Democratic leaders on Monday night called for equal airtime in response to President Donald Trump's primetime address to the nation on southern border security scheduled for Tuesday evening.
Speaker
of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer, D-N.Y., argued that since Trump's speech will be broadcast, the
other side of the aisle should have their fair share of broadcast time,
too.
“Now
that the television networks have decided to air the President’s
address, which if his past statements are any indication will be full of
malice and misinformation, Democrats must immediately be given equal
airtime," they said in a statement.
Trump said he'll be talking at 9 p.m. ET about the U.S.-Mexico border — the fight over which sparked the partial government shutdown. The address will be carried live by ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox Broadcasting, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, MSNBC and NBC.
Pelosi
and Schumer said that Democrats "and an increasing number of
Republicans in Congress" have urged Trump and Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to "re-open the government while Congress
debates the President’s expensive and ineffective wall."
The government is on day 16 of the partial shutdown — the second-longest in history slated to become the longest this weekend.
Trump
told congressional Democratic leaders during a meeting on Friday that
he was willing to keep the government shutdown for as long as necessary —
possibly months or even years — in order to get the border funding he
wants.
After a weekend filled with meetings about the shutdown,
the president moved to call for a steel wall, rather than a concrete
barrier, at the southern border. Trump framed the pitch for a steel wall
as a concession to Democrats to move negotiations along, although they
do not appear moved by the president's message.
"President
Trump keeps rejecting the bipartisan House-passed bills, which have
already received strong bipartisan support in the Senate, to re-open the
government," Pelosi and Schumer's statement read. "Instead, he is still
demanding that American taxpayers pay at least $5.7 billion for his
wall, which can’t pass either chamber of Congress and of course Mexico
is not paying for."
Shortly after he took office on Monday, California's Democratic Gov.
Gavin Newsom unearthed an unprecedented new health care agenda for his
state, aimed at offering dramatically more benefits to illegal
immigrants and protecting the embattled Affordable Care Act, which a
federal judge recently struck down as unconstitutional.
The
sweeping proposal appeared destined to push California -- already one
of the nation's most liberal states -- even further to the left, as
progressive Democrats there won a veto-proof supermajority in the state
legislature in November and control all statewide offices.
"People's
lives, freedom, security, the water we drink, the air we breathe — they
all hang in the balance," Newsom, 51, told supporters Monday in a tent
outside the state Capitol building, as he discussed his plans to address
issues from homelessness to criminal justice and the environment. "The
country is watching us, the world is watching us. The future depends on
us, and we will seize this moment."
Newsom unveiled his new
health-care plan hours after a protester interrupted his swearing-in
ceremony to protest the murder of police Cpl. Ronil Singh shortly after
Christmas Day. The suspect in Singh's killing is an illegal immigrant with
several prior arrests, and Republicans have charged that so-called
"sanctuary state" policies, like the ones Newsom has championed,
contributed to the murder by prohibiting state police from cooperating
with federal immigration officials.
California Governor Gavin Newsom taking the oath of office from
state Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye during his
inauguration Monday in Sacramento, Calif. Looking on: Newsom's wife,
Jennifer Siebel Newsom and their sons, Dutch, second from right, and
Hunter, right. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
As one of his first orders of business, Newsom -- who
also on Monday requested that the Trump administration cooperate in the
state's efforts to convert to a single-payer system, even as he bashed
the White House as corrupt and immoral -- declared his intent to
reinstate the ObamaCare individual mandate at the state level. ANALYSIS: AS CALIFORNIA'S PROGRESSIVE POLICIES GET CRAZIER, WHAT'S THE SILVER LINING FOR THE GOP?
The
mandate forces individuals to purchase health care coverage or pay a
fee that the Supreme Court described in 2012 as a "tax," rather than a
"penalty" that would have run afoul of Congress' authority under the
Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Last month, though, a federal judge
in Texas ruled the
individual mandate no longer was a constitutional exercise of Congress'
taxing power because Republicans had passed legislation eliminating the
tax entirely -- a move, the judge said, that rendered the entire
health-care law unworkable.
As that ruling works its way to what
analysts say will be an inevitable Supreme Court showdown, Newsom said
he would reimpose it in order to subsidize state health care.
Medi-Cal,
the state's health insurance program, now will let illegal immigrants
remain on the rolls until they are 26, according to Newsom's new agenda.
The previous age cutoff was 19, as The Sacramento Bee reported.
Additionally,
Newsom announced he would sign an executive order dramatically
expanding the state's Department of Health Care Services authority
to negotiate drug prices, in the hopes of lowering prescription drug
costs.
