On Monday, Dems blasted President Trump for pushing for border wall funding despite the possibility of a government shutdown. Lawmakers must pass legislation by Friday night to keep the government open past April 28, but they are currently at an impasse with the White House.
“Our appropriators were well on a path to resolving their differences and finding their common ground, respecting each other’s priorities until the White House intervened,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters during a conference call.
On Monday Trump renewed his push for the wall on Twitter, characterizing it as key to “stopping drugs from pouring into our country.” His administration officials doubled down on their demand that Democrats include some funding for the U.S. Mexico border wall in the government funding bill.
Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Monday that if the White House backed away from the government funding talks, lawmakers could meet Friday’s deadline. “I don’t think it’s inevitable at all. Parties were negotiating quite well… until Donald Trump and the White House threw a monkey wrench into this, with the wall.” Said Schumer.
Democrats had been warning for weeks that they would block any spending bill with the “poison pill” provision of money for the border wall. In a joint press call with Schumer, Pelosi and Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez, Democrats also used the call to knock Trump for “100 days of broken promises.” Trump has since announced that he will wait until Republicans begin drafting the budget blueprint for the fiscal year that starts on Oct.1 to seek funds for the wall.
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