Rep Mo Brooks calls Nancy Pelosi State of the Union cancellation unprecedented and radical
Republican Congressman Mo Brooks released a statement Wednesday in the wake of Speaker Nancy Pelosi telling President Donald Trump that the House would not authorize a State of the Union speech while the government was shut down. In the statement, Brooks called Pelosi’s action “unprecedented” and “radical.” It read, in part, “Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s first-time-in-history cancellation of a president’s State of the Union address shows how radical and hyper-partisan the Democrats have become and undermines bipartisanship at a time America needs it the most. This unprecedented attempt to muffle the President may appease the radical, Socialist base of the Democrat Party, but it hurts America and symbolizes how dysfunctional a Socialist Democrat House of Representatives has made Washington.” Brooks also reintroduced the EL CHAPO (Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order Act) Wednesday, a companion to a bill introduced by Ted Cruz in the Senate. This legislation would set aside $14 billion forfeited to the United States as a result of prosecuting drug cartel leaders including El Chapo, and using those funds to build the border wall. In a statement, Brooks said this would help to end the shutdown. “Congress should end the shutdown by passing the EL CHAPO Act that, over time, funds border security and a border wall by using billions of dollars in seized drug and blood money profits from drug cartels and drug lords and reapplying those drug forfeiture monies to border security and construction of a border wall.” Should the shutdown continue, the Congressman has suggested another solution. Last week, Brooks was one of several members of Congress who proposed the speech be moved to the Senate. At that time, he said “I most strongly encourage Vice-President Mike Pence, in his Constitutional capacity as the presiding officer of the Senate, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to invite President Trump to report to the American people on the state of the union in the Senate Chamber. While traditionally these addresses have been held in the House Chamber due to its larger size, inasmuch as House Democrats apparently do not want to hear from the President anyway, overcrowding of the Senate chamber should not be an issue. I urge President Trump, Vice-President Pence (as President of the Senate), and Leader McConnell to maintain January 29, 2019 as the date on which President Trump can address the American people from the Senate Chamber, thus putting President Trump with our first president, George Washington, who also gave his first State of the Union address in the Capitol’s Senate Chamber.”
Nancy Pelosi says no State of the Union speech in the House until government opens
The Latest on the partial government shutdown (all times local): 2:50 p.m. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is officially postponing President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address until the government is fully reopened. The California Democrat told Trump in a letter Wednesday the Democratic-controlled House won’t pass the required measure for him to give the nationally televised speech from the House floor. Pelosi acted just hours after Trump notified her that he was planning to deliver the speech next Tuesday in line with her original invitation. Pelosi’s moves have left the White House scrambling to devise an alternative plan for the speech, which is one of the president’s top opportunities to lay out his agenda to the public. Pelosi said “I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened.” ___ 11:25 a.m. President Donald Trump is urging state and local Republican leaders to “stick together” on his border wall demands. Trump held a conference call with state, local and community leaders Wednesday on the 33rd day of the partial government shutdown. During his remarks, Trump said he would not back down in his push for $5.7 billion for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, calling it the “right policy.” The president also acknowledged there was “pressure” due to the shutdown, but argued it was worse for Democrats. Trump said “I think there’s more pressure on them than there is on us.” Polls show Trump gets most of the blame for the shutdown. Trump said: “We need this approved. We have to stick together.” ___ 11:20 a.m. A top White House economist says near-zero growth is possible in the first quarter if the government doesn’t fully reopen before the end of March. But Kevin Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, predicts a “humongous” rebound in the second quarter if the shutdown ends. Hassett told CNN on Wednesday that “we could end up with a number that’s very, very low” for January to March after the effects of an extended shutdown are factored into what typically is a weak first-quarter economic growth report. Pressed on whether that could mean no growth, Hassett said the number could be “very close to zero.” A stalemate between President Donald Trump and Democratic lawmakers over funding a U.S.