A closed-door meeting between US president Donald Trump and congressional leaders has led to no further progress over the partial government shutdown.
By Lisa Mascaro and Catherine Lucey
January 3 2019 7:41 AM
A closed-door meeting between US president Donald Trump and congressional leaders has led to no further progress over the partial government shutdown.
Talks will resume on Friday amid an impasse over Mr Trump’s demand for billions of dollars to build a wall along the US border with Mexico.
In public, Mr Trump has renewed his dire warnings of rapists and other menaces at the border.
Sadly, there can be no REAL Border Security without the Wall!
However, when pressed in private by Democrats on why he would not end the shutdown, the American leader responded at one point: “I would look foolish if I did that.”
A White House official said the president had been trying to explain that it would be foolish not to pay for border security.
The new US congress will convene on Thursday with Democrats taking majority control of the House.
Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said they would quickly pass legislation to re-open the government – without funds for the border wall.
Ms Pelosi declared in an interview with NBC’s Today show: “Nothing for the wall.
“We can go through the back and forth. No. How many more times can we say no?”
But the White House has rejected the Democratic package, and Republicans who control the US senate are hesitant to take it up without Mr Trump on board.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell called it a “total non-starter”. Mr Trump said ahead of his White House session with the congressional leaders that the partial shutdown will last “as long as it takes” to get the funding he wants.
“Could be a long time, or could be quickly,” Mr Trump said during lengthy public comments at a cabinet meeting, his first public appearance of the new year.
Meanwhile, the shutdown has dragged on into a second week, closing some national parks and leaving hundreds of thousands of federal employees without pay.
