Pressure is mounting on President Trump to continue his border security fight with Democrats after the government has reopened.
A bipartisan group of senators is working behind the scenes to convince Trump to climb down from his position that on a physical barrier. He is refusing to give his blessing to any bill funding closed agencies that does not include a sizable allocation of money for his border wall.
Three Republicans and one Democrat are part of a ‘gang’ that has formed in the Senate that aims to persuade Trump to reopen the government for three weeks while the conversation with Congress plods along.
A group of moderate Democrats that met with Trump today for talks that the White House called ‘constructive’ in a readout of the meeting are also pushing the president to alter his position.
The White House has so far resisted their requests — and a senior administration official told DailyMail.com that it expects moderates to crack, particularly after having heard from their constituents over the holiday break.
At least one Democratic member, Katie Hill of California, has said this week that she’d be willing to give Trump some money for his border barrier.
‘For many of us, there’s not really doubt that some kind of physical barrier is necessary,’ she told Fox News in a Saturday interview.
Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, Rob Portman and Lamar Alexander have joined forces with Chris Coons of Delaware in penning a draft letter to Trump urging him to end the shutdown for three weeks, allowing furloughed federal employees to come back to work.
‘We respectfully request that you join us in supporting a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) of three weeks to give Congress time to develop and vote on a broad bipartisan agreement that addresses your request. We commit to working to advance legislation that can pass the Senate with substantial bipartisan support,’ they said in a draft letter to Trump that was provided to DailyMail.com
The letter as currently written states: ‘During those three weeks, we will make our best efforts following regular order in the appropriate committees and mark up bipartisan legislation relating to your request. This would include debating and voting on investments on the Southern border that are necessary, effective and appropriate to accomplish that goal.
‘We are eager to continue our work on this initiative and look forward to your response,’ it concludes.
Trump has already rejected Graham’s proposition on Monday, but the senator has been busy since then recruiting allies in the U.S. Senate.
The White House has went its own way, however, hosting moderate Democrats it believes it can break in the Situation Room this afternoon with the president.
A group that calls itself the ‘Problem Solvers Caucus’ met with Trump on Wednesday afternoon in private.
They said in a statement as the meeting began: ‘Over the last weeks, we have been listening to our constituents and speaking with our fellow Members of Congress — in both parties and in both chambers.
‘There is a strong agreement across the aisle and around the country: We must reopen the government. Our security, safety, and economy have been compromised, and millions of families are suffering,’ they wrote.
Led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, congressional Democrats Thomas Suozzi, Vincente Gonzalez, Anthony Brindisi, Dean Phillips, Max Rose and Abigail Spanberger, they were the first rank and file Democrats to come to the White House to listen to Trump’s pitch.
They too urged Trump to reopen the government so that talks can continue without the shadow of a shutdown.
‘There is also a strong agreement that if we reopen the government, the possibility exists to work together and find common ground to tackle some of our country’s toughest problems and fix them,’ they said.
‘But that conversation can only begin in earnest once the government is reopened. We accepted the White House’s invitation to meet today to convey that message.’
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders crowed after the meeting of congressional moderates that the ad hoc ‘problem solvers caucus’ comprised of members who Trump hopes can be difference-makers.
‘The President and his team had a constructive meeting with bipartisan members of the problem solvers caucus. They listened to one another and now both have a good understanding of what the other wants. We look forward to more conversations like this,’ Sanders said in a statement.
Another group of Democrats turned Trump down for lunch at the White House on Tuesday.
Trump invited legislators he believed he could woo to the White House for talks — and targeted their party leaders — in an attempt to divide the Democratic Party.
The plot didn’t work. A White House statement chastising Democrats for refusing to come to the lunch table to discuss border security revealed that only Republican lawmakers attended.
‘Today, the President offered both Democrats and Republicans the chance to meet for lunch at the White House. Unfortunately, no Democrats will attend,’ press secretary Sarah Sanders said. ‘The President looks forward to having a working lunch with House Republicans to solve the border crisis and reopen the government.’
Trump invited five Democrats to the meeting, according to The Hill. He would need close to 20, and every single Republican in the House, to end the impasse.
A partial shutdown has been effect over Democrats’ refusal to provide the funds since the early hours of Dec. 22. Some 780,000 federal workers are not receiving paychecks right now. Those who have been deemed ‘essential’ are working without pay, while others are on furlough.