Trump, Democrats battle in early stage of U.S. border security talks

[webfact]

Trump, Democrats battle in early stage of U.S. border security talks

By Amanda Becker and Richard Cowan

 

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) arrives to sign legislation during an enrollment ceremony before sending it to U.S. President Donald Trump for his signature to end the partial government shutdown on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 25, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats hardened their positions on Thursday over a wall being built on the border with Mexico, raising new doubts over their ability to reach a deal just as negotiations were getting under way.

 

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters: "There's not going to be any wall money in the legislation" to fund border security for the rest of this year.

 

Instead, Pelosi said funding for more ports of entry or additional border security technology was open for negotiation. She added that the 17 House and Senate negotiators should decide the components of the nation's border security.

 

But the Democratic negotiators went a step further from Pelosi's prohibition on wall funds, unveiling a detailed opening position containing no money for any type of additional physical barriers on the border to control the flow of illegal immigrants and illegal drugs.

 

Previously, Democrats have supported $1.3 billion for new border fencing this year or improvements to existing fencing.

 

Asked by reporters about Pelosi's comment on wall funding, Trump, a Republican, said: "Without a wall, it doesn’t work."

 

"If she doesn’t approve the wall, the rest of it’s just a waste of money and time and energy because it’s desperately needed," Trump told the New York Times in an interview on Thursday.

 

Congress has a Feb. 15 deadline for coming up with a new plan for further securing the southwestern border. Without a deal by then, a partial government shutdown could resume. The president has also said he would consider declaring a national emergency in order to divert existing funds to build a wall, which would almost certainly trigger a constitutional legal challenge.

 

The bipartisan conference committee of House and Senate lawmakers held a public session on Wednesday with the goal of producing a deal in about a week so it could be voted on by both chambers by the deadline.

 

TORRENT OF TWEETS

Democratic leaders have called on Trump to stand aside and let the negotiators do their work as a way of fostering success.

 

Ignoring that advice, Trump issued a series of tweets on Thursday predicting failure and sounding alarms.

 

"More troops being sent to the Southern Border to stop the attempted Invasion of Illegals, through large Caravans," Trump tweeted. In another tweet, he declared Democrats were becoming the party of "open borders and crime."

 

At the same time, each side has left some potential openings for the congressional negotiators to exploit.

 

Evan Hollander, a House Appropriations Committee spokesman, said the Democratic plan detailed on Thursday was the party's "position entering conference negotiations" and "every proposal raised by conferees will be thoughtfully considered."

 

Pelosi got into a few specifics at her news conference.

 

"Is there a place for enhanced fencing? Normandy fencing would work. Let them have that discussion," she said, referring to low-slung vehicle barriers.

 

For his part, Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, said: "You can have other things" securing the border, "but the other things only really work if you have a physical barrier."

 

On Capitol Hill, Republican negotiator Senator Richard Shelby did not seem overly concerned about Pelosi's statements, calling them "ambiguous." But he said if Pelosi, Trump and party leaders "would let us, the appropriators, do our job, we could do this."

 

Calling himself hopeful, Shelby said: "I think if we're going to get a deal, we'll get it probably in the next 10 days."

 

A Democratic negotiator, Senator Patrick Leahy, brushed aside Trump's tweets, saying people were paying less attention to them.

 

"A lot of the Republicans told me they wished he (Trump) would not do that," Leahy said.

 

Trump has demanded $5.7 billion for this fiscal year to start construction on a border wall that he envisioned during his 2016 campaign as being 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long and made of concrete.

 

Since then, he has said it would not run the full length of the border, could be made of other materials such as steel slats - and that the wall could be called "peaches" if that was a way to get around the semantics of a "wall."

 

He has also maintained that large sections had already been built.

 

But on Thursday, Trump reversed himself.

 

"Lets just call them WALLS from now on and stop playing political games!" he tweeted. "A WALL is a WALL!"

 

Included in the Democrats' plan was $98 million above last year for U.S. Customs and Border Protection to hire 1,000 more customs agents, and $400 million for buying and deploying security technology.

 

(Reporting by Amanda Becker and Richard Cowan; Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Doina Chiacu and Steve Holland; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-02-01

 

[blazes]

Lenin was, as usual, correct: there are very many "useful idiots" in the West who are ready, willing, and able to further the cause of socialism.

 

What so few of the Trump-haters don't see is that Trump, the useful idiot, is helping to bring on the socialist revolution by arousing the likes of Ocasio-Cortez to call for socialist solutions to America's problems.  Trump causes chaos wherever he goes or speaks, and thus creates the situation where a communist revolution becomes possible.

 

Of course, a totally militarised America will not allow that to happen without the loss of much blood.

