Dems, Trump to Meet on Wall, Shutdown  12/11 06:19

   President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders are seeking to 
avert a partial government shutdown amid a sharp dispute over Trump's border 
wall and a lengthy to-do list that includes a major farm bill and a formal 
rebuke of Saudi Arabia for the slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional 
leaders are seeking to avert a partial government shutdown amid a sharp dispute 
over Trump's border wall and a lengthy to-do list that includes a major farm 
bill and a formal rebuke of Saudi Arabia for the slaying of journalist Jamal 
Khashoggi.

   Trump is set to confer Tuesday at the White House with House Democratic 
leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer ahead of a Dec. 
21 deadline to shut down a range of government agencies.

   "Republicans still control the House, the Senate and the White House, and 
they have the power to keep government open," Pelosi and Schumer said in a 
joint statement Monday.

   "Our country cannot afford a Trump Shutdown," the Democrats said, adding 
that Trump "knows full well that his wall proposal does not have the votes to 
pass the House and Senate and should not be an obstacle to a bipartisan 
agreement."

   Republican congressional leaders have repeatedly said it's up to Trump to 
cut a deal with Democrats, an acknowledgment of their own inability to produce 
spending bills with Republican votes alone.

   That gives Democrats some momentum heading into the closed-door talks, which 
also could veer into Trump's request for emergency funding for deadly wildfires 
in California and a Republican-sponsored bill to extend expiring tax breaks and 
delay some health care taxes.

   Before lawmakers adjourn for the year they also may consider a bipartisan 
criminal justice reform bill, a bill to protect special counsel Robert Mueller 
and a plan to overhaul the system for handling sexual harassment complaints on 
Capitol Hill.

   By far the biggest unresolved issue is the border wall. Trump wants the next 
funding package to include at least $5 billion for it, an idea Democrats have 
flatly rejected.

   Pelosi and Schumer have urged Trump to support a bill that includes a 
half-dozen government funding bills largely agreed upon by lawmakers, along 
with a separate measure that funds the Department of Homeland Security at 
current levels through Sept. 30. The homeland bill includes about $1.3 billion 
for fencing and other security measures at the border.

   If Trump does not agree to that, Democrats will likely urge a continuing 
resolution that funds all the remaining appropriations bills at current levels 
through Sept. 30, an aide said. The aide was not authorized to discuss strategy 
by name and requested anonymity.

   Trump said Friday that Congress should provide all the money he wants for 
the wall and called illegal immigration a "threat to the well-being of every 
American community."

   At an appearance in Kansas City, Missouri, Trump accused Democrats of 
playing a political game and said it was one he ultimately would win.

   "I actually think the politics of what they're doing is very bad for them," 
Trump said of Democrats. "We're going to very soon find out. Maybe I'm not 
right. But usually I'm right."

   Pelosi, who is seeking to become House speaker in January, said she and many 
other Democrats consider the wall "immoral, ineffective and expensive" and 
noted that Trump promised during the 2016 campaign that Mexico would pay for 
the wall, an idea Mexico has repeatedly rejected.

   Protecting borders "is a responsibility we honor, but we do so by honoring 
our values as well," Pelosi said last week.

   Schumer said Democrats want to work with Trump to avert a shutdown, but said 
money for border security should not include the concrete wall Trump has 
envisioned. Instead, the money should be used for fencing and technology that 
experts say is appropriate, Schumer said.

   "We do not want to let a Trump temper tantrum govern our policies or cause 
the shutdown of a government, which everyone on both sides of the aisle knows 
is the wrong idea," Schumer said. If Trump "wants to shut down the government 
over Christmas over the wall, that's his decision," he said.

   Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations 
Committee, said Trump was all that stands between fully funding the government 
and a shutdown.

   "Time and again, President Trump has used the government of the American 
people as a bargaining chip for his fabricated solution to his manufactured 
crisis," Leahy said Monday in a Senate speech.

   Trump "wants to score a made-for-reality-TV moment and he doesn't care how 
many hardworking Americans will suffer for it," Leahy said. "This is not about 
border security. This is about politics, pure and simple."

   But House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said Democrats were the ones 
playing politics.

   Trump "wants to secure the border. He got elected president on that 
platform," Scalise told Fox News Channel.

   If there's a better way to secure the border than the $5 billion plan Trump 
has laid out, Democrats "need to come with an alternative," Scalise said 
Monday. "They can't come and say they want to shut the government down for no 
reason because they don't want border security. They'll lose that argument with 
the American people."

   Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said Monday he does 
not believe Trump or Democrats want to shut the government down.

   "When I was with him the indication was he didn't want to shut the 
government down, but he did want his wall," Shelby said.


(KA)