Submitting to mounting pressure amid growing disruption, President Donald Trump signed a bill Friday to reopen the government for three weeks, backing down from his demand that Congress give him money for his border wall before federal agencies get back to work.
He had earlier announced announced that negotiators had reached a deal to end the 35-day government shutdown – in a dramatic reversal on a deal that does not include funding for his border wall.
Trump told the nation a plan had been reached to reopen the government for three weeks, and said negotiators would use that time for talks on a wall – a demand he walked away from after making it a condition for reopening the government.
First the Senate, then the House swiftly and unanimously approved the deal. Late Friday, Trump signed it into law. The administration asked federal department heads to reopen offices in a 'prompt and orderly manner' and said furloughed employees can return to work.
Democratic leaders tried not to gloat as they predicted Trump would sign a bill immediately Friday to reopen government and start the process of paying 800,000 furloughed and unpaid federal workers. But Sen. Charles Schumer said he hoped Trump had 'learned his lesson.'
'I am very proud to announce today that we have reached a deal to end the shutdown and reopen the federal government,' Trump said at the Rose Garden after being applauded by his cabinet members and his White House staff when he approached the podium for remarks.
The deal includes no funding for the wall beyond existing authorities for repair of existing structures. But Trump referenced a 'very powerful alternative' that he has – a reference to emergency powers he claims he has but 'hopefully' won't have to use.
He said a bipartisan committee of lawmakers would meet to discuss border security needs.
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President Donald Trump announced a deal to end the 35-day government shutdown
Within hours the the measure breezed through the Senate, marking at least a temporary end to a stalemate that disrupted the lives of thousands of federal employees and contractors, took a bite out of Trump's approval ratings and that of congressional Republicans, and saw House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's low public ratings rise as she solidified support within her own caucus.
After delivering extended remarks on what he considers the virtues of a wall and tough border security – carried live by TV networks closely following the shutdown – the president issued yet another shutdown threat.
'Let me be very clear. We really have no choice but to build a powerful wall or steel barrier,' Trump intoned.
'If we don't get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shut down on February 15 – again – or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and the Constitution of the United States to address this emergency. We will have great security and I want to thank you all very much,' Trump said, ending his remarks by brandishing executive power.
He was likely referencing emergency powers that presidents have invoked for imposing sanctions and other issues.
Trump was even more explicit when he took a single question from a reporter later Friday afternoon.
'I think we have a good chance. We'll work with the Democrats and negotiate and if we can't do that, then we'll do a – obviously we'll do the emergency because that's what it is. It's a national emergency,' the president said.
There was immediate blowback from Trump's conservative base. Several weeks ago, conservative commentary helped propel Trump to force a confrontation over the border wall rather than accept temporary funding without it.
'Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States' wrote conservative commentator Ann Coulter.
'Maybe the solution to the border crisis is not deporting 22 million illegals but one Jared Kushner,' she wrote in another tweet, this one singling out Trump's son-in-law, who Trump dispatched to the Capitol to try to reach a compromise.
The Drudge Report carried a banner headline in red stating 'No Wall Funds.'
Even as he capitulated to Democrats on Day 35 of the shutdown, Trump hailed walls as a powerful tool, delivering extended remarks on the virtue of border barriers.
The president made his announcement from the White House Rose Garden
Trump said a bipartisan committee of lawmakers would meet to discuss border security needs – and threatened to declare a national emergency if he couldn't get congressional funding for a wall
Trump took to Twitter late Friday to insist his decision was not a concession, and re-iterated his three week deadline for a deal
'They keep criminals out. They save good people from attempting a very dangerous journey from other countries, thousands of miles, because they think they have a glimmer of hope of coming through, with a wall, they don't have that hope. They keep drugs out, and they dramatically increase efficiency by allowing us to patrol far larger areas with far fewer people. It's just common sense. Walls work,' Trump said.
He said walls are 'made of steel, have see-through visibility' and are equipped with state of the art technology.
'We do not need 2,000 miles of concrete wall from sea to shining sea. We never did. We never proposed that, we never wanted that,' he explained. 'Our proposed structures will be in pre-determined high-risk locations.'
'No border security plan can work without a physical barrier. Just doesn't happen.'
'The requests we have put before Congress are vital to ending the humanitarian and security crisis on the southern border. Absolutely vital. Will not work without it.'
Trump hit back at Democrats who called the wall a 'medieval' approach.
'No matter where you go, they work,' Trump said, citing Israel's use of a wall to separate Israeli territory from the West Bank.
He also spoke repeatedly about drug smugglers and human traffickers, delivering extended remarks on women he claimed have their mouths duct-taped being sneaked across the border, without revealing the basis for what he was talking about.
'Women are tied up, they're bound, duct-tape put around their faces, around their mouths, in many cases they can't even breathe,' he claimed, returning to a topic he brought up Thursday and at other times during the shutdown.
'There's nobody to catch them, there's nobody to find them. They can't come through the port [of entry], because if they come through the port, people will see four women sitting in a van, with tape around their face and around their mouth. Can't have that,' the president said.
During this portion of his remarks, the president ad-libbed while the teleprompter he uses said simply: 'Talk about Human Trafficking,' according to reporters who could see it.
Pelosi avoided direct shots at the president during a press conference that followed Trump's, while Schumer – mocked by the president as 'Cryin' Chuck' on Twitter – took a few digs.
'The workers showed up despite the callous indifference of the administration who treated them as hostages, who treated them as pawns, who belittled their financial strain,' he said.
'The American people do not like it when you throw a wrench into the lives of government workers over an unrelated political dispute,' Schumer added. 'Hopefully now the president has learned his lesson.'