Let's face it: if the USA faces another revolution, it is not Trump who will have caused it.  Rather, it will be the Davos-ites, the one-percenters, who live in their gated communities, cut off from the lives of ordinary people, who will have by their ignorance and greed brought Americans face-to-face with the stark choices facing them.

[bristolboy]

3 minutes ago, blazes said:

Lenin was, as usual, correct: there are very many "useful idiots" in the West who are ready, willing, and able to further the cause of socialism.

 

What so few of the Trump-haters don't see is that Trump, the useful idiot, is helping to bring on the socialist revolution by arousing the likes of Ocasio-Cortez to call for socialist solutions to America's problems.  Trump causes chaos wherever he goes or speaks, and thus creates the situation where a communist revolution becomes possible.

 

Of course, a totally militarised America will not allow that to happen without the loss of much blood.

Let's face it: if the USA faces another revolution, it is not Trump who will have caused it.  Rather, it will be the Davos-ites, the one-percenters, who live in their gated communities, cut off from the lives of ordinary people, who will have by their ignorance and greed brought Americans face-to-face with the stark choices facing them.

So many words to say nothing specific.

[blazes]

4 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

So many words to say nothing specific.

Ignorance is bliss....

[bristolboy]

2 minutes ago, blazes said:

Ignorance is bliss....

And apparently for you it's vagueness.

[blazes]

2 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

And apparently for you it's vagueness.

 

I hate personal hijackings of public websites, but I can't resist replying that what is "vague" for you is crystal clear for anyone who knows history.

[mikebike]

1 minute ago, bristolboy said:

And apparently for you it's vagueness.

I dunno... he seems to clearly blame 45 for AOC... rather than the economic policy from BOTH parties from Regan on which have gutted middle and lower income families earning power and directed it to the 1%. Nah, it couldn't be that people are waking up to the fact the elected officials work for the rich and corps, not the actual people, making class struggle a very appealing choice for those with no economic, therefore, political power.

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, blazes said:

 

I hate personal hijackings of public websites, but I can't resist replying that what is "vague" for you is crystal clear for anyone who knows history.

So, all or most historians agree with whatever it is you are alleging but not specifying? And why so coy? What are you afraid of?

[Redline]

As far as I know, most everything comes through legal points of entry, and tunnels are often used to go from a building on one side, to a building on another.  How much will walls really help?

[keemapoot]

The US criminal trial of the largest drug Cartel's boss, El Chapo, is in closing arguments stage, and what has been revealed over the past two months is just how utterly and plainly false and fictional are Trump's claims that walls would stop drug trafficking. 

 

Another example of the sloppy arguments and justifications Trump is using for the wall that are being shot to pieces by the facts.

 

Quote

The flow of the cartel’s drugs, the prosecution said, relied on underground tunnels and hidden compartments in vehicles — methods that would not have been thwarted by any border wall.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/el-chapo-trial-provides-a-deep-look-inside-the-sinaloa-cartels-drug-empire/2019/01/31/737576d4-24c6-11e9-81fd-b7b05d5bed90_story.html?utm_term=.d093d7139a91

[TVGerry]

What a joke!

 

Mexico wouldn't pay for the wall while the Trump supporters actually believed the liar in chief they would! Then they had 2 years in control of congress and didn't build the wall then. Now the Democrats control the House and suddenly he wants to build the wall so urgently!

 

I mean how dumb can his supporters get? He's been lying to them for since the campaign, he's lying to them now. And still they lap up the BS he spews. So pathetic.

[Tug]

Hey blazes in some ways I agree with you I pay a lot in taxes I would like to receive something in return if that makes me a commie so be it (it doesent btw)@# far as Donald an his wall it’s un American it would effect the inviorment more than immigration and is just plane dumb but Donald is backed into a corner terrified of the right wing blowhards  and his base so his fiasco has to play out as the rest of the country suffers his incompetence 

[Bundooman]

1 hour ago, TVGerry said:

What a joke!

 

Mexico wouldn't pay for the wall while the Trump supporters actually believed the liar in chief they would! Then they had 2 years in control of congress and didn't build the wall then. Now the Democrats control the House and suddenly he wants to build the wall so urgently!

 

I mean how dumb can his supporters get? He's been lying to them for since the campaign, he's lying to them now. And still they lap up the BS he spews. So pathetic.

Because they are the dumb <deleted> of America - that's why!

[quandow]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

Democratic leaders have called on Trump to stand aside and let the negotiators do their work as a way of fostering success.

So are the Republican leaders!

[Cryingdick]

14 hours ago, blazes said:

Lenin was, as usual, correct: there are very many "useful idiots" in the West who are ready, willing, and able to further the cause of socialism.

