Closing continues as President and Democrats disagree over wall funding: NPR



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The dome of the US Capitol is visible during the government's partial closure in Washington on Monday.

Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP


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Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

The dome of the United States Capitol is visible during the partial closure of the government in Washington on Monday.

Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

In the absence of agreement for the government to continue to benefit from funding, hundreds of thousands of federal government employees will not return to work after school holidays or will be back at work, but without pay.

President Trump reiterated Tuesday that he is not in the mood to compromise the funding of his wall along the southern border, and Democrats who oppose the measure do not show no sign of blocking either.

"I can not tell you when the government will be open," said the president at a video conference on Christmas Day with representatives of the five branches of the army stationed in Alaska, Bahrain, Guam and Qatar.

"I can tell you that this is not going to be open until we have a wall or a fence, as they would like to call it," Trump said, suggesting that one change of semantics could allow a breakthrough. "I'm going to call it whatever they want, but it's the same thing."

"It's a shame for what's going on in our country," Trump told the Oval Office. "But other than that, I wish everyone a very merry Christmas."

The partial closure, which began on Saturday, was triggered by a lack of funding from a quarter of government departments and agencies. This concerns some 800,000 civil servants. Workers deemed non-essential will be dismissed, while "essential" workers will have to report for work, but no guarantee of wages.

who canceled his plan to retire to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, for the holidays, stayed at the White House, where he published a series of wrathful tweets about closing. He blamed the Democrats for this stalemate, which got worse this weekend after lawmakers refused to accept $ 5 billion in funding to start building a wall or fence, which the president has been defending for a long time. Democrats say that a physical barrier would be expensive and inefficient.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, the then candidate, Trump, had announced to his supporters that the wall would be built and that Mexico would pay it.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, hinted that the president's insistence on a wall was only an attempt to ease his political base.

"Instead of bringing certainty to people's lives, he is continuing Trump's closure just for sure, animate the right radio and television," Schumer said in a statement. Joint Communiqué released on Christmas Day with Nancy Pelosi, Democratic House Leader in California.

Democratic leaders added.

The feeling on the Capitol is that the closure could continue until mid-January, with compromise attempts leading to a compromise not having succeeded.

As Politico reports, "Ump told the allies he would be willing to give up his $ 5 billion request for money at the border, the Democrats remained firm with $ 1.3 billion for Fencing, which corresponds to current spending levels Saturday [Vice President Mike] Pence proposed to Schumer a bill to reopen the government, providing $ 2.1 billion for fencing and an additional $ 400 million for Trump's other immigration priorities, the Democrats fought back with a $ 1.3 billion closing and increased aid for Puerto Rico as part of a program of assistance for disaster, according to a person familiar with the talks, who essentially recirculated past offers. "

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