Iran Press/America: US president Donald Trump refused to back off from his demands for billions of dollars for a long-promised wall along the southern US border with Mexico, he and top congressional leaders failed to resolve a partial government shutdown, according to The Guardian.
Democratic and Republican leaders from both chambers were invited to the White House’s Situation Room, the inner sanctum for classified meetings, on Wednesday for a 'border security briefing'.
During the meeting Trump asked Department of Homeland Security officials to 'make a plea' for his wall.
At a cabinet meeting prior to the briefing, Trump warned that parts of the government would could remain closed for a 'a long time' without a deal.
“We’re asking the president to open up government,” Nancy Pelosi, who is expected to assume the speakership of the House of Representatives on Thursday, said after the briefing with Trump. “We are giving him a Republican path to do that. Why would he not do it?”
Pelosi said the Democrats will still vote on Thursday, as Congress starts its new session with the Democratic party in the majority in the House after victories in the midterm elections last November.
The shutdown was triggered by Trump’s demand that Congress allocate more than $5bn in taxpayer money to build a wall along the 2,000-mile border between the US and Mexico – a concession Democrats refuse to make.
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Trump threatened in December 28 to close the country's southern border with Mexico if Congress doesn't fund his border wall.
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The shutdown, which entered its 12th day on Wednesday, has affected nearly 800,000 federal workers.
The incoming House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, said Trump invited leaders back to the White House on Friday.
Democrats intend to introduce a pair of funding bills that would end the shutdown, but without money for a border wall.
The proposal includes $1.3bn for border security measures that can be used to repair and replace fencing and existing portions of the wall.
Trump made his case for the wall during extensive comments to the press in which he made several false or misleading claims about illegal immigration and border wall.
"We're going to have a shutdown," Trump said in a video posted in December 22 to his Twitter account about two hours before a midnight deadline to pass a stop-gap spending bill. 208/103
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