In his inaugural remarks, Newsom hinted that he intended to
abandon the relative fiscal restraint that marked the most recent
tenure of his predecessor, Jerry Brown, from 2011 to 2019. Brown
sometimes rebuked progressive efforts to spend big on various social
programs.
"For eight years, California has built a foundation of
rock," Newsom said. "Our job now is not to rest on that foundation. It
is to build our house upon it."
Newsom added that California will
not have "one house for the rich and one for the poor, or one for the
native-born and one for the rest."
"The country is watching us, the world is watching us." — California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom
In a statement, the California Immigrant Policy Center backed Newsom's agenda.
“Making
sure healthcare is affordable and accessible for every Californian,
including undocumented community members whom the federal government has
unjustly shut out of care, is essential to reaching that vision for our
future,” the organization said. “Today’s announcement is an historic
step on the road toward health justice for all.”
The
Sacramento Bee reported on several of Newsom's recent hires, which
seemingly signaled he's serious about his push to bring universal health
care to California. Chief of Staff Ann O’Leary worked in former
President Bill Clinton's administration on the Children’s Health
Insurance Program (CHIP), which offers affordable health care to
children in families who exceed the financial threshold to qualify for
Medicaid, but who are too poor to buy private insurance.
And,
Cabinet Secretary Ana Matosantos, who worked in the administrations of
Brown and former GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, has worked extensively
to implement ObamaCare in California and also worked with the
legislature to expand health-care coverage for low-income Californians.
Kellyanne Conway, the senior counselor to President Trump, told Fox
News on Monday that lawyers inside the White House are researching the
legal implications of declaring a national emergency to build the border
wall, and placed the blame squarely on Congress and courts for the
crisis at the Southern Border.
In a wide-ranging interview on "The
Ingraham Angle," Conway said the president is "considering" using a
national emergency declaration to circumvent Congress and the budget
stalemate in Washington. Trump wants $5.6 billion to fund the wall.
Declaring a national emergency would
draw legal challenges, and Trump — who told lawmakers he would be
willing to keep the government closed for months or even years — has
said he would like to continue negotiations for now.
"There are
probably some people who want him (Trump) to declare it (the emergency)
so that Congress, again, can fail to do its job," she said. "The
Congress and the courts have failed to do their jobs. They’ve given us
this crisis."
Conway defended the use of the word "crisis" to
describe the situation at the border, and talked about illegal drugs
that enter the U.S. from Mexico.
The talks over ending the
shutdown have been at an impasse over Trump’s demand for the wall. He
has offered to build the barrier with steel rather than concrete,
billing that as a concession to Democrats’ objections. They "don't like
concrete, so we'll give them steel," he said.
But Democrats have
made clear that they object to the wall itself, not how it’s
constructed. They see it as immoral and ineffective and prefer other
types of border security funded at already agreed-upon levels. Trump announced that he
will address the nation on Tuesday night before traveling later in the
week to the U.S.-Mexico border, as he seeks to highlight border security
and presses Democrats for wall funding amid the protracted standoff
that triggered a partial government shutdown now stretching into its
17th day.
"I am pleased to inform you that I will Address the
Nation on the Humanitarian and National Security crisis on our Southern
Border. Tuesday night at 9:00 P.M. Eastern," Trump tweeted on Monday.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer called on the networks to give Democrats a chance to respond.
“Now
that the television networks have decided to air the President’s
address, which if his past statements are any indication will be full of
malice and misinformation, Democrats must immediately be given equal
airtime,” they wrote in a joint statement released Monday night.
Less than a week after issuing
a profanity-infused call to impeach President Trump on her first day in
office, Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib is under fire from
Republican politicians and commentators for openly posting what they
call an anti-Semitic dog whistle on Twitter.
Top Republicans in
the Senate are also alleging that Democratic leaders are hoping to hide
the fact that Tlaib is just one of many new Democratic politicians in
Congress who harbor deeply anti-Israel views.
Tlaib, responding to
a post by Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday, suggested
that Senate Republicans were more loyal to Israel than the U.S., amid a
report that GOP leaders were planning to introduce a bill that would
punish companies that participate in the so-called "Boycott, Divestment,
and Sanctions" (BDS) global movement against Israel. BDS proponents
seek to pressure Israel through economic and other means -- often, until
Israel ceases to exist in its current form.
"They forgot what
country they represent," Tlaib, a Palestinian-American who made history
last week by becoming one of the first two Muslim women to ever serve in
Congress, wrote.