Said Pelosi: 'Disagreement in policy should never be a reason to shut down government. I'm sad it has taken this long.'
But Pelosi indicated Trump's initially scheduled State of the Union Speech – which got canceled after the pointedly told Trump it would not happen during a shutdown – has no set date.
'The State of the Union is not planned now,' she earlier quipped, when asked about it after her high-profile standoff with Trump.
'This never should have happened,' said Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, whose state has a large percentage of federal employees and who is one of the handful of Republicans who backed a Democratic bill to reopen government without a wall.
Said Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee: 'Boy Scouts shouldn't get a merit badge for telling the truth, and United States senators and presidents shouldn't get a merit badge for keeping the government open. That's what we are supposed to do,' he added.
'Shutting down the government should be as off limits in budget negotiations as chemical warfare is in real warfare,' he added.
Since Thursday, negotiators were focused on a deal to keep the government open for three weeks, until Feb. 15, allowing broader talks could continue, but had to reach final agreement between both chambers and the White House.
Trump's flexibility was limited by his repeated insistence that he would only sign legislation to reopen the government if Democrats included $5.7 billion for a border wall. Democrats refused, and balked at what they termed hostage-taking.
Trump and lawmakers from both parties could use the three-week period to continue negotiations over the wall, although Democrats have called the issue a dead-end.
If Trump takes the route of the emergency declaration, Democrats have vowed to sue.
Following the failure of both Senate bills Thursday, Trump demanded a 'downpayment' on the border wall but later called for 'pro rated' funding.
Movement began after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. finally allowed two bills, one representing Trump's proposal and one that was a clean government funding bill, to come to the floor and fail
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. met Thursday with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
Boards showing departure and arrival times at LaGuardia airport in New York on Friday. The Federal Aviation Administration officials announced that there was a temporary restriction on flights into and out of the airport today due to staffing issues that were likely linked to continuing partial shutdown of the federal government
A view of an aircraft at a gate at LaGuardia airport in New York, New York, USA, 25 January
Trump had demanded border wall funds to reopen the government
Airport travel chaos swept the northeast coast on Friday after the FAA ordered a brief ground stop on flights bound for LaGuardia Airport and delaying planes at Newark and Philadelphia due to air traffic control staff shortages caused by the government shutdown.
In a quick-fire series of alerts shortly after 10am on Friday, the FAA advised that it had implemented a 'traffic management program' at LaGuardia, one of New York's major hub airports.
The airport, one of the busiest and one Trump knows well.
The president also was to speak just hours after his longtime advisor Roger Stone was indicted on charges of lying to investigators and witness tampering.
In Trump's only earlier Friday communication, he blasted the Mueller probe as a 'witch hunt' and compared it to treatment of Drug Dealers and human traffickers – hinting at the immigration issues that have been on his mind as he fought for a border wall.
The first burst of movement came Thursday after Senate leaders arranged for side-by-side votes on President Trump's plan, which included his demand for $5.7 billion in border wall funding, and a Democratic plan to reopen government without it.
The Democratic plan fared better, and six Republicans including new Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah voted for it. Trump's plan only got 50-47 support, not enough to clear a 60-vote filibuster threshold that was needed.
Immediately afterward, Schumer entered the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for talks.
Negotiators focused on a short-term 'continuing resolution' to get the government open while negotiations continued.
Trump ally Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he spoke to the president about a three-week funding bill. Trump at first said it would contain a 'downpayment' on wall funding, according to the White House. Trump in public remarks later Thursday referenced pro rated wall funding.
Democrats dug in against the wall, insisting the president first reopen government and then negotiate.
GOP lawmakers turned on party leaders during a weekly caucus meeting on Thursday afternoon.
Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson exploded to McConnell that it was his fault that the party's strategy to reopen the government was poised to fail.
'Are you suggesting I'm enjoying this?' McConnell responded.
Johnson's spokesman confirmed the angry exchange to The Washington Post.
Other senators were at each other's throats in the closed-door luncheon that preceded two mostly-party line votes in the United States Senate on bills pertaining to the government shutdown.
'Nobody was blaming the president,' Sen. John Cornyn told the Post. 'But there was a lot of frustration expressed about the situation we find ourselves in.'
A video message that FBI Director Christopher Wray taped for agents emerged online. They have not not been paid since the start of the shutdown.
'I know tons of you are feeling the anxiety and the emotional strain of this shutdown. And 100-percent of you are feeling the financial strain,' he said. 'Making some people stay home when they don't want to, and making others show up without pay–it's mind-boggling, it's short-sighted, and it's unfair.'
Wray said in the unusual video that he wanted to speak to employees personally, because he wants them to know that he understands that his agents have bills to pay.
'It takes a lot to get me angry, but I'm about as angry as I've been in a long, long time,' he said.
He said he had not been making their case in the press, but he had been doing it behind closed doors.
'In this polarized environment, even seemingly straightforward statements can be hijacked by one side or the other,' he said. 'We're not going to give up – we'll keep fighting to find a meaningful way to help you, to see if we can make something happen, and happen soon.'
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https://hienalouca.com/2019/01/26/trump-signs-bill-to-end-the-longest-shutdown-in-history-and-reopen-the-government-for-three-weeks/
Main photo article Submitting to mounting pressure amid growing disruption, President Donald Trump signed a bill Friday to reopen the government for three weeks, backing down from his demand that Congress give him money for his border wall before federal agencies get back to work.
He had earlier announced...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/01/25/19/8994216-6633143-image-a-95_1548445688623.jpg
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