Even as he invited Democrats to negotiate, the vice president essentially blocked potential offramps for the shutdown, which is approaching the longest in American history.
WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence flatly declared on Thursday that there could be no agreement to reopen the government without funding for President Trump’s border wall, laying out terms that Democrats had already rejected even as he called on them to negotiate an end to a partial shutdown that is approaching the longest in American history.
“No wall, no deal,” Mr. Pence said in a briefing with reporters on Capitol Hill as Mr. Trump made a visit to the border to bolster his case for the wall, his signature campaign promise. “We’re going to keep standing strong, keep standing firm.”
“It’s time,” Mr. Pence added, “for Democrats to come to the table.”
But even as he appeared to invite Democrats for a fresh round of negotiations, Mr. Pence essentially blocked potential offramps for the impasse. He made it clear that Mr. Trump would not drop his insistence on funding for a wall on the southwestern border, which Democrats have branded a nonstarter.
And he indicated that the president was disinclined to accept the idea behind a bipartisan plan being developed in the Senate — similar to a measure that Republicans and Democrats supported last year, but that the White House ultimately rejected — that would trade wall funding for legal status for undocumented immigrants facing the threat of deportation.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi also showed no signs of budging, urging the Republican-controlled Senate to take up a measure the House passed on Wednesday to reopen part of the government.
“We say to them: ‘Take yes for an answer. This is what you had proposed,’” Ms.
