[ad_1]
Paul Kane
Senior Congressional Correspondent and Columnist
The Capitol was silent Saturday morning at the opening hours of a partial government closure, after Legislators had returned home Friday night with Congress still in deadlock over President Trump's demands for billions of dollars for the construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border.
The House and Senate opened at noon on Saturday, but no sign of progress in the negotiations has yet taken place. at the staff since a brief meeting Friday afternoon with Vice President Pence and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.).
The majority majority leader of Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Delivered a speech in the Senate. Saturday on the ground, the two sides blaming the other party the closure and showing no sign of surrender.
Few legislators were on Capitol Hill on Saturday morning and no vote was scheduled in either room. Many lawmakers took flight Friday night to return to their home country while awaiting news of the talks, after being assured that they would receive 24-hour notice before any vote in order to the reopening of the government.
It is certain that the closure will last until the end. at least during the weekend.
[Q&A: What happens with the shutdown]
Trump wrote on Twitter: "We are negotiating with the Democrats on the border security we desperately need. . . but it could be a long stay.
The fundamental impasse remains: Trump says he will not accept legislation if it does not contain money for his wall, and Democrats have the right to vote to block any legislation that would. Trump sees this round of negotiations as his best chance – and perhaps even the last – to get Congressional money for the wall, while Democrats are about to take the place of the House in January after big wins in the mid-term elections.
affecting a large part of the federal government. Funding for many organizations, including those operating national parks, national security, police, tax collection and transportation, expired at midnight. Nearly 400,000 federal public servants should stay at home without pay until an agreement is reached. Many services will be interrupted during this period, which will lengthen the duration of the funding period.
Dozens of national parks and monuments. are closed on Saturdays. The Securities and Exchange Commission has published a list of services that it will suspend shortly, including the processing of certain professional documents. The Department of Justice, the Department of Commerce and the Internal Revenue Service are preparing to keep thousands of workers at home without pay.
Employees of these agencies deemed essential will continue to work but without pay, including many Transportation Safety Administration employees who have to deal with the influx of vacationers. . After each previous stop, Congress passed a law that retroactively pays employees.
[What closes when the government shuts down]
The rest of the government, including the army, is funded until September by a separate law that Congress and Trump passed earlier this year.
Trump had lunch at the White House Saturday with a small group of conservative legislators to discuss closure and border security. There were no Democrats at the meeting, any more than the Republican leaders in every room. Many Conservatives present pushed Trump to continue to fight for money for his wall.
Participants understood Meaning. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Lindsey O Graham (RS.C.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), And representatives Mark Meadows (RN.C.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Matt Gaetz ( R-Fla.) And Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)
The administration was represented by Vice President Pence, Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, and Deputy Prime Minister Jared Kushner. Director of Legislative Affairs, Shahira Knight.
In the Senate, McConnell (R-Ky.) Opened the room on Saturday with an optimistic speech of about ten minutes, but stronger suggestions of a partisan stalemate that could last well beyond Saturday. McConnell said that he "hoped that Christmas would not be too far away" and said the solution was "very simple"
but McConnell then tried to blame the Democratic senators. He suggested that the government remain closed until "the President and the Democratic Senators reach an agreement" – even though other Republicans have suggested that it was a matter of agreement. A five-way negotiation between the White House and the four congressional leaders.
He emphasized on other occasions. When the Democratic senators expressed their support for the financing of the border wall, they opposed any funding for a real wall. "They refused to meet with President Trump halfway," said McConnell, not to mention that these talks included Trump's concessions on the path to citizenship for 1.8 million undocumented immigrants. Such an agreement is not on the table now.
Finally, McConnell reiterated Friday's point of agreement to press the "break" button in the Senate so that there would be no more votes until the conclusion of a final agreement.
"I hope this will be done as soon as possible," he said.
A few minutes after McConnell's speech, Schumer suggested to Trump to prevent the government's reopening. "At midnight last night, about 25% of government members have closed their doors because of one person and one person: President Trump," Schumer said. "We arrived at this time because President Trump had a destructive tantrum of two weeks."
Schumer rejected the idea that an agreement was to be negotiated between him and Trump, saying that McConnell and the president of the House, Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) could not "escape responsibility" from the negotiations. He and the minority leader in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Continue to contribute $ 1.3 billion in border security funds as long as they are not spent on building a wall, but rather for technological security, like drones.
to open the government, you have to give up the wall, simply, "said Schumer, accusing Trump of supporting an ineffective wall that would end up" defrauding the American taxpayer ".
On the other side of Captiol, the House had become a legislative body. dead city. Shortly before noon, six Republicans and two Democrats crowded around the table, Republicans discussing travel plans and Democrats preparing to speak. At noon, the House reconvenes with a prayer asking members to consider those who "die hard" by partisan clashes.
A few seconds later, the House was raised with the whistling of a hammer. Republicans spoke when Democrat Democratic Democratic whip Steny Hoyer and Representative Jim McGovern (D-Mass) called for "pass a bill to keep the government open." Hoyer said that the House was in limbo, perhaps for days, unless the Senate proposed something that could pass.
"Predicting what this president is going to do is not a profitable venture," Hoyer said. "I'm going to the Maryland basketball game this afternoon. Why? Because the Senate is negotiating. The sooner we could vote is Monday. It's Christmas Eve. If they had an agreement today, they could meet [holding the vote] on Wednesday night. "
[Trump breaks with predecessors, rallies conservatives for government shutdown]
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), a member of House Freedom Caucus who represents Mulvaney's former headquarters, appeared in Fox News, in his district, to say that he would not come back until the conclusion of the meeting. ;a deal.
passes that we could take part, "said Norman," It's up to 60 votes in the Senate, I think Mitch McConnell can propose the 10 Democrats, hopefully, otherwise we'll stay in place until 39, that we have a secure border Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) Retires and indicated that he would oppose the funding of the border wall.
Rep. Mike Simpson (R -Idaho), who spoke at the short pro-forma session, reiterated that the House was not able to move before the Senate, and like Hoyer, he was ready to close before Christmas, with MPs leaving city before the government was funded.
"I had a plane last night, I have one tonight and I'm going tomorrow night," Simpson said. "I thought we could get out on December 7. We had nine of twelve credit bills about to be ready. "
Asked about the political impact of the closure – and on Trump's efforts to take credit for one – Simpson said it mattered little.
"Nobody will remember it in two years," said Simpson. "I do not really listen to what he says. If I did, I would listen every minute to see what would have changed.
The partial closure of the government begins after Trump torpedoed a bipartisan agreement that would have kept the federal agencies open until February 8, but would have denied him any money. Legislators were cautiously expecting Trump to sign the interim solution, especially after suggesting that the army could build its wall anyway. (This strategy is legally dubious, any funding to be redirected by Congress.)
But after a fierce conservative reaction against the agreement, including from the media and personalities known to have l & # 39; Trump's ear, the President reverses the A Reply that sparked a bipartisan protest at Capitol Hill.
After Trump's rejection of the deal, House Republicans on Thursday passed a bill to extend funding until February, but also allocating $ 5.7 billion to the government. construction of an anti-border wall.
"President Trump, you will not get your wall," Schumer said Friday. "You will not get your wall today, next week or January 3, when Democrats take control of the House."
[ad_2]
Source link