-Mexico border wall has produced the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history, now on Day 33. ___ 10:55 a.m. House Democrats are considering drafting a new proposal to provide President Donald Trump with options for securing the border that don’t involve a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. No final decisions have been made, according to a senior Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because the aide wasn’t authorized to discuss the lawmakers’ private discussions on the record. The proposals are likely to be drafted into a sweeping Homeland Security bill. Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York said Wednesday that personnel, technology and other options “are the things that would actually improve our border security.” Already, House Democrats have added $1.5 billion for border security to legislation being voted on this week. The funding would go toward immigration judges, bolstered infrastructure and aid to Central American countries. —Lisa Mascaro __ 10:15 a.m. The White House isn’t saying whether President Donald Trump will veto a bill that’s in the Senate to reopen the government through Feb. 8 while negotiations continue over his demand for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. But press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also didn’t say that Trump would sign the bill. Sanders declined on Wednesday to “get into hypotheticals” over the bill, which has been passed by the Democratic-controlled House and is due for a vote Thursday in the Republican-led Senate. Sanders says Trump put forward a plan that doesn’t kick the problem down the road. She was referring to a bill also set for a Senate vote Thursday reflecting Trump’s offer to trade border wall funding for temporary protection for some immigrants. Democrats have rejected the plan. Trump says a border wall is non-negotiable. ___ 12:15 a.m. Two different votes are set in the Republican-controlled Senate with the aim to end the partial government shutdown. One vote Thursday will be on a bill reflecting President Donald Trump’s demand for border wall funding in exchange for temporary protections for some immigrants. A second vote is set for a measure already passed by the Democratic-controlled House to reopen the government through Feb. 8. It doesn’t allow money for a border wall but gives bargainers more time to talk. Neither bill is expected to advance under Senate rules requiring at least 60 votes. Senate Democrats have dismissed Trump’s proposal, and it’s unclear whether Senate Republicans will back Trump’s insistence that the government remain closed until lawmakers allocate $5.7 billion for his long-promised border wall with Mexico. Republished with permission from the Associated Press
Senate sets up showdown votes on shutdown plans
Senate leaders on Tuesday agreed to hold votes this week on dueling proposals to reopen shuttered federal agencies, forcing a political reckoning for senators grappling with the longest shutdown in U.S. history: Side with President Donald Trump or vote to temporarily end the shutdown and keep negotiating. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. set up the two showdown votes for Thursday, a day before some 800,000 federal workers are due to miss a second paycheck. One vote will be on his own measure, which reflects Trump’s offer to trade border wall funding for temporary protections for some immigrants. It was quickly rejected by Democrats. The second vote is set for a bill approved by the Democratic-controlled House reopening government through Feb. 8, with no wall money, to give bargainers time to talk. Both measures are expected fall short of the 60 votes need to pass, leaving little hope they represent the clear path out of the mess. But the plan represents the first test of Senate Republicans’ resolve behind Trump’s insistence that agencies remain closed until Congress approves $5.7 billion to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. For Democrats, the votes will show whether there are any cracks in the so-far unified rejection of Trump’s demand. Democrats on Tuesday ridiculed McConnell’s bill, which included temporarily extended protections for “Dreamer” immigrants, but also harsh new curbs on Central Americans seeking safe haven in the U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the GOP plan’s immigration proposals were “even more radical” than their past positions. “The president’s proposal is just wrapping paper on the same partisan package and hostage taking tactics,” offering to temporarily restore programs Trump himself tried to end in exchange for wall funding, Schumer said. McConnell accused Democrats of preferring “political combat with the president” to resolving the 32-day partial federal shutdown. He said Democrats were prepared to abandon federal workers, migrants and all Americans “just to extend this run of political theater so they can look like champions of the so-called resistance” against Trump. The confrontational tone underscored that there remained no clear end in sight to the closure. Amid cascading tales of civil servants facing increasingly dire financial tribulations from the longest federal shutdown in history, the Senate chaplain nudged his flock. “As hundreds of thousands of federal workers brace for another painful payday, remind our lawmakers they can ease the pain,” Chaplain Barry Black intoned as the Senate convened. The upcoming vote on the Democratic plan marked a departure for McConnell, who had vowed to allow no votes on shutdown measures unless Trump would sign them. The White House views its latest offer as a test of whether Democratic leaders can hold their members together in opposition, said a person familiar with White House thinking who was not authorized to speak publicly. The administration also wants to show they are willing to negotiate, hoping it will push more blame onto Democrats, who are opposing negotiations until the government reopens. Public polls show Trump is taking the brunt of the blame from voters so far. “How long are they going to continue to be obstructionists and not solve the problem and not reopen the government?” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of Democrats. One freshman, Democrat Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia, a state that’s home to many federal workers, was circulating a draft letter Tuesday urging Nancy Pelosi to propose a deal that would reopen the government and then consider border security legislation — including holding votes on Trump’s demand for wall money — by the end of February. A similar effort was under way last week by a bipartisan group of senators. As the stalemate grinded on, Alaska Airlines said the closure would cause at least a three-week delay in its plan to start new passenger flights from Everett, Washington. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said the shutdown could slow home sales by 1 percent in coming months. And a restaurant in Red Bank, New Jersey, owned by musician Jon Bon Jovi joined the list of establishments serving free meals to furloughed federal workers. McConnell’s bill largely reflects the proposal Trump described to the nation in a brief address Saturday. It would reopen federal agencies, revamp immigration laws and provide $5.7 billion to start building his prized border wall with Mexico — a project Democrats consider an ineffective, wasteful monument to a ridiculous Trump campaign promise. Republicans posted the 1,301-page measure online late Monday. Its details provoked Democrats, particularly immigration provisions Trump hadn’t mentioned during his speech. The measure would provide a three-year extension of protections against deportation for 700,000 people covered by the Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Democrats want far more to be protected — Trump last year proposed extending the safeguards to 1.8 million people, including many who’d not yet applied — and want the program’s coverage for so-called “Dreamers” to be permanent. Trump has tried terminating the Obama-era DACA program, which shields people brought to the U.S. illegally as children, but has been blocked so far by federal judges. The GOP bill would revive, for three years, protections for people from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua who fled natural disasters or violence in their countries. Trump has ended that Temporary Protected Status program for those and several other countries. Republicans estimated the proposal would let 325,000 people remain in the U.S. But the GOP proposal contains new curbs, providing those protections only to those who are already in the U.S. legally and who earn at least 125 percent of the federal poverty limit. The bill would also, for the first time, require minors seeking asylum from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to process their applications at facilities the State Department is to establish in several Central American countries. Other new conditions include a limit of 15,000 of these minors who could be granted asylum. Currently, many asylum seekers apply as they’re entering the U.S. and can remain here as judges
Doug Jones says federal workers shouldn’t “be held hostage just over politics”
Sen. Doug Jones returned to Alabama last weekend, holding a townhall in Huntsville to discuss the government shutdown. The Democrat senator held the event at the University of Alabama Huntsville in a room that according to Al.Com, at 300 attendees, was filled to capacity. With about 5,500 federal workers in the state of Alabama, nearly half of those work for the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, so that city has the largest number of furloughed workers. He spoke to them specifically, saying they should not be “hostages” in this political fight saying, according to WHNT, “Federal workers and the contractors, people that do the service to this country should not be held hostage just over politics. I firmly believe that. I’ve continued to vote to keep this government open. I hope to continue to do that. And hopefully we’ll get something on the table pretty soon to do just that.” The senator blamed both parties for failing to compromise, which may help him hold on to his seat in Alabama, one that is considered highly precarious. Jones said that the compromise offered by President Donald Trump on Friday was encouraging, saying “What I’m seeing is a hopeful sign.” He continued, “The president is demonstrating that he, in good faith, will talk about border security in a bigger issue. And the House Democrats, who have been just as entrenched – saying nothing until we reopen the government – are saying, ‘OK, we want to talk, too, in good faith.’”
