No breakthrough in US shutdown talks, Pelosi plans new legislation

WASHINGTON: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats would pass new legislation to try to reopen parts of the government next week after talks between the Trump administration and Democratic negotiators on Saturday failed to end a two-week partial government shutdown.

President Donald Trump is demanding $5.6 billion to build a wall along the US border with Mexico but Democrats in control of the House of Representatives this week passed a bill to reopen the government without providing additional funding for the wall.

Trump says he will not sign the bill until he gets the money for the wall.

After a meeting aimed at breaking the deadlock failed on Saturday, Pelosi said House Democrats would seek to reopen government agencies next week through piecemeal appropriation bills, starting with the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service.

“This action is necessary so that the American people can receive their tax refunds on schedule,” she said.

Vice President Mike Pence led the administration’s team in the meeting with Democratic negotiators on Saturday. He said it was “productive” but an aide said there was no in-depth discussion of a possible compromise level of funding for border security.

The two sides agreed to meet again on Sunday.

A Democratic aide familiar with the meeting said Democratic staffers urged the administration to reopen the government, arguing that progress on the contentious issue of border security would be difficult while the government was closed.

The aide said the administration instead “doubled down on their partisan proposal that led to the Trump shutdown in the first place.”

With the two sides sticking to their positions, a quarter of the federal government has been closed for two weeks, leaving 800,000 public workers unpaid.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a senior adviser, also attended the meeting at the White House, along with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

They were negotiating with senior staff for the top Democrats in Congress, Representative Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer.

Pelosi, who took over as House speaker this week following Democratic victories at mid-term elections in November, has said Trump’s proposed wall is “immoral” and a “waste of money.”

A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll showed that 50 per cent of the public blame Trump for the shutdown and 7 per cent blame Republican lawmakers, against 32 per cent who blame Democrats.

 

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