Washington: United States Government shutdown reached an impasse after US President Donald Trump on Wednesday walked out of the negotiation meeting over wall funding with Congressional leaders — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer.
The US President stated that he walked out after the leaders told him that the border wall will not be funded.
“Just left a meeting with Chuck and Nancy, a total waste of time. I asked what is going to happen in 30 days if I quickly open things up, are you going to approve Border Security which includes a Wall or Steel Barrier? Nancy said, NO. I said bye-bye, nothing else works!” Trump tweeted.
The Washington Post quoted Schumer as saying that Trump threw a temper tantrum at the two leaders after he refused to get his way. “And then, a few minutes later, he sort of slammed the table, and when Leader Pelosi said she didn’t agree with the wall, he just walked out and said, ‘We have nothing to discuss,” Schumer said.
“Well unfortunately, the president just got up and walked out,” he added.
Pelosi also tabled the effects of the partial government shutdown on the federal workers and stated that Trump refused to understand.
“He thinks maybe they could just ask their father for more money. But they can’t. But they can’t,” Pelosi said as quoted by The Washington Post.
This comes a day after Trump his maiden address from Oval office reiterating his demand for 5.7 billion USD to fund a wall on the border with Mexico, asserting that the “growing crisis” of illegal immigration is hurting millions of Americans.
The US government has entered the 19th day of the partial government shutdown.
Trump had earlier threatened about imposing a state of emergency to move forward on construction through executive power.
“I can do it if I want – absolutely. We can call a national emergency because of the security of our country. We can call a national emergency and build it very quickly. But if we can do it through a negotiated process, we’re giving it a shot,” Trump had said on January 4.
The shutdown was triggered by a lack of consensus between lawmakers and the US President on the funding for the wall which was one of Trump’s electoral promises.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]