Donald Trump’s government shutdown solution hangs in limbo
President Donald Trump’s proposal to break through the budget deadlock appeared to be gaining little traction Monday, as another missed paycheck loomed for hundreds of thousands of workers and the partial federal shutdown stretched into its fifth week. Despite the fanfare of the president’s announcement, voting in Congress was not expected to unfold until later in the week. Even then it seemed doubtful that legislation based on Trump’s plan had any chance of swiftly passing the Senate. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority but would need Democrats to reach the usual 60-vote threshold for bills to advance. Not a single Democrat publicly expressed support for the deal in the 48 hours since Trump announced it. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer’s office reiterated Monday that they are unwilling to negotiate any border security funding until Trump re-opens the government. “Nothing has changed with the latest Republican offer,” said Schumer spokesman Justin Goodman. “President Trump and Senate Republicans are still saying: ‘Support my plan or the government stays shut.’ That isn’t a compromise or a negotiation — it’s simply more hostage taking.” While the House and Senate are scheduled to be back in session Tuesday, no votes have been scheduled so far on Trump’s plan. And senators, who will be given 24-hour notice ahead of voting, have yet to be recalled to Washington. McConnell spokesman David Popp said Monday that the GOP leader “will move” to voting on consideration of the president’s proposal “this week.” Trump, who on Sunday lashed out at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, accusing her of acting “irrationally,” continued to single her out on Twitter. “If Nancy Pelosi thinks that Walls are “immoral,” why isn’t she requesting that we take down all of the existing Walls between the U.S. and Mexico,” he wrote Monday. “Let millions of unchecked “strangers” just flow into the U.S.” House Democrats this week are pushing ahead with voting on their own legislation to re-open the government and add $1 billion for border security —including 75 more immigration judges and infrastructure improvements — but no funding for the wall. Trump later tweeted: “Democrats are kidding themselves (they don’t really believe it!) if they say you can stop Crime, Drugs, Human Trafficking and Caravans without a Wall or Steel Barrier. Stop playing games and give America the Security it deserves. A Humanitarian Crisis!” Meanwhile, the impact of the shutdown — the longest ever — continued to ripple across the nation as it stretched into its 31st day. The Transportation Security Administration said the percentage of its airport screeners missing work hit 10 percent on Sunday — up from 3.1 percent on the comparable Sunday a year ago. The screeners, who have been working without pay, have been citing financial hardship as the reason they can’t report to work. Even so, the agency said that it screened 1.78 million passengers Sunday with only 6.9 percent having to wait 15 minutes or longer to get through security. The shutdown had also threatened to disrupt plans for an annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day service at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the civil rights leader was co-pastor with his father from 1960 until his assassination in 1968. The site is run by the National Park Service and had been closed. But a grant from Delta Air Lines is keeping the church and associated sites, including the home where King was born, open through Feb. 3. Trump on Saturday offered to extend temporary protections for young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children and those fleeing disaster zones for three years in exchange for $5.7 billion for his border wall. Democrats said the proposal for a three-year extension didn’t go nearly far enough, and that Trump was using as leverage programs that he had targeted. Meanwhile, some on the right, including conservative commentator Ann Coulter, accused Trump of offering “amnesty.” “No, Amnesty is not a part of my offer,” Trump tweeted Sunday, in response. He noted that he’d offered temporary protections for the immigrants in question, but added: “Amnesty will be used only on a much bigger deal, whether on immigration or something else.” That statement led some to suggest that Trump might be open to including a potential pathway to citizenship for the young “Dreamer” immigrants in a future proposal to end the standoff. Asked in an interview on “Fox News Sunday” whether Trump’s Saturday proposal represented a “final offer,” Vice President Mike Pence said the White House was willing to negotiate. “Well, of course,” Pence said. “The legislative process is a negotiation.” ___ Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi feud heats up again
