President Trump’s battle with Democrats to fund a border wall spilled out into public view on Tuesday, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., challenged Trump’s request for more border funding and Trump argued back that Americans are demanding a barrier to keep out illegal immigrants.
The 15-minute meeting between the political opponents started cordially, but it ran off the rails after Pelosi warned that Trump’s hard-line position on the wall would lead to a “Trump shutdown.”
“I think the American people recognize that we must keep the government open, that a shutdown is not worth anything,” Pelosi told Trump in the Oval Office Tuesday. “And that you should not have a ‘Trump shutdown.'”
“A what? Did you say a ‘Trump shutdown?'” Trump asked Pelosi.
“You have the White House. You have the Senate. You have the House of Representatives. You have the votes. You should pass it [a government funding bill] right now,” Pelosi said.
“I can’t get it passed in the House if it is not going to pass in the Senate,” Trump fired back. “The House we can get passed very easily. … The problem is the Senate. We need 10 Democrats to vote and they aren’t going to do it.”
Pelosi said that House Republicans don’t have the votes to pass a bill that both funds the government and provides funding for the border wall. Pelosi argued that if they did, they would put such a bill on the floor.
“There are not votes — a majority of votes — for a wall,” Pelosi told Trump.
“That’s exactly right,” Schumer echoed.
“If I needed the votes for the wall in the House, I would have them in one session. It would be done,” Trump replied. “It doesn’t help to take that vote. I need 10 senators. That is the problem. … We need the wall. More importantly, we need border security of which the wall is just a piece.”
Trump then offered the floor to Schumer, who immediately pointed out that the president has made some misleading statements about the wall.
“The Washington Post today gave you a whole lot of Pinochios because they say you constantly misstate how much of the wall is built,” Schumer said in his opening remarks. He also said Trump doesn’t want an agreement, but simply wants to shut down the government.
“We have a disagreement about the wall,” Schumer said. “We do not want to shutdown the government. You have called 20 times to shut down the government … We don’t. We want to come to an agreement.”
Pelosi at one point lamented that the meeting had turned into a public feud, and asked the the rest of the discussion be held without being observed by the press.
“Unfortunately, this has spiraled downward,” says Nancy Pelosi during a heated argument with President Trump at the Oval Office. pic.twitter.com/bZrjiNLOmK
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) December 11, 2018
But the president instead took questions. In response to one question, Trump argued the wall is inextricably linked to his border security plans.
“You can’t have good border security without the wall,” Trump said.
“That is just not true,” Pelosi interrupted as Schumer shook his head in approval of her retort.
“That is a political promise,” Pelosi said of the wall. “Border security is a way to effectively honor our responsibility.”
“We have to find a way to do border security without a wall, which is wasteful and doesn’t solve the problem,” Schumer added.
“It totally solves the problem and it is very important,” Trump replied.
Trump ended the public part of the negotiation by saying he would be happy to shut down the government if it means he can secure funding for “border security.”
“We need border security. That is what we are talking about border security,” the president said towards the end of the argument. “I am proud to shut down the government for border security.”
The president is asking Congress to approve $5 billion in border wall funding before both chambers head home for Christmas. House and Senate Democrats are unwilling to give the president any more than $1.6 billion for the border wall, a disagreement that has raised fears of a possible partial government shutdown. Trump scheduled a meeting Tuesday with Schumer and Pelosi to work out a solution that would both fund the government and his border wall.
