Molly Prince on January 24, 2019
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi revealed on Thursday that her Democratic caucus is not working to negotiate with President Donald Trump on his border wall demands.
“That’s not true. That’s not true. That’s not true,” Pelosi replied when a reporter asked her about the rumors that Democrats are working behind the scenes to craft a counteroffer to Trump’s proposal.
“We are doing what we have been doing all along. We have been working on our congressional responsibility to write appropriations bills to keep the government open,” Pelosi said. “Many of those bills have come to the floor again and again.”
The Republican-led House passed a stopgap funding bill Dec. 20 that included appropriations to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. However, with a 51-seat majority, Senate Republicans fell short of the necessary 60 votes needed to send it to Trump’s desk for signature, and consequently, a partial government shutdown has been in effect since funding expired Dec. 21.
Both sides of the aisle have been locked in a political stalemate over an appropriations bill, and as a way to come to the negotiating table, Trump introduced a plan Saturday that included a three-year extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and those in Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Democrats have been avid proponents of both issues.
Pelosi rejected Trump’s proposal before it was even formally announced, calling it a “non-starter.”
“There’s not any negotiations behind the scenes or anything like that,” Pelosi added.
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