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President Trump threatened Tuesday to ask the military to "build the last sections" of the US-Mexico border wall, seeming to revive a call to use the Pentagon's money to complete the project while He was preparing for a tense meeting with Democratic congressional leaders opposed to the president's funding request.
"People do not yet realize how much the wall, including the really efficient renovations, has already been built. If the Democrats do not give us the votes to secure our country, the military will build the last sections of the wall. They know how important it is! Trump promised, ending a series of tweets to set the stage for the White House summit.
Democrat House Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer issued a joint statement. On Monday, the two men said Trump and his party would face a government blockade if they could not reach an agreement. . "Our country can not afford a Trump stop," said the Democrats, adding that the latter "knew full well that his wall proposal does not have the necessary votes to make the House and Senate vote and should not to obstruct a bipartisan agreement ". [19659003] Congress last week temporarily avoided a partial halt amidst the funeral of former President George HW Bush pushing the new deadline to December 21. Trump is scheduled to meet Tuesday with Pelosi and Schumer at the White House to discuss a government spending agenda – the border wall being the main stumbling block.
Trump claims $ 5 billion project, while Democrats offer $ 1.3 billion for border security.
The President earlier this year requested military funding to fund the border project. However, if governments can move money into their budgets, they must be approved by Congress – and the corresponding appropriation bills for the 2019 fiscal year did not include any money. money for this purpose.
The Top Democrats also warned earlier this year that the Pentagon would not have. the power to reorient funds towards the border wall
But Trump's tweets marked the last effort on both sides to project a strong bargaining position.
The president also claimed that the wall and fence already in place had helped to overthrow the migrant. caravans forming in Mexico. He accused the Democrats of sacrificing border security for political reasons, even saying that Pelosi was blocking the funding of a border wall to guarantee the votes of the presidency of the next Congress.
"We have already built new sections and have completely renovated others. by making them as new. Democrats … however, for strictly political reasons and because they were pulled to the far left, do NOT want border security. They want open borders for all. This causes crimes and diseases on a large scale, "he tweeted.
"Our southern border is now secure and will remain so … I look forward to meeting with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. In 2006, the Democrats voted for a wall and they were right to do it. Today, they do not want security at the border anymore. They will fight at any cost, and Nancy must get votes for the president. But the wall will be built.
Pelosi has to face the pressure of his base not to bend to the financial battle for financing the wall. But more than the speaker's jersey is at stake – Democratic votes in the House and Senate may be essential to avoid a partial halt.
Sixty votes are needed in the Senate to overcome a filibuster. And, at least in the short term, Republicans have only 51 members.
Republicans have a comfortable majority in the House, but do not have the necessary votes to pass a bill with or without a wall.
Pelosi and Schumer asked Trump to support a bill that included half a dozen government bills, largely approved by lawmakers, and a separate measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security in the United States. current levels until 30 September.
Democrats are likely to press for a permanent resolution that funds remaining credit bills if Trump does not accept that, said an Associated Press aide.
Trump said Friday that Congress should provide all the money it wants for the project. wall and characterized illegal immigration as "a threat to the well-being of all American communities".
Ms. Pelosi said, along with many other Democrats, that the wall was "immoral, inefficient and expensive".
Schumer had said he wanted to work with Trump to avoid a stop, but said the money for border security should not include the concrete wall that Trump envisioned. Mr. Schumer said, "We do not want to let Trump's crisis rule our policies or bring about the closure of a government, which everyone on both sides of the aisle knows is the wrong idea Said Schumer If Trump "wants to close the government at Christmas over the wall, that's his decision," he said.
But the majority whip in the House, Steve Scalise, R-La., Said that it is the Democrats who play the political game.
Trump "wants to secure the border. He was elected president on this platform, "Scalise told Fox News.
If there is a better way to secure the border than the $ 5 billion plan announced by Trump, Democrats must Scalise said on Monday.
Chad Pergram of Fox News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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