She imperiled his State of the Union address. He denied her a plane to visit troops abroad. The shutdown battle between President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is playing out as a surreal game of constitutional brinkmanship, with both flexing political powers from opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue as the negotiations to end the monthlong partial government shutdown remain stalled. In dramatic fashion, Trump issued a letter to Pelosi on Thursday, just before she and other lawmakers were set to depart on the previously undisclosed trip to Afghanistan and Brussels. Trump belittled the trip as a “public relations event” — even though he had just made a similar warzone stop — and said it would be best if Pelosi remained in Washington to negotiate to reopen the government. “Obviously, if you would like to make your journey by flying commercial, that would certainly be your prerogative,” wrote Trump, who had been smarting since Pelosi, the day before, called on him to postpone his Jan. 29 State of the Union address due to the shutdown. Denying military aircraft to a senior lawmaker — let alone the speaker, who is second in line to the White House, traveling to a combat region — is very rare. Lawmakers were caught off guard. A bus to ferry the legislators to their departure idled outside the Capitol on Thursday afternoon. The political tit-for-tat between Trump and Pelosi laid bare how the government-wide crisis has devolved into an intensely pointed clash between two leaders determined to prevail. It took place as hundreds of thousands of federal workers go without pay and Washington’s routine protocols — a president’s speech to Congress, a lawmaker’s official trip — became collateral damage. Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said the speaker planned to travel to Afghanistan and Brussels to thank service members and obtain briefings on national security and intelligence “from those on the front lines.” He noted Trump had traveled to Iraq during the shutdown, which began Dec. 22, and said a Republican-led congressional trip also had taken place. Trump’s move was the latest example of his extraordinary willingness to tether U.S. government resources to his political needs. He has publicly urged the Justice Department to investigate political opponents and threatened to cut disaster aid to Puerto Rico amid a spat with the island territory’s leaders. Some Republicans expressed frustration. Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted, “One sophomoric response does not deserve another.” He called Pelosi’s State of the Union move “very irresponsible and blatantly political” but said Trump’s reaction was “also inappropriate.” While there were few signs of progress Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence and senior adviser Jared Kushner dashed to the Capitol late in the day for a meeting with Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. And the State Department instructed all U.S. diplomats in Washington and elsewhere to return to work next week with pay, saying it had found money for their salaries at least temporarily. For security reasons, Pelosi would normally make such a trip on a military aircraft supplied by the Pentagon. According to a defense official, Pelosi did request Defense Department support for overseas travel and it was initially approved. The official wasn’t authorized to speak by name about the matter, so spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said the president does have the authority to cancel the use of military aircraft. Rep. Adam Schiff of California slammed Trump for revealing the closely held travel plans. “I think the president’s decision to disclose a trip the speaker’s making to a war zone was completely and utterly irresponsible in every way,” Schiff said. Trump’s trip to Iraq after Christmas was not disclosed in advance for security reasons. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump wanted Pelosi to stay in Washington before Tuesday, a deadline to prepare the next round of paychecks for federal workers. “We want to keep her in Washington,” Sanders said. “The president wants her here to negotiate.” The White House also canceled plans for a presidential delegation to travel to an economic forum in Switzerland next week, citing the shutdown. And they said future congressional trips would be postponed until the shutdown is resolved, though it was not immediately clear if any such travel — which often is not disclosed in advance — was coming up. Trump was taken by surprise by Pelosi’s move to postpone his address and told one adviser it was the sort of disruptive move he would make himself, according to a Republican who is in frequent contact with the White House and was not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations. While he maintained a public silence, Trump grew weary of how Pelosi’s move was being received on cable TV and reiterated fears that he was being outmaneuvered in the public eye. Trump was delighted at the idea of canceling Pelosi’s trip, believing the focus on the resources needed would highlight her hypocrisy for cancelling his speech, according to the Republican. Trump has still not said how he will handle Pelosi’s attempt to have him postpone his State of the Union address until the government is reopened so workers can be paid for providing security for the grand Washington tradition. Pelosi told reporters earlier Thursday: “Let’s get a date when government is open. Let’s pay the employees. Maybe he thinks it’s OK not to pay people who do work. I don’t.” Trump declined to address the stalemate over the speech during a visit Thursday to the Pentagon, simply promising that the nation will have “powerful, strong border security.” Pelosi reiterated she is willing to negotiate money for border security once the government is reopened, but she said Democrats remain opposed to Trump’s long-promised wall. “I’m not for a wall,” Pelosi said twice, mouthing the statement a third time for effect. The shutdown, the longest ever, entered its 28th day on Friday. The previous longest was 21 days in 1995-96, under President Bill Clinton. In a notice to staff, the State Department said it can pay
