Author: David Jackson / Source: USA TODAY
Senator Chuck Schumer lambasted President Donald Trump over his demand that American taxpayers pay for a border wall which has led to a partial government shutdown. USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — A partial federal government shutdown entered its second day on Sunday with no end in sight as President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats remained deeply entrenched in a battle over border wall funding.
Trump refused to back off his demand for $5 billion to fulfill a campaign pledge to build a wall along the nation’s southern border. Senate Democrats dug in and refused to give him the money.
With no signs of a deal, the Senate adjourned for the holidays Saturday afternoon and made no plans to return until Thursday, virtually ensuring that the shutdown will drag on for at least several more days.
“Senators will be notified when a vote is scheduled,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “In the meantime, negotiations will continue.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., blamed the shutdown on Trump’s “two-week temper tantrum” over border wall funding and said the Senate has no interest “in swindling American taxpayers for an unnecessary, ineffective and wasteful policy.”
“President Trump, if you want to open the government, you must abandon the wall, plain and simple,” he said.
At the White House, Trump canceled an end-of-the-year trip to Florida and huddled Saturday with his advisers and with a small group of GOP lawmakers to discuss border security but did not include any Democrats in the meeting. Among the Republicans who were invited were members of the hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus, which has urged Trump not to abandon the fight for border wall funding.
“This is not about the wall…
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