Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer mocked President Donald Trump on Friday immediately after the president ended the government shutdown so non-essential federal employees could get paid and so both of the nation’s major parties could work on a deal to fund border security.
Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a press conference following Trump’s announcement that he would sign a short-term continuing resolution to fund the federal government through mid-February.
“The American people do not like it when you throw a wrench into the lives of government workers over an unrelated political dispute,” Schumer said. “Working people throughout America empathized with the federal workers and were aghast at what the president was doing to them. Hopefully, now the president has learned his lesson”
“Now, once the president signs the continuing resolution, we in Congress will roll up our sleeves and try to find some agreement on border security,” Schumer continued. “Today the president will sign the bill to reopen the government along the outlines of what we have proposed and hopefully it means a lesson learned for the White House and for many of our Republican colleagues: Shutting down the government over a policy difference is self-defeating.”
“It accomplishes nothing but pain and suffering for the country and incurs an enormous political cost to the party shutting it down,” Schumer continued.
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During the press conference, Pelosi refused to answer whether she would accept “any sort of physical barrier in a border security plan.”
Pelosi also indicated that there are still no plans for Trump’s State of the Union address.
“The State of the Union is not planned now,” Pelosi said. “What I said to the President is when the government is open we will discuss a mutually agreeable date, and I’ll look forward to doing that and welcoming the President to the House of Representatives for the State of the Union when we agree on that.”
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“After 36 days of spirited debate and dialogue, I have seen and heard from enough Democrats and Republicans that they are willing to put partisanship aside — I think — and put the security of the American people first,” Trump said at a press conference on Friday. “I do believe they’re going to do that. They have said they are for complete border security, and they have finally and fully acknowledged that having barriers, fencing, or walls — or whatever you want to call it — will be an important part of the solution.”
“So let me be very clear: We really have no choice but to build a powerful wall or steel barrier,” Trump concluded. “If we don’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shut down on February 15th, again, or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and the Constitution of the United States to address this emergency. We will have great security.”