Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called on President
Trump to "abandon the wall" Saturday if he wants to reopen the
government, saying Trump does not have the votes in the Senate to get it
funded -- hours after the government shut down over an impasse over
funding for
Trump's signature 2016 campaign promise.
"It will
never pass the Senate, not today, not next week, not next year. So
President Trump, if you want to open the government, you must abandon
the wall, plain and simple," Schumer said on the Senate floor.
The
partial shutdown began at midnight Saturday, a few hours after the
House and Senate adjourned without getting a funding agreement to the
president's desk. The shutdown was expected to last at least a few days,
with sources on both sides of the aisle telling Fox News that
Washington could be in for a prolonged shutdown.
The Senate
adjourned Saturday afternoon and was not due to meet for a scheduled
session until Thursday. Early Saturday evening, the House also concluded
for the day.
Vice President Mike Pence and Acting Chief of Staff
Mick Mulvaney arrived at the Capitol Saturday afternoon to meet with
Schumer to continue negotiations for an end to the stalemate. Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said that "productive
discussions are continuing."
"When those negotiations produce a
solution that is acceptable to all parties -- which means 60 votes in
the Senate, a majority in the House, and a presidential signature -- at
that point, we will take it up here on the Senate floor," he said.
Late
Saturday afternoon, a Schumer spokesman said that "the vice president
came in for a discussion and made an offer. Unfortunately, we're still
very far apart."
In a letter addressed to fellow Democratic
colleagues on Saturday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
wrote that "Last night, Republicans shut down the government." She added
that barring any developments, making "progress to end the Trump
Shutdown in the next several days" was not anticipated.
"Until
President Trump can publicly commit to a bipartisan resolution, there
will be no agreement before January when the new House Democratic
Majority will swiftly pass legislation to re-open government," Pelosi
wrote, before expressing her wishes for a happy holiday.
With the
standoff grinding on, the White House revealed on Saturday that the
president planned to stay in the nation's capital over the holiday.
“Due
to the shutdown, President Trump will remain in Washington, D.C. and
the First Lady will return from Florida so they can spend Christmas
together,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a
statement.
The
main sticking point for negotiations was funding for Trump's signature
2016 campaign promise of a wall on the southern border. Trump had
demanded $5.7 billion for wall funding, and a bill with that funding
attached passed the House on Friday. But efforts have derailed in the
Senate, where 60 votes were required for passage, and therefore Democrat
votes are needed in conjunction with support by the GOP.
Democrats
have poured cold water on the idea that they would support anything
close to that. Schumer, in his remarks Saturday, said that the wall was a
"bone to the hard right" and that they had proposed $1.3 billion for
"border security."
"I’ve heard the president and his allies in the
media say that Democrats don’t support border security. Nothing could
be further from the truth. Democrats have always been for smart and
effective ways to secure our border," he said. "We are pushing for
technology, like drones and sensors, and inspection equipment."
McConnell
accused Democrats of backing away from past support for border
security, and said they were rejecting a "reasonable request" for the $5
billion in funding.
"They’ve refused to meet President Trump
halfway and provide even one-fifth of the resources for the border they
were willing to provide just a few months ago," he said on the Senate
floor.
Trump has been keen to blame Democrats for the impasse and
on Friday urged McConnell to invoke the so-called “nuclear option” which
would change Senate procedure to require only a simple majority to
approve the bill -- therefore allowing Republicans to override
Democratic objections.
“Mitch, use the Nuclear Option and get it done! Our Country is counting on you!” he tweeted on Friday.
IF TRUMP DOESN'T GET WALL FUNDING, IT COULD SPELL TROUBLE FOR HIS 'ELECTORAL FUTURE': MOLLIE HEMINGWAY
Late Friday he emphasized the need for a wall in a video he posted to Twitter, and he blamed the shutdown on the Democrats.
“We’re
going to have a shutdown, there’s nothing we can do about that because
we need the Democrats to give us their votes,” he said. “Call it a
Democrat shutdown, call it whatever you want, but we need their help to
get this approved.”
That contrasted with remarks he made last week
during an explosive Oval Office face-off with Schumer and Pelosi, in
which he said he was "proud" to shut down the government for border
security.
"I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it,” he said.
On
Saturday, Trump held a lunch at the White House to discuss border
security with staff and top conservatives including Reps. Mark Meadows,
R-N.C., Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Sen. Lindsey Graham,
R-S.C., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. The inclusion of some of the more
hardline voices on immigration could likely serve to harden Trump's
resolve against backing down on the wall.
The
Senate appropriations bill passed on Wednesday is the base bill for
funding, and that allocated $1.6 billion for border security. But it did
not spend all money available under sequestration caps. There is an
extra $900 million available, that could theoretically go toward funding
the wall. If that was allocated, it could offer Trump a total
wall/border package of about $2.5 billion.
While there appeared to
be little movement on Saturday, Sunday was expected to be a key day for
negotiations to end the shutdown. Lawmakers were aiming for a tentative
agreement on all seven outstanding appropriation bills, to be funded
until the end of September 2019. A senior source close to the
negotiations told Fox News that they will aim to “see by Sunday morning
if there is a center of gravity” for nailing down a deal.
Fox News
is told Trump would accept the increase in wall funding, and that the
administration believes it can find additional wall money across various
federal programs that could be “reprogrammed” for the wall. White House
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on "America's Newsroom" this week
that there were "other ways that we can get to that $5 billion."
Congress
has a little bit of wiggle room for movement as it has a weekend,
followed by Christmas Eve -- for which Trump has given federal workers a
day off -- and then Christmas Day. So that means that the partial
shutdown will not fully bite until Wednesday.
About one-quarter of
the government will be affected in a shutdown. Nine of the 15
Cabinet-level departments are to shutter, along with dozens of agencies.
Those departments are: Agriculture, Commerce, Homeland Security,
Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, State, Transportation
and Treasury.
Essential personnel would still be required to work
but without pay. Nearly 90 percent of the Homeland Security staff is
deemed essential.
Roughly 420,000 workers will be deemed essential
and will work unpaid, while more than 380,000 people will be furloughed
in the shutdown – meaning they will experience a temporary leave from
their work
This
will include most of NASA, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce and
National Park Service workers. Additionally, about 52,000 IRS workers
would be furloughed.
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will remain
open as usual during a partial government shutdown because it is “an
independent entity that is funded through the sale of our products and
services, and not by tax dollars,” a spokesman told Fox News.
TSA
agents, air traffic controllers and border security agents also will be
required to work through a shutdown – albeit they might not get a
paycheck right away.
Amtrak, a government-owned corporation, also
will continue with normal operations during a short-term shutdown, a
spokeswoman confirmed to Fox News.
Members of Congress will
continue to be paid, as legislative branch appropriations had already
been approved back in September, and the 27th Amendment bars ““varying
the compensation” for lawmakers until after each election.