"This is the U.S. where boycotting is a right
& part of our historical fight for freedom & equality. Maybe a
refresher on our U.S. Constitution is in order, then get back to opening
up our government instead of taking our rights away," she added.
Florida
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, one of the Republican senators to
introduce the anti-BDS bill, immediately called Tlaib's post an
"anti-Semitic line" that perpetuates a longstanding "dual loyalty"
conspiracy that holds that Israel effectively controls Washington
politicians.
The accusation that Jewish politicians could be
vulnerable to having "dual loyalties" has been made for centuries in
various contexts, and has been seen widely as a religious-based attack
intent on undermining their leadership.
The posts by Sanders and
Tlaib specifically criticized Senate Republicans for planning to
introduce the "Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act
of 2019," a pro-Israel series of bills, instead of legislation to end
the ongoing partial federal government shutdown, which entered its 17th
day on Monday.
The package of legislation
includes provisions reauthorizing the United States-Jordan Defense
Cooperation Act of 2015, and providing for new sanctions against Bashar
al-Assad's regime in Syria.
One of the bills in the package, the
Rubio-Manchin Combating BDS Act of 2018, also would "increase
protections for state and local governments in the United States that
decide to divest from, prohibit investment in, and restrict contracting
with companies knowingly engaged in commerce-related or
investment-related BDS activity targeting Israel," according to Senate
Republicans.
Critics have charged that the bill amounts to an
unconstitutional First Amendment violation, because it involves an
impermissible government punishment of speech based on its content.
(Similar laws restricting boycotts of Israel have been ruled unconstitutional.)
Rubio
wrote that the real reason Democrats were criticizing Republicans for
introducing the pro-Israel bill is that "a significant # of Senate
Democrats now support #BDS & Dem leaders want to avoid a floor vote
that reveals that."
In addition to Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, Maryland Democratic Sens. Ben Cardin
and Chris Van Hollen have called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell, R-Ky., to resolve the shutdown before pressing on with a vote
on the pro-Israel bill. READ JUDGE JEANINE PIRRO'S MESSAGE TO TLAIB
"The
shutdown is not the reason Senate Democrats don’t want to move to
Middle East Security Bill," Rubio wrote, noting that "a huge argument"
had broken out last week over the issue.
Hours later, Tlaib
responded on Twitter: "Sen. Rubio, it's clear my earlier tweet was
critical of U.S. Senators like yourself, who are seeking to strip
Americans of their Constitutional right to free speech," she wrote. "The
American people need Trump and Republican Senators to focus on ending
the shutdown instead of inventing controversy to distract from your
inaction."
Nevertheless, there are visible signs that Tlaib's
approach may be becoming more mainstream among the Democratic Party's
progressive wing. The other Muslim woman to make history by winning her
election with Tlaib last year, Minnesota Democratic Rep. Illhan Omar, tweeted in 2012 that "Israel has hypnotized the world." Omar added: "May Allah awaken the peoople and help them see the evil doings of Israel."
Other
commentators similarly sounded the alarm about Tlaib's comments, and
noted that the media reaction was conspicuously minimal. (Trump, late
last year, was lambasted repeatedly in the media for allegedly issuing anti-Semitic "dog whistles" because of his criticisms of liberal billionaire George Soros.)
"Oddly,
many of those who hear dog whistles for a living aren't exactly perking
up at Tlaib accusing her critics of dual loyalty," Washington Free
Beacon editor Alex Griswold wrote on Twitter. "Nor, for that matter, did they have much to say about Omar's 'Israel has hypnotized the world' tweet."
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro went further, alleging in an op-ed that "Democrats have soured on Israel and warmed to anti-Semitism."
"The
truth is that the Democratic Party has been flirting with, and in some
cases openly embracing, anti-Semitism for years," Shapiro wrote. "That’s
why top members of the Democratic Party continue to kowtow to open
anti-Semites like Linda Sarsour and Louis Farrakhan; it’s why the
Democrats booed Jerusalem in the 2012 Democratic National Committee
platform; it’s why the Obama administration routinely played public
relations arm for the Iranian government; it’s why no major Democrat
will go on record condemning Tlaib or Ilhan Omar." MEDIA SPREAD FALSE NARRATIVE THAT CONSERVATIVES WERE OFFENDED BY OCASIO-CORTEZ DANCING
Tlaib
was photographed last week wearing Palestinian robes with Sarsour, a
proponent of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. Farrakhan has
compared Jews to termites and praised Hitler.
