Lawmakers reacted with concern and bewilderment after President Trump again declared that a border security compromise would have to include a wall at the southwestern border.
WASHINGTON — President Trump proclaimed on Thursday that without funding for his wall at the southwestern border, the panel of lawmakers negotiating a broad compromise on border security would be “wasting their time,” issuing what appeared to be an ultimatum even as lawmakers pleaded for a chance to reach a deal that would head off another shutdown.
“Without a wall, it doesn’t work,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I‘m not saying this as a Republican, I’m not saying it as anything other than a fact stater.”
“If you don’t have a wall,” he added, “they’re all just wasting their time.”
The president’s comments came as 17 House and Senate lawmakers from both parties struggled to reach a bipartisan border deal before Feb. 15, when much of the government again runs out of money. Republican leaders, especially in the Senate, have made it clear that they do not want to suffer through another debilitating shutdown, and senators asked the president to give them room to work.
“I think it would be more worthwhile and effective if the president would allow some space for these negotiations to occur and not be doing commentary at this point,” said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine.
Democrats offered their own opinions on Thursday: In her weekly news conference, Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters that “there’s not going to be any wall money” in a final bill. Four House Democrats, all freshmen, circulated a letter lobbying for cuts to the Department of Homeland Security’s budget, urging colleagues to “not compromise our values at the negotiating table.”
But it was the president’s commentary throughout the day on Thursday, on Twitter and in the Oval Office, that prompted several lawmakers to plead for him to tone down his messaging.
