the Twitter news-aggregating site Twitchy.

And there is certainly no excuse for such a gaffe, because she used to be a law professor.

In the end, it is difficult to understand why so many Americans seem to want to march down the road toward socialism.  Because as President Trump has noted, Venezuela has shown us where that road leads

“We’re looking at Venezuela, it’s a very sad situation,” Trump told reporters. “That was the richest state in all of that area, that’s a big beautiful area, and by far the richest — and now it’s one of the poorest places in the world. That’s what socialism gets you, when they want to raise your taxes to 70 percent.”

He added: “You know, it’s interesting, I’ve been watching our opponents — our future opponents talk about 70 percent. No. 1, they can’t do it for 70 percent, it’s got to be probably twice that number. But, maybe more importantly what happens is you really have to study what’s happened to Venezuela. It’s a very, very sad situation.”

Unfortunately, political proposals don’t have to actually make sense, and right now Elizabeth Warren is doing all that she can to win the progressive vote.

 

WATCH: Schumer Mocks Trump Immediately After Trump Opens Gov To Negotiate

By Ryan Saavedra

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer mocked President Donald Trump on Friday immediately after the president ended the government shutdown so non-essential federal employees could get paid and so both of the nation’s major parties could work on a deal to fund border security.

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.”

Government Open… …And Border No Wall Still No SOTU!

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By Charlie Spiering

President Donald Trump announced Friday a plan to end the partial government shutdown, by temporarily caving to Democrat demands to reopen the government.

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.

WATCH AS OVER 100 ILLEGALS JUMP BORDER BEFORE GETTING ARRESTED

Watch As Over 100 Illegals Jump Border Before Getting Arrested

Customs and Border Patrol also apprehended around 375 migrants last week

Infowars.com – JANUARY 24, 2019

More than 100 illegal aliens were recorded jumping a border fence before being apprehended by federal authorities:

During the crossing, which happened near Yuma, Arizona, on Monday, the migrants climbed over a 18-foot, bollard-style border fence using a ladder you can see a smuggler running away with at the end of the video.

“It shows how brazen these smugglers are and the fact that they’re unafraid,” said Jose Garibay, the Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector spokesman. “They know that we’re not gonna go into Mexico to apprehend them.”

“So once he puts up that ladder, gets his commodity — in which he looks at these humans — in the United States, then he takes down his ladder, and as you saw in the video, just walks back to wherever he hid the ladder and continues on with his day.”

“It’s presumable that this individual has done it more than once,” he added.

Last week, Customs and Border Patrol also apprehended around 375 migrants who dug short, shallow holes under barriers that were not concrete reinforced at several spots east of San Luis, Ariz., which is near Yuma.

“The area became a major corridor for illegal crossings in the mid-2000s, prompting the federal government to weld steel plates to a barrier made of steel bollards that had been designed to stop people in vehicles, not on foot, Border Patrol spokesman Jose Garibay III said,” reported KTLA. “In those spots, there is no concrete footing to prevent digging.”

The Democrats are pushing the narrative that securing the border should not be a priority. Alex Jones has a message for the president about using his authority to do the right thing.

Senate rejects dueling GOP, Democratic bills to end partial government shutdown

By Gregg Re

The Senate on Thursday rejected both the Democratic and GOP proposals to end the ongoing partial federal government shutdown, with both measures falling far short of the 60-vote threshold needed to pass.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

Pelosi: No Dem counteroffer on border security

See the source image

By Mike Lillis

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that House Democrats are not working behind the scenes to craft a counteroffer to President Trump’s border wall demands as a strategy for ending the history-making partial shutdown. 

“That’s not true. That’s not true. That’s not true,” Pelosi said during a press briefing in the Capitol.
Instead, the Speaker asserted that Democrats’ strategic blueprint remains unchanged: The House will continue to pass spending bills already authored and endorsed by Republicans, while insisting that Trump reopen the government as the prerequisite for bringing Democrats to the negotiating table on his border wall.
“We are doing what we have been doing all along: working on our congressional responsibility to write bills, appropriations bills, to keep government open,” she said.
The remarks arrive as Democratic leaders are expected to release their own plan to bolster border security, to include enhanced surveillance technologies and reinforcement of existing physical barriers — but no new wall construction.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Wednesday that the Democrats are prepared to match Trump’s figure of $5.7 billion for border security — with two stipulations: it can’t be used for new wall construction, and the negotiations must happen after the shutdown has ended.
“Using the figure that the president has put on the table, if his $5.7 billion is about border security then we see ourselves fulfilling that request, only doing what I like to call using a smart wall,” Clyburn told reporters after a Democratic caucus meeting. “These are the types of things that we are going to be putting forward.”
Pelosi on Thursday framed the Democrats’ emerging border security proposal — expected to be released as early as Thursday afternoon — as a standard part of the appropriations process.
“Many of those bills have come to the floor again and again, just this week. The Homeland Security Bill was not finished. Hopefully it will be finished soon, and out of that you will see our commitment to border security,” she said. “That’s not any negotiation behind the scenes, or anything like that.”
Pelosi declined to put a figure on the border security provisions to be included in the Department of Homeland Security bill, being spearheaded by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who heads the Homeland Security Committee. But she emphasized that it will come in addition to other border-related funding already included in House-passed bills to to fund other agencies with a hand in security, including the Treasury, Justice and State departments.
“Within our $49 billion Homeland Security bill there will be some provisions,” she said.
Pelosi’s remarks highlight the disagreement at the crux of the shutdown standoff: Democrats are insisting the government be reopened as a condition of negotiating on the border wall; Republicans are demanding negotiations on the border wall as a condition of reopening the government.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Wednesday that the Democrats “are prepared to spend a very substantial sum of money because we share the view that the borders need to be secure.” 
But Hoyer, speaking for most Democrats, said there’s no “crisis” at the southern border, as Trump has insisted, and he amplified the party’s position that the Democrats will start negotiating new border security spending only after the government has been reopened, even if only temporarily.
“The letter is not a negotiation,” Hoyer said. “The letter is going to articulate what we believe is an effective investment to accomplish border security.”
Amid the standoff, Pelosi on Wednesday postponed Trump’s State of the Union address, initially scheduled for Jan. 29, citing the injustice of requiring federal law enforcement officials to secure the Capitol while they aren’t getting paid.
Trump late Wednesday acquiesced to the postponement.
“This is her prerogative,” he tweeted. “I will do the Address when the Shutdown is over.” 
Pelosi on Thursday thanked Trump for assent, saying the fight over the speech was an unneeded distraction that’s “so unimportant in the lives of the American people.”
“Thank goodness we’ve put that matter to rest and that we can get on to the subject at hand: open up government, so we can negotiate how best to protect our borders,” she said.
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Trump to Pelosi: Ready or not, State of the Union is happening ‘on time & on location’

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US President Donald Trump has informed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that he will show up on January 29 to deliver the State of the Union. She replied that it cannot happen until the government shutdown ends.

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.

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“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.

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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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