 

What so few of the Trump-haters don't see is that Trump, the useful idiot, is helping to bring on the socialist revolution by arousing the likes of Ocasio-Cortez to call for socialist solutions to America's problems.  Trump causes chaos wherever he goes or speaks, and thus creates the situation where a communist revolution becomes possible.

 

Of course, a totally militarised America will not allow that to happen without the loss of much blood.

Let's face it: if the USA faces another revolution, it is not Trump who will have caused it.  Rather, it will be the Davos-ites, the one-percenters, who live in their gated communities, cut off from the lives of ordinary people, who will have by their ignorance and greed brought Americans face-to-face with the stark choices facing them.

 

The problem with Cortez is that if she even debated somebody moderately informed about the economy she would be completely shut down in a matter of minutes. Believe it or not but whatever you think of Trump he has much more experience in business than her. 

 

He was into real estate in NYC and on a global basis. She was a bartender and didn't have rent money when she moved into DC.

 

 

[bristolboy]

3 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

 

The problem with Cortez is that if she even debated somebody moderately informed about the economy she would be completely shut down in a matter of minutes. Believe it or not but whatever you think of Trump he has much more experience in business than her. 

 

He was into real estate in NYC and on a global basis. She was a bartender and didn't have rent money when she moved into DC.

 

 

She also has much less experience of bankruptcy. And didn't have the kind of daddy who could make her a millionaire by the time she was 5 years old, unlike Trump. What exactly have you got against people who make their living from paychecks. That's how most Americans earn a living. What have you got against the majority of American people?

[lovelomsak]

23 hours ago, webfact said:

Asked by reporters about Pelosi's comment on wall funding, Trump, a Republican, said: "Without a wall, it doesn’t work."

 

"If she doesn’t approve the wall, the rest of it’s just a waste of money and time and energy because it’s desperately needed," Trump told the New York Times in an interview on Thursday.

That is it in a nut shell. 

  

[spidermike007]

I knew Trump would fold. He could not handle the huge drop in approval numbers, and he was totally taken off guard, that most of America blamed him, and only him for the "Trump wall shutdown". It was his fault on every level. He fabricated a crisis, then got caught with his pants down, when he declared war on the new congress, and the American people. Now, he looks weak, and dumb, all accurate presumptions. 

 

Going up against Pelosi was a real mistake. It was before, and it will be again. Pelosi made Trump look naive and stupid. Which he is. He is a terrible negotiator. She is masterful. He is of modest intelligence. She is very sharp. Aside from insults, he doesn’t really know how to deal with assertive older women, because for his entire life they have existed outside of both his immediate view and his broader imagination. When he talks about “women”, it’s obvious that only a small subsection of them fit into his definition; some might have qualified, but by virtue of challenging him can be written off as bimbos; a few others are witch-like hags who have surrendered their claim to womanhood; and the rest are simply invisible. The women of Trumpworld have a single role, and that is to say “yes”. Trump has long bought and paid for that acquiescence. Now, Pelosi is telling him no, and she has real power and can’t be ignored, replaced or waved away. They aren’t in direct competition (as he was with Clinton and Fiorina), so he is less able to leverage more generalized public sexism to win his battle against her. He’s used to women helping him feel like a big man. Now, here’s a woman who makes him look small and impotent.

 

Which is why Trump will respond the only way he knows how: with feeble insults and exclamation-point-laden letters. Pelosi played it cool. She knows how the rules work and how the system operates, and she’s no stranger to condescending men who insult her before they vastly underestimate her. Trump, on the other hand, has never had to work directly with a woman like Pelosi, and seems completely perplexed by her behavior, which is so different from that of all the other women in his world. She knows what she’s up against. He can’t seem to tell what species she is. And it usually ends poorly for the man who can’t tell a kitten from a lion.

 

Hence, a total surrender. Nancy beat his butt. 

[Becker]

6 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

 

The problem with Cortez is that if she even debated somebody moderately informed about the economy she would be completely shut down in a matter of minutes. Believe it or not but whatever you think of Trump he has much more experience in business than her. 

Yes, she should go to him for advice on how to declare bankruptcy and the 101 on how to stiff small contractors. He!!, he might even throw in a p***y grabbing lesson for free!

[blazes]

1 hour ago, Becker said:

Yes, she should go to him for advice on how to declare bankruptcy and the 101 on how to stiff small contractors. He!!, he might even throw in a p***y grabbing lesson for free!

 

Phew, for a moment there, I thought you were referring to Pelosi....

[bristolboy]

11 minutes ago, blazes said:

 

Phew, for a moment there, I thought you were referring to Pelosi....

Wasn't aware that Pelosi had a history of bankruptcies, stiffing contractors, and sexual harassment. Could you please share your sources with us?

[Scott]

Baiting, bickering troll posts and replies removed.