President Trump walked out of a White House meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday afternoon over the partial government shutdown after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi again rejected supporting new funding for a border wall, according to those in the meeting. Speaking to reporters after the brief session, New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said the “president just got up and walked out."
The president, in a tweet, called the meeting “a total waste of time” and appeared to confirm that he left after Pelosi's answer.
“I asked what is going to happen in 30 days if I quickly open things up, are you going to approve Border Security which includes a Wall or Steel Barrier? Nancy said, NO. I said bye-bye, nothing else works!” Trump tweeted.
The meeting in the Situation Room Wednesday afternoon came ahead of Trump’s planned trip to the southern Texas border on Thursday. Earlier, the president traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with Senate Republicans, saying afterward, “We have a very unified party.”
A partial US government shutdown began at midnight on Dec. 22, 2018,. when a funding agreement between the Congress and President Trump could not be reached.
Still, a growing number of Republicans appear uncomfortable with the toll the partial shutdown is taking.
Trump has said he might declare a national emergency and try to authorize the wall on his own if Congress won't approve the $5.7 billion he's asking.
"I think we might work a deal, and if we don't I might go that route," he said.
TRUMP SAYS HE HAS 'ABSOLUTE RIGHT' TO DECLARE NATIONAL EMERGENCY OVER BORDER SECURITY
Past meetings with Democrats have resulted in both sides digging in, with Trump insisting on nearly $6 billion for a border wall and Democrats saying they won’t entertain the discussion until Congress passes and Trump signs a package re-opening shuttered federal agencies.
The president’s primetime address on Tuesday night saw both camps drifting even further apart, with Trump declaring a “humanitarian and security crisis" and vowing to protect America, “so help me God” – and Democratic congressional leaders saying Trump is working to “manufacture a crisis, stoke fear and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration."
Yet Trump told congressional leaders the standoff could last months, even years, as he demands Washington take action to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, drugs and criminals crossing the border.
Poster Comment:
Keep this bitch shut down until doomsday! Stop paying the damned congressrats.