Late last year, Tlaib publicly bucked Democratic Party leaders
by openly endorsing a one-state solution in the Middle East, and
calling for Israeli withdrawals and reduced military aid to Israel.
“It
has to be one state," Tlaib told In These Times magazine. "Separate but
equal does not work. I’m only 42 years old, but my teachers were of
that generation that marched with Martin Luther King. This whole idea of
a two-state solution, it doesn’t work.”
She added, referring to
Israel: "Americans should not be aiding any country that doesn’t support
human rights. I’ve been very clear. I will not support racist countries
that pick and choose who gets access to justice.”
Tlaib's
comments on Israel threatened to create new headaches for
Democrats already wrangling to control the party's fresh new progressive
wing. During a progressive MoveOn.org reception Thursday night,
Tlaib drew widespread condemnation by calling for Trump's impeachment using vulgar language as her son looked on.
"People
love you and you win," Tlaib shouted. "And when your son looks at you
and says, 'Momma, look you won. Bullies don't win.' And I said, 'Baby,
they don't, because we’re gonna go in there and we’re gonna impeach the
mother****er.'”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) poses with Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi (D-CA) for a ceremonial swearing-in picture on Capitol Hill in
Washington, U.S., January 3, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RC1717918ED0
The next day, Tlaib stood by her comments but repeatedly attempted to avoid reporters asking her to clarify her remarks.
Speaking
at the White House, Trump called Tlaib's comments "disgraceful" and
said she had "dishonored herself and dishonored her family." But
Democrats offered a muted reaction, with some offering support for
Tlaib.
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, speaking on CNN,
remarked on Friday: “I don't like really like that kind of language. But
more to the point, I disagree with what she said. It is too early to
talk about that intelligently. We have to follow the facts." The
Judiciary committee would oversee any impeachment proceedings against
Trump.
But New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
tweeted that criticism of Tlaib' remarks was "Republican hypocrisy at
its finest" given Trump's rhetoric, adding that "GOP lost entitlement to
policing women’s behavior a long time ago."
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, sitting on an MSNBC panel, largely agreed.
"I
probably have a generational reaction to it," Pelosi said. "But in any
event, I'm not in the censorship business. I don't like that language, I
wouldn't use that language. I don’t … establish any language standards
for my colleagues, but I don’t think it’s anything worse than what the
president has said."
She added, "Generationally, that would not be
language I would use, but nonetheless, I don’t think we should make a
big deal of it."
Tlaib's office did not return Fox News' request for comment.
The 116th Congress began with prayer.
The first day of the 116th Congress ended with profanity.
It
was 12:01 p.m. Thursday. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., an ordained
Methodist minister from the St. James United Methodist Church in Kansas
City, climbed the dais in the House chamber to lead lawmakers in the
invocation.
“In unbridled optimism, I offer this prayer,” said Cleaver.
Cleaver
spoke of “the great challenges of this day, fraught with tribalism at
home and turbulence abroad.” He beseeched the House “to rise as a
legislative body above political selfishness” and “attempt to become
architects of a kinder nation.”
“Dedicate ourselves to the healing
of open sores in a land where there is far too much mistrust of those
who are different,” said Cleaver.
The House had not even sworn-in
freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., at the time of Cleaver’s
intersession. But by nightfall, Tlaib captured more headlines than even fellow freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Tlaib called the President of the United States a “m----- f-----.”
Tlaib’s expletive-laced rant presented House Republicans an opportunity on a platter.
“Is
this the behavior that we are going to find with this new majority
party in Congress?” asked House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
“We watched a brand-new speaker say nothing to (Tlaib). Somebody should
stand up to her. She’s the Speaker.”
A few minutes later, House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., headed to the White House for a meeting
with President Trump on the government shutdown.
“Are you going to talk to Tlaib about her language,” yours truly asked Pelosi as she headed for a Capitol exit.
“I’m going to talk to the president about his language,” retorted Pelosi.
Most
Democrats were beside themselves over Tlaib’s vulgar epithet. But
Members of Congress have long cataloged President Trump’s crude
discourse, ad hominem attacks and swearing.
“Look at what we’ve
heard for years from him,” observed one Democrat who asked to not be
identified when speaking about the president. “He set the standard. Of
course you’re going to start to hear talk like that from everybody now.”
“I
think that you also have seen yesterday and over the course of the last
24 hours, in particular, a real ramp-up in rhetoric. Name calling. The
kind of politicization and partisanship the American people are sick and
tired of,” claimed House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney,
R-Wy. Cheney accused Democrats of unleashing a “level of vitriol.”
