The Latest: No resolution yet for border wall standoff
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the government shutdown (all times local):
5:40 p.m.
Talks led by Vice President Mike Pence to resolve the government shutdown have failed to reach an agreement over President Donald Trump’s demand for money from Congress for a border wall with Mexico.
Democrats say the administration on Sunday did not present full budget information they had requested on how the White House would use the $5.6 billion Trump wants for the wall. Two Democratic officials familiar with the session say Democrats pleaded with Pence and other officials to re-open government while talks continue.
One of the officials says no new meetings have been scheduled.
With his negotiators preparing for the afternoon session, Trump said he didn’t expect it to produce a resolution. Trump said earlier Sunday that only he could make a deal with Democratic leaders.
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12:10 p.m.
Top Democrats say President Donald Trump would face legal and political challenges if he tries to declare a national emergency to build the border wall with Mexico.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith said the executive power has been used to build military facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, but would likely be “wide open” to a court challenge for the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Where is the emergency?” the Washington Democrat said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff called it a “non-starter.”
The California Democrat tells CNN’s “State of the Union”: “Look, if Harry Truman couldn’t nationalize the steel industry during wartime, this president doesn’t have the power to declare an emergency and build a multibillion-dollar wall on the border.”
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11:55 a.m.
Republican Susan Collins of Maine wants the Senate to take up House-passed bills to re-open the government.
The GOP senator said Sunday that Congress could “reopen much of the government” while talks continue over building President Donald Trump’s promised border wall with Mexico.
“Let’s get those reopened while the negotiations continue,” she said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Collins is among several Republicans uncomfortable with the shutdown. She has long argued against them and tried to broker resolutions to past stalemates. Collins and others are also up for re-election in 2020 from states including Colorado and North Carolina where views on Trump are mixed. She called debate over border wall types “bizarre.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will send more bills to re-open government to the Senate this week.
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10:25 a.m.
President Donald Trump says he plans to call the heads of U.S. Steel and other steel companies to come up with a new design for the barrier he’s insisting must be built along the southern border.
That’s despite the fact that his administration has already spent millions constructing wall prototypes near the border in San Diego.
Trump had once vowed to build a concrete border wall, but now says the barrier will be made of steel slats.
He tells reporters as he departs the White House for meetings at Camp David that he’ll be asking the companies to design “a beautiful steel product” and “we’ll use that as our barrier.”
Trump’s demand for billions for the barrier has forced a partial government shutdown that is now in its third week.
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9:55 a.m.
President Donald Trump says he doesn’t expect anything to come out of a second day of negotiations between top administration officials and senior congressional staff trying to end the partial government shutdown now in its third week.
Trump insists to reporters as he departs the White House for staff meetings at Camp David that he feels the pain of hundreds of thousands of federal workers who aren’t being paid. A day earlier, he had tweeted he didn’t care that “most of the workers not getting paid are Democrats.”
Trump is still digging in his heels, demanding billions for a border barrier that Democrats won’t provide.
Trump says he’s still mulling declaring a national emergency to try to circumvent Congress.
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9:30 a.m.
The White House press secretary says President Donald Trump is prepared to bypass Congress if necessary by declaring a national emergency to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders tells “Fox News Sunday” that the White House has been looking at “every option available” to get the needed money, and she says Trump will do “whatever it takes to protect our borders.”
Trump asserted on Friday that he could declare a national emergency to build the wall without congressional approval, but would first try a “negotiated process.” Such a move is certain to draw legal challenges.
Sanders says Trump is “not going to stop” until he figures out the best way to protect U.S. citizens and that “whatever action he takes will certainly be lawful.”
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8:20 a.m.
A first round of talks between White House officials and congressional aides has made little progress toward ending the government shutdown, with each side accusing the other of giving no ground.
More discussions are planned for Sunday.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to be at Camp David for a retreat with White House staff on border security and other topics. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says House Democrats intend to start passing individual bills to reopen agencies.
The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.
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