Dems, Trump meet on shutdown, border security
January 4, 2019 in News by RBN Staff
Source: One News Now
WASHINGTON (January 4, 2019) — With no shutdown resolution in sight, President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders agreed Friday to additional staff-level talks over the weekend during a White House meeting at which Trump indicated he could keep parts of the government closed for “months or even years.”
Trump met with the congressional leaders for the second time in three days amid an impasse over Trump’s funding demands for his proposed wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. The meeting included eight leaders — the top two Democrats and Republicans of both chambers. Democrats emerged from the lengthy meeting to report little if any progress.
“We told the president we needed the government open. He resisted. In fact, he said he’d keep the government closed for a very long period of time, months or even years,” said Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
In contrast, the president described the meeting as “productive” during an afternoon press conference in the Rose Garden outside the White House.
“So we had a productive meeting today with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer,” Trump stated. “I thought it was really a very, very good meeting. We’re all on the same path in terms of wanting to get government to open.”
The president said he has designated a team that will “work very hard” over the weekend with lawmakers to resolve the standoff over his demand for a border wall that has led to a partial government shutdown.
The meeting on the 14th day of the shutdown came after House Democrats muscled through legislation to fund the government but not Trump’s proposed wall.