Some recalled that Cheney’s father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, infamously told Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., to “go f&$ yourself” during a 2004 visit to the Senate floor.
Former
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chastised Rep. Maxine Waters,
D-Calif., for suggesting that leftist demonstrators harass Trump
administration officials in restaurants and stores.
Are
Republicans trying to have it both ways? Calling out Tlaib’s obscenity
and the suggestions of Waters while many GOPers ignore remarks of
President Trump?
“I don’t think so,” replied Cheney.
Republicans
relish a sideshow like this. It takes focus off the partial government
shutdown and redirects attention on a still undefined Democratic House
majority.
Many have heard of Ocasio-Cortez. She’s presented an
unvarnished liberalism. A push for a “green new deal” and higher taxes.
All politics is local. That may work in the Bronx and other leftist
bastions. But does the public know much about moderate freshmen
Democrats who won in November?
Have they heard of Reps. Joe
Cunningham, D-S.C., Ben McAdams, D-Utah, or Jared Golden, D-Maine? They
all secured hard-fought wins in battleground districts.
Maybe not.
But
you can bet that when it comes to freshmen, people have heard of
Ocasio-Cortez and now Tlaib. Their politics may resonate in Democratic
strongholds. But the casual observer may perceive that the entire
Democratic freshman class is full of nothing but borderline socialists
and those who cuss out the President.
This cognizance could scare
some swing voters and does little for Democrats trying to build a
national brand that’s not urban-centric.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, questioned Mr. Trump’s character
to lead in a Washington Post op-ed. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ken., shot back
that Romney portrayed himself as “holier than thou.” Paul suggested
senators watch their language. Yet the Kentucky Republican sidestepped
questions about the President’s attacks on others.
“I just don’t think the president deserves to have a new senator coming in, attacking his character,” said Paul.
As speaker, Pelosi has wrestled with disciplining members for intemperate remarks – of even the opposite party.
Rep.
Joe Wilson, R-S.C., hectored President Obama during a speech to a Joint
Session of Congress in September, 2009, shouting “you lie!” House rules
bar lawmakers from making personal attacks or impugning the motives of a
president during a House session. The House didn’t vote to reprimand or
censure Wilson for his outburst. Pelosi opposed an official sanction.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., instead secured a less formal
“resolution of disapproval” to discipline his Palmetto State colleague.
Emanuel Cleaver was visibly upset at Tlaib’s broadside against the president, especially considering his opening prayer.
“There’s
a fear among some that we need to impeach the president. On the night
of my re-election, I said I’m not going back to Washington for
impeachment, but for improvement,” said Cleaver. “Obviously there are
some who see things differently.”
That said, Cleaver observed that
Mr. Trump’s own harsh rhetoric “has created a new kind of climate.” He
added that if Congress is to “heal the open sores infecting the entire
country” which he spoke about on opening day, lawmakers will “have to
rise above.”
“This makes the sore nastier and increases the
likelihood of contagion,” said Cleaver of Tlaib’s comments. “This young
person who just got elected may think this is okay.”
On Friday,
House Democrats rolled out their first big piece of legislation for the
new Congress: H.R. 1. It’s a bill designed to improve government
transparency. The legislation is numbered H.R. 1 because Democrats view
it as one of the most important. The majority party always gets the
first ten numbered bills in a Congress. Such a code would help observers
track a party’s priorities.
If it were up to Pelosi, she’d
probably assign number 100,000 to any articles of impeachment cooked up
by rank-and-file Democrats.
But Pelosi’s been here before. Many
Democrats pushed to impeach President George W. Bush over Iraq when
Democrats won the House in 2006 and tapped Pelosi as Speaker the first
time. The California Democrat quashed a revolt then. But can Pelosi
subdue a similar rebellion now?
It’s a big challenge, especially if firebrand Democrats refuse to temper their language.
After President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence wrapped up
separate meetings on border security and the ongoing partial federal
government shutdown on Sunday, Trump offered his strongest endorsement
yet of a proposal to build a steel wall, rather than a concrete barrier,
at the southern border.
Meanwhile, a Democratic source told Fox
News that the Pence-led meeting with bipartisan congressional staff at
the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) near the White House had
accomplished little, and started nearly an hour late because Trump
administration officials were unprepared. Trump called the meeting
"productive" afterward, although he was not in attendance.
The
president framed his new pitch for a steel wall as a concession to
Democrats to move negotiations along, as the shutdown entered its 16th
day. Meanwhile, Democrats published the full text of several spending
bills to reopen the government on Sunday that the White House and Senate
Republicans have long said have no chance of becoming law because they
do not include any funding for a wall of any kind.
