Despite the Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives voting to end a partial government shutdown, President Donald Trump on Friday vowed it would not end until he and Democrats solve their border security dispute.
At the same time, Trump called a meeting with lawmakers “productive” as a group planned to convene for more talks.
With the partial government shutdown on its 14th day amid a standoff over Trump’s proposed border wall, the president met with top Democrats and Republicans at the White House.
Trump said he, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are “all on the same path in terms of wanting to get government open,” and said Vice President Mike Pence would lead meetings over the weekend to “determine what we’re going to do about the border.”
He reasoned that such a barrier is needed to stop so-called coyotes, or immigrant smugglers, and to halt the flow of drugs and crime into the U.S. He acknowledged he’d told the Democrats a shutdown could last months or years, but added he didn’t want it to.
Separately, Trump wrote in a letter to members of Congress: “Walls work. That’s why rich, powerful, and successful people build them around their homes. All Americans deserve the same protection.”
IMPEACHMENT PUSHBACK
In a pair of tweets, Trump said Democrats only want to impeach him “because they know they can’t win in 2020, too much success!”
The president’s comments appeared to be directed at Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat whose pledge to “impeach the motherfucker” went viral after it was shown in a video. Speaking in the White House Rose Garden after the border-security meeting, Trump said the freshman lawmaker “disgraced herself” with her comments.
Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat, reintroduced articles of impeachment against Trump on Thursday. But Pelosi and other top Democrats say they are examining “facts” and Pelosi told USA Today she wasn’t seeking grounds to impeach Trump.
JOBS REPORT ‘GREAT’
Trump’s comments on the December employment report, which showed the U.S. gaining 312,000 jobs for the month, included a brief missive on Twitter hailing “great jobs numbers.” He expanded on that message in the Rose Garden by saying the economy was “very good” and pointed to wage gains. Hourly wages grew at a 3.2% pace in 2018. .
U.S. stocks DJIA, +3.29% surged after the report. Equities were also bolstered by comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who told a conference in Atlanta that the central bank can now be patient about further monetary policy. Trump has criticized Powell frequently for the Fed’s interest-rate hikes.
The jobs figure was much stronger than expected by economists. Trump said he didn’t think there was one “Wall Street genius” who predicted the numbers. .
DENIAL OF JIM WEBB REPORTS
Trump took to Twitter to deny reports he’s interested in former senator, Navy secretary and presidential candidate Jim Webb as his defense secretary. “I’m sure he is a fine man, but I don’t know Jim, and never met him,” Trump said of Webb. He added acting secretary Patrick Shanahan was doing a great job.
Before then, new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who resumed negotiations with Mr Trump on Friday, had branded the wall immoral.
The new Congress is considered the most diverse in history.
The bills passed by the House of Representatives would fund homeland security operations, including $1.3bn in border security, until 8 February, and fund several other agencies until September.
However, it requires Senate approval, and sign off from the president, in order to become law.
Republicans currently have a majority in the Senate, and majority leader Mitch McConnell has said Republicans there would not back measures that Mr Trump did not support.
Mr McConnell called the Democrats’ move a “total nonstarter” and a “political sideshow”.
However, Democrats argue that the bills are nearly identical to ones passed by the Senate last month, before Mr Trump insisted wall funding must be included.
Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, was elected as Speaker of the House for a second time – becoming the third most powerful politician in the US.
She previously led the House from 2007-11 – and remains the only female to hold the position.
Pelosi invited the children and grandchildren of House Representatives to join her as she was sworn in, saying: “I’m particularly proud to be a woman Speaker of the House of this Congress, which marks the 100th year of women having the right to vote.”
Later, she told reporters: “We’re not doing a wall… a wall is an immorality between countries. It’s an old way of thinking. It isn’t cost effective.”
She added that spending money on “more infrastructure at the ports of entry” and better technology would be more efficient.
As of Thursday, 102 women serve in the 435-seat House, an all-time high, including 36 newly elected members and a record 43 women of colour.
While Republican women marked some firsts this past election season, like Marsha Blackburn becoming the first female Tennessee senator, the vast majority of these new lawmakers are Democrats.
They include:
- The first Muslim congresswomen – Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib, who took her oath on the Koran, and Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar, who became the first person to wear a hijab in Congress
- The first Native American congresswomen – New Mexico’s Debra Haaland and Kansas’ Sharice Davids
- New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29, the youngest woman to be elected to Congress
Carol Miller of West Virginia is the only new female Republican representative, bringing the total number of conservative women in the House to 13 – a decrease from 23 before the mid-term elections.
(With reports from BBC)
