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Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Arrives at the White House for a meeting with congressional leaders and President Donald Trump on Wednesday, January 2, 2019 in Washington. (AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin)
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the partial closure of the government would last "as long as it will take", the closures taking place a twelfth day following his request for billions of congressional dollars for the construction of a border wall with Mexico. 19659004] "It could be long or fast," said Trump at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers at the White House, his first public appearance in the New Year.
The President stated that his Homeland Security officials "will make a" plea "for the border wall at a briefing for congressional leaders later Wednesday at the White House.
But Trump also rejected the offer of his own administration to accept $ 2.5 billion for the wall.This offer was made when Vice President Mike Pence and other senior officials met with Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer at the beginning of the closure.Instead, Trump has repeatedly lobbied for the $ 5.6 billion he claimed.
Trump presented his arguments before the afternoon session with Democratic and Republican leaders on migrants arriving at the border in recent days.He said the current border looked like "a sieve" and noted that tear gas "flew" overnight to deter arrivals. He called the border "very difficult" to prevent immigrants from entering.
"If they knew they could not get in, they would not even start," Trump said at the meeting, which was joined by senior cabinet secretaries and advisers , including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
The meeting took place as the closure ended, resulting in the closure of parks and leaving hundreds of thousands of federal employees unpaid.
Trump complained about his "loneliness" at the White House during the holidays, after avoiding his trip to Mar-a-Lago, Florida. He claimed that his only companions were the "gunners", referring to the security personnel, and "they do not sign, they do not smile". He also criticized Nancy Pelosi, Democratic House leader, for visiting Hawaii.
At the Capitol on Wednesday, Pelosi said she hoped the Republicans and the White House "hear what we have proposed" to end the closure.
Up to now, the administration has rejected the Democrats' proposal to reopen the government without money in order to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
Trump said the Democrats considered the battle of the stop as an "electoral point" while he was celebrating his. first two years of mandate. He promised "six more years of great success."
The partial closure of the government began on December 22nd. Wall funding has been the stumbling block for the passage of funding bills for several departments.
The Wednesday afternoon briefing with congressional leaders is the day before the Democrats take control of the House and end the Republicans' monopoly on the government.
The session will be held in the White House's high-security meeting room, which is typically used to manage sensitive information. The location means that the conversation will not be televised, unlike the unstable discussion during which the Democratic leaders spoke to Trump last month.
Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, and the best Republicans at home – Kevin McCarthy of California and Steve Scalise of Louisiana – plan to attend, according to the aides. The President of the House, Paul Ryan, was not expected.
Pelosi, who is scheduled to speak on Thursday, and Senate Democratic Party leader Chuck Schumer was scheduled to attend. Pelosi said on Tuesday that Democrats would take action to "end Trump's closure" by passing a bill to reopen the government.
"We give Republicans the opportunity to respond in the affirmative," she wrote in a letter to her colleagues. "The Senate Republicans have already supported this legislation and if they reject it now, they will be fully complicit in the chaos and destruction of the President's third term of office."
The invitation of the White House was made after the publication by the House Democracy of their plan to reopen the government without approving money for a border wall. They had planned to adopt them as soon as the new Congress met on Thursday.
Trump spent the entire weekend telling the Democrats to come back to Washington to bargain and taunt on Twitter. Aides suggested that there would not necessarily be a traditional wall because Trump had insisted several times since his presidential campaign, but he contradicted them. "Trump tweeted:" The Democrats, although I suspect, have not allocated money for a new wall. So imaginative! The problem is that without walls, there can be no real security at the border. "
But he seemed to change tactics later in the day, calling on Pelosi." Let's make a deal? "He was tweeted.
It was unclear whether the Republican-led Senate would look at projects Democratic funding law – or if Trump would sign any one or the other piece of legislation – McConnell's spokesman, Donald Stewart, said Senate Republicans would take no action without support.
Even though it was only a symbol, passing bills in the House would put new pressure on the president. , administration officials said Trump was not in a hurry to find a way out of the stalemate, saying that he had public opinion and its basis on his side
Democrat package to end closure would include bill to fund temporarily the bill. The Department of Homeland Security at current levels – with $ 1.3 billion for border security, far less than what Trump said he wants for the wall – until February 8, while talks are going on. continued.
It would also include another measure to fund the Ministries of Agriculture. , Interior, Housing and Urban Development and others closed by partial closure. This measure would provide money for the rest of the fiscal year, until September 30th.
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Associated Press editors Laurie Kellman, Kevin Freking, and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
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