"They
don't like concrete, so we'll give them steel," Trump told
reporters after returning to the White House from a meeting with his
advisers at Camp David.
Trump also suggested he would rather wait
until the Supreme Court rules on the legality of his administration's
recission of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
program before negotiating with Democrats on the issue as part of the
talks to end the shutdown.
Several federal judges have held
that the Trump administration's reasons for terminating DACA were
legally insufficient under a federal administrative law statute, which
requires adequate notice and justification before the government
terminates a right it has previously granted.
"I would consider
DACA, but ... I'd rather have the Supreme Court rule, and then work with
the Democrats on DACA,' Trump said. "I want to help with DACA, but ...
you know, it's going to be before the Supreme Court very soon."
At
the sit-down at the EEOB, Pence -- along with Trump adviser and
son-in-law Jared Kushner and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen
Nielsen -- on Sunday discussed a variety of border-security measures
with congressional officials from both parties.
“Democrats were
given what they asked for, which was a detailed, breakdown list of the
administration’s proposals for border security that include the wall and
other border protection measures," a House GOP leadership aide told Fox
News. "Democrats were given the opportunity to ask questions of
Secretary Nielsen and hear DHS’ justification for the specific funding
requests. Their justifications made it abundantly clear why it is
necessary to have this level of funding to effectively secure our
border.”
A Democratic official familiar with the meeting, however,
said "no progress was made" at the Pence sit-down and charged that the
White House was unprepared.
Vice President Mike Pence, left, White House legislative affairs
aide Ja'Ron Smith, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, second
row left, White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, and others, walk
down the steps of the Eisenhower Executive Office building, on the White
House complex, after a meeting with staff members of House and Senate
leadership, Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex
Brandon)
“The meeting today at 1 p.m. started approximately 45
minutes late because the White House did not have the information
Democrats requested ready," the official told Fox News. "Yesterday,
Democrats asked for a full budget justification for the administration’s
position because the $5.7 billion wall request was not included in the
administration's fiscal year 2019 request and the administration has not
had a consistent position in various conversations with the Hill.
Democratic staff did not receive a full budget justification today. The Democratic source continued: "Three and a half months into a new
fiscal year, the Administration did not present any commensurate cuts in
the DHS budget to accommodate the increases they are seeking. Given
the failure of the White House to present a full budget justification
today, the Democratic staff pleaded again for the White House to change
course and re-open government by supporting the [bill to fund DHS
through February 8] and the six bill package that the House has passed
and has received broad bipartisan support in the Senate. The Vice
President said the President would not do that."
No further
meetings between Pence and congressional staff are currently planned.
For his part, Pence tweeted only that he was "back at the White House"
Sunday afternoon.
While Pence noted that the president was
"committed to securing the border, building the wall, & working to
reopen our government," he did not characterize the meeting
"productive," as he did on Twitter after a similar get-together with
congressional staff on Saturday.
However, in his own tweet later Sunday afternoon, Trump called Pence's meeting as a step forward.
"V.P.
Mike Pence and group had a productive meeting with the Schumer/Pelosi
representatives today," Trump wrote. "Many details of Border Security
were discussed. We are now planning a Steel Barrier rather than
concrete. It is both stronger & less obtrusive. Good solution, and
made in the U.S.A."
Trump's steel wall proposal was the continuation of a White House strategy that has developed in the past several weeks. Trump first floated the idea of using "artistically designed steel slats" for the wall, rather than concrete, in December.
He
then suggested taking the concrete wall off the table at a Rose Garden
news conference on Friday, as a concession to Democrats. And, acting
White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said in an interview on NBC
News' "Meet the Press" on Sunday that Trump "was willing to agree ... to
take a concrete wall off the table" in order to secure a deal to end
the ongoing shutdown.
"We've been in touch with a lot of people,
and I informed my folks to say that we'll build a steel barrier ---
steel -- that it will be made out of steel, that it will be less
obtrusive and it'll be stronger," Trump said. "And we're able to use our
great companies to make it, by using steel."
Some ex-White House officials have suggested Trump abandoned the idea of a concrete wall in the early days of his tenure. In an explosive interview
published shortly before his departure from the Trump administration at
the end of last year, former chief of staff John Kelly told the Los
Angeles Times that the White House had "left a solid concrete wall early
on in the administration, when we asked people what they needed and
where they needed it.
