President Donald Trump will meet next week with Democratic leaders to hash out a deal that could prevent a partial government shutdown four days before Christmas.
The meeting with Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrats in their respective chambers, was delayed from this week after the passing of George H.W. Bush.
It has been rescheduled for 11:30 am on Tuesday, a source familiar with the talks confirmed.
Legislators in the House and the Senate passed a short-term bill to keep the engines running beyond Friday, when federal funding for some agencies was scheduled to run out.
The Senate approved the delay by a voice vote on Thursday, following in the footsteps of the House, which had passed the measure a day before. Trump is expected to sign it prior to a Friday deadline to avert a fiscal plunge.
Trump has signaled that he’ll go to great lengths to get the funding he desires for his border wall, having repeatedly threatened to close the nation’s southern border.
President Donald Trump will meet next Tuesday with Democratic leaders to hash out a deal that could prevent a partial government shutdown four days before Christmas
The meeting with Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrats in their respective chambers, delayed from this week after the passing of George H.W. Bush
Schumer and Pelosi are refusing to wrangle votes for any agreement that provides funding for Trump’s border wall. The best that Trump can hope for, Schumer says, is $1.6 billion that he could use on fencing but could not be used for any other type of border barrier.
Trump told Democrats they could fund his wall or grapple with a shut down of the border on Monday morning as he revived his immigration demands, as he picked a immigration fight despite the late president’s passing.
He took another swat at them on Tuesday in a tweet that claimed $25 billion in border security spending could be erased if they would only spend $5 billion up front for his border wall.
GOP leaders were not expected to attend the negotiating session with Trump at the White House next week. A House Republican source told DailyMail.com that the caucus would support the measure that is already a part of the lower chamber’s Homeland Security appropriations bill.
‘How members in the Senate vote is entirely up to them,’ the person said.
In the Senate, the president needs nine Democrats to cross party lines, assuming every Republican lent their support to his border wall demand, in order to overcome a filibuster.
The president’s antics have not spooked Schumer, who last week said that Trump was free to throw a ‘temper tantrum’ if he wants, although he would advise against it.
Trump had signaled over the weekend that he’s willing to sign a two-week federal budget extension to allow Congress to honor the life of former President George H.W. Bush without the distraction of an impending partial government shutdown.
As Bush’s body was headed to Washington to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol, the sitting president whacked Democrats and put new pressure on legislators to give him the $5 billion he needs to complete the structure.
‘We would save Billions of Dollars if the Democrats would give us the votes to build the Wall. Either way, people will NOT be allowed into our Country illegally! We will close the entire Southern Border if necessary. Also, STOP THE DRUGS!’ the president aid.
President Donald Trump pressured Democrats to fund his wall or grapple with a shut down of the border on Monday morning as he revived his immigration demands, despite a former president’s passing
As Bush’s body was headed to Washington to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol, the sitting president whacked Democrats and put new pressure on legislators to give him the $5 billion he needs to complete the structure
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on the way back from the G20 summit in Argentina, Trump revealed that lawmakers asked him after Bush’s death late Friday for a longer window of time to hammer out their differences.
‘If they come to me, which they already have, and they said, “You know, Mr. President”,’ Trump mused, before adding: ‘I would absolutely consider it and probably give it.’
Many federal agencies will run out of money on Friday at midnight, unless Congress and the White House agree on a path forward.
Senate Democrats have offered the president two paths forward — $1.6 billion that he can spend on fencing or a continuing resolution for Homeland Security that would keep the government open.
A partial shutdown for agencies that have not been fully-funded will take place on Dec. 7 without action. Lawmakers are considering a one-week or two-week resolution that could push the fight until four days until Christmas on Dec. 21.
The appetite for a political fight over spending was lacking in Washington with Bush set to arrive on a special air mission. He will be memorialized by Vice President Mike Pence and legislators at the U.S. Capitol on Monday afternoon.
President Donald Trump said Saturday that lawmakers have asked him for a longer window of time to hammer out their budget differences, in light of President George H.W. Bush’s death late Friday
Many federal agencies will run out of money on Friday at midnight unless Congress and the White House agree on a path forward; the president says he’s willing to let funding lapse in order to stand tough on border security issues
The 41st president of the United States, George H.W. Bush died Friday night at age 94; he’s pictured with his wife Barbara last year in Houston
The 41st president is set to be honored with a state funeral, a ceremony at the National Cathedral and a national day of mourning Wednesday, as well.
Trump and Congress had both been bracing for the fallout from a shutdown.
The president is seeking billions of dollars for his long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
House Democrats are in no mood to be generous since they’ll take over control of the chamber in January.
In the Senate, where spending bills require the assent of 60 lawmakers in order to move forward, Democrats are in wait-and-see mode.
Schumer dared Trump on Thursday to ‘throw a temper tantrum and shut down some departments and agencies over Christmas.’
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, dared Trump to ‘throw a temper tantrum’ that would put millions of government workers off the payrolls during the Christmas holiday season
The president wants $5 billion for border wall construction between the U.S. and Mexico
Questions are swirling throughout Washington about a possible ‘wall-for-DACA’ deal, where the president would agree to package $5 billion in wall funding with a plan to give legal status to more than 1 million people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
Trump last year formally invalidated an Obama-era program that spared that large group of non-citizens from deportation, but court rulings have tied his hands and the temporary amnesty has continued.
Republicans fear being blamed for a future shutdown, and they are feeling pressure to finalize a budget agreement before Christmas.
The next Congress will likely convene at noon on January 3, at which point Democrats will have more negotiating power.
But the president has said he’s more than willing to let funding for his cabinet agencies expire, calling it a political winner for the GOP.
‘We need border security in this country, and if that means a shutdown I would totally be willing to shut it down,’ he said Wednesday. ‘And I think it’s a really bad issue for the Democrats.’
He has also said he’s open to the idea of abandoning efforts to get Congress to establish a dedicated funding stream for wall construction, and instead using the military to build it.
Internal discussions inside the White House have focused on tasking the Army Corps of Engineers, using an already burgeoning Pentagon budget.
Some legal opinions hold that the president would have to go through Congress to requthorize the funds. Others suggest the Defense Department could invoke national security exemptions and move ahead on its own.