Congress returns to Washington on Monday – the 24th day of the partial government shutdown – but there seems to be no end in sight for the impasse between President Trump and lawmakers over funding for a border wall.
In a sign of how long the standoff could stretch, the president dismissed a plan floated Sunday by GOP Sen. Li❀ndsey Graham to reopen the government for three weeks while negotiations continue with Congress.
“That was a suggestion that Lindsey made but I did reject it, yes. I’m not interested,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn as he left the White House for a speech in New Orleans. “I want to get it solved. I don’t want to just delay it. I want to get it solved.”
If the deadlock can’t be broken, Graham said, Trump could return to the option of using his executive power to declare a national emergency and bypass Congress to fund his wall.
But Trump said he has no plans to do that.
“I have the absolute legal right to call it, but I’m not looking to do that because this is too simple,” he said. “The Democrats should say, ‘We want border security. We have to build a wall otherwise you cant have border security.’ And we should get on with our lives.”
Trump, who remained in Washington, DC, while Congress was adjourned for the weekend reached out to Democratic leaders House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Demo♍cratic Leader Chuck Schumer to return to the negotiating table.
“I’ve been waiting all weekend. Democrats must get to work now. Border must be secured!,” on Twitter.
“Nancy and Cryin’ Chuck can end the Shutdown in 15 minutes. At this point it has become their, and the Democrats, fault!,” a few minutes later, employing the nickname he’s been using to describe Schumer during the shutdown talks.
He also mocked Democrats who atten🦹ded a winter retreat in Puerto Rico over the weekend.
“‘Dems in Puerto Rico as Shutdown hits day 24.’ @foxandfriends,” .
The partial shutdown has become the longest in US history after Trump and Congress hit an impasse over funding a wall Trump wants built on the southern border.
The president is🎉 seeking $5.7 billion for the barrier, but Democrats have rejected his demands.
Instead the Democrat-controlled House passed legislation that would fund most federal agencies and reopen the government, but the measure hasn’t been taken up in the Senate, which has a Republican majority.
Lefဣt in the lurch are 800,000 federal empﷺloyees who have either been working without pay or have been furloughed during the shutdown.
They missed their first payday last Friday.
Trump this week is expected to sign legislation passed by Congress that would allow them to receive retroactive pay – but not until the shutdown ends.
Despite saying last month that he would own the shutdown over a wall, Trump on Monday said Democrats are obstruc✃ting the process.
“The Democrats are stopping us and they’re stopping a lot of great people from getting paid,” he said.
But two surveys released over the weekend show that’s not the view of a majority of Americans.
found that 53 percent of Americans point the finger at Trump and his GOP colleagues, while 29 percent fault Democrats and 13 percent say both paꦗrties are to blame.
showed that 55 percent of those surve🐽yed believe Trump responsible, and 32 percent pin t༺he blame on Democrats. Another 9 percent say both parties are at fault.
During a White House meeting last month with Pelosi and Schumer, Trump said he would take responsibility for shutting down the gover꧋nment.
“I’ll tell you what, I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck,” the president told the Democratic leaders on Dec. 11. “So I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it.”