People look on from the Mexican side, left, as U.S. Border Patrol
agents on the other side of the U.S. border wall in San Diego prepare
for the arrival of hundreds of pro-migration protestors, seen from
Tijuana, Mexico, Monday, Dec. 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Earlier Sunday, speaking to reporters before he
headed out to Camp David to discuss border security with top advisers,
Trump had predicted that the Pence-run meeting would not lead to any
major developments. TRUMP POINTS TO OBAMA, HILLARY'S PAST REMARKS TO BOLSTER PUSH FOR BORDER WALL
"I don't expect to have anything to happen at that meeting," Trump said.
Previous
meetings between Democrats and White House officials have been heated:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Nielsen, the DHS secretary, reportedly
got into a tense confrontation on Wednesday in the Situation Room, with
the California Democrat interrupting Nielsen’s presentation on border
security and illegal immigration, telling her, “I reject your facts.”
The
president additionally said he was "totally involved" in shutdown
negotiations and claimed to have "tremendous support within the
Republican Party."
The longest federal government shutdown in U.S.
history lasted 21 days, and Trump has said repeatedly that current one
may last more than a year if Democrats are not willing to fund some of
the wall.
."They don't like concrete, so we'll give them steel." — President Trump
The
president also reaffirmed that he "may declare a national emergency
dependent on what's going to happen over the next few days" to construct
a border wall, and declared that Republicans and Democrats were "going
to have some very serious talks" beginning on Monday.
However, speaking on "Fox News Sunday,"
Democratic Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline suggested Trump did not
have the authority to declare an emergency to build the border wall.
"I
don’t think the president has that authority -- he would have to meet a
very high standard," Cicilline said. "Article I establishes the
Congress of the United States and gives us the responsibility of
appropriating money, so I don’t think the president has the authority to
do that, and I hope he will try to work with Congress to resolve this
disagreement but open the government first."
The Democrat-led
House last week approved one amalgamated spending bill, addressing six
areas of spending and one measure to fund the Department of Homeland
Security through Feb. 8. The House approved both bills on a bipartisan
basis, but Senate Republicans and the White House have said they were
non-starters without wall money.
A migrant from Honduras pass a child to her father after he jumped
the border fence to get into the U.S. side to San Diego, Calif., from
Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019. Discouraged by the long wait to
apply for asylum through official ports of entry, many migrants from
recent caravans are choosing to cross the U.S. border wall and hand
themselves in to border patrol agents. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
This week, the House is set to start approving
these measures on an individual basis. On Sunday, Democrats posted the
full text of the bills, in keeping with their recent rules change
requiring 72 hours of advanced notice to the public before members vote
on most new legislation.
Fox News has learned the House Rules Committee will meet late Tuesday
afternoon to tee up some of these measures for the floor. The Rules
Committee is the gateway for most legislation to reach the House floor.
The
House is expected to consider the Financial Services and General
Government appropriations bill Wednesday. This measure deals with the
Treasury Department and funds the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
By the end of next week, the House likely will have passed different
versions of all funding bills to re-open the government -- twice.
In
an interview Sunday, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham
warned the shutdown could not end as long as the "radical left" insisted
on calling Republicans racist for supporting immigration officials.
"We’re
negotiating with people who will accuse all of us who support a wall as
part of border security as racists," Graham said on CBS News' "Face the
Nation" on Sunday. "As long as the radical left is in charge, we’re not
going to get anywhere."
Rising Democratic star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told
CBS News' “60 Minutes” in an interview broadcast Sunday that she is “a
radical” who wants to use her newfound position in Congress to make new
progressive laws in America.
“If that’s what radical means, then call me a radical,” Ocasio-Cortez said, when questioned about her “radical agenda.”
She also responded to critics who have pointed out factual errors
in some of her tweets. Interviewer Anderson Cooper noted that her claim
the Pentagon's accounting errors could have funded most of "Medicare
for All" received "Four Pinocchios" from The Washington Post.
Ocasio-Cortez
fired back: "I think that there's a lot of people more concerned about
being precisely, factually and semantically correct than about being
morally right... Whenever I make a mistake. I say, 'Okay, this was
clumsy,' and then I restate what my point was. But it's-- it's not the
same thing as-- as the president lying about immigrants. It's not the
same thing, at all."
She said “it’s only been radicals” like
Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt who have
altered the course of history and made progress in America.
The
Democrat said she was working as a waitress and bartender when she
decided to run for Congress. “When you can’t have health care, that is
not dignified,” she told Cooper, noting like many millennials, she had
student loans and no health insurance.
Ocasio-Cortez also said she
didn't think it was unrealistic to bring her ideas into action, perhaps
radical for America, but mainstream in Europe: “We pay more per capita
in health care and education for lower outcomes than many other nations.
And so for me, what’s unrealistic is — is what we’re living in right
now.”
She also said it was problematic which ambitious policies in
American politics were pursued based on funding: “No one asks how we’re
gonna pay for this Space Force. No one asked how we paid for a $2
trillion tax cut. We only ask how we pay for it on issues of housing,
healthcare and education.”
Ocasio-Cortez, sworn in as Congress’ youngest member on Thursday, is one of a number of Democrats who backs the Green New Deal — which aims to combat both climate change and income inequality with a massive and costly economic overhaul.
Ocasio-Cortez
has called the aim — funded in part by slapping a tax as high as 70
percent on top earners — “a wartime-level, just economic mobilization
plan to get to 100% renewable energy.” JUSTIN HASKINS: 5 THINGS OCASIO-CORTEZ DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT THE GREEN NEW DEAL
Its
framework includes eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from
manufacturing and agriculture and “dramatically” expanding energy
sources to meet 100 percent of power demand through renewable sources.
Organizers
with the Sunrise Movement activist group have framed The Green New Deal
as a make-or-break issue for Democratic voters, particularly young
voters.
Stephen O'Hanlon, Sunrise’s spokesman, told Fox News via
email Sunday night: “This is a question of priorities. Instead of
spending billions subsidizing oil and gas corporations and giving tax
breaks to the wealthiest Americans, we can choose to put that money
toward giving my generation a livable future and providing every a good
job to every American ready to get to work making our country stronger.”
Ocasio-Cortez said she is willing as a representative to compromise, however: “It’s just about what we choose to compromise.”
She
said the centrism of Democrats has damaged the lives of everyday
Americans: “We as a party have compromised too much, and we’ve lost too
much of who we’re supposed to be and who we are.”
When asked about President Trump, she spoke raw.
“Yeah. Yeah. No question,” Ocasio-Cortez replied when asked if Trump is racist.
She called him “a symptom of a problem.”
Ocasio-Cortez
added: “The president certainly didn’t invent racism, but he’s
certainly given a voice to it and expanded it, and created a platform
for those things.”
The White House responded to CBS News:
“Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez’s sheer ignorance on the matter can’t cover
the fact that President Trump supported and passed historic criminal
justice reform.”
Christian Bale made his feelings about former vice president Dick
Cheney quite clear in his acceptance speech for the Golden Globe for
Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for "Vice."
Bale, 44, thanked his wife, Sibi Blazic, profusely before getting political.
The
critically acclaimed British actor said he was "cornering the market on
charisma-free a—holes ... What do we think, Mitch McConnell next?"
He added, "Thank you to Satan for giving me inspiration to play this role."
Bale
previously spoke to Fox News about playing Cheney where he expressed
his admiration for the former George W. Bush administration member, but
never previously spoke about the Republican Majority Leader.
“He
was a wonderful family man — he’s a great dad, he’s an avid reader, he
has a brain like a vice and he constantly reads history,” Bale told Fox
News of Cheney at the premiere of “Vice" on Dec. 11 in Beverly Hills,
Calif. ”He was very laid-back. He would have been very happy to be a
lineman in Wyoming if he hadn’t met Lynne, who said to him, ‘No, that
doesn’t cut it. You need some ambition.’ What would have been if they
hadn’t met?”
However, when asked if he believes the real-life Cheney will find the movie enjoyable or irksome, Bale could only speculate.
“I
think he’ll certainly find it entertaining, at the very least. I think
he’s very thick-skinned — you know. He has no remorse or regrets about
what he’s done — he always says, ‘I would do it again in a minute.’ He
doesn’t back down — he doesn’t apologize about anything,” Bale said.
“So, I think he’s a thick-skinned guy and I’d love to hear his thoughts.
He’s a very intelligent individual, no matter what your thoughts are
about him — he’s a smart cookie. So, I do hope so.”
“Right. Yeah, I
think I’m done — you know. Everything hurts,” he said with a laugh.
“Everything hurts now. I’ve gotten really stout thinking if I can manage
this again, and the answer is probably no.”
"Vice" also stars Amy Adams playing Lynne Cheney, Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld and Sam Rockwell as Bush and many others.
"Vice" led the Golden Globes nominations with six nods.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) poses with Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi (D-CA) for a ceremonial swearing-in picture on Capitol Hill in
Washington, U.S., January 3, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RC1717918ED0
CNN’s Scott Jennings once again took liberals to the cleaners on the Abrego Garcia case, the ‘Maryland man...
