Trump: Shutdown ends when Dems fund wall

As the government shutdown continues for a third week, President Donald Trump blamed the Democrats when he addressed the nation on border security Tuesday night from the Oval Office.

“The federal government remains shut down for one reason and one reason only: because Democrats will not fund border security,” Trump said in the address that was broadcast by the major networks and cable news. “… The only solution is for Democrats to pass the spending bill that defends our borders and reopens the government.”

The spending bill, which was “developed by law enforcement professionals and border agents at the Department of Homeland Security,” contains requests that will serve “to secure the border and stop the criminal gangs, drug smugglers and human traffickers,” according to Trump.

Among the requests are more technology for detecting illegal contraband, more immigration agents and judges, bed space, as well as “humanitarian assistance and medical support.”

Trump also added that law enforcement professionals requested $5.7 billion for a physical barrier at the U.S. southern border, which has been the hallmark of his presidency. He said the wall would also be indirectly paid by the new trade deal the U.S. has made with Mexico.

“At the request of Democrats, it will be a steel barrier, rather than a concrete wall,” Trump said. “This barrier is absolutely critical to border security. It’s also what our professionals at the border want and need. This is just common sense. The border wall would very quickly pay for itself. The cost of illegal drugs exceeds $500 billion a year, vastly more than the $5.7 billion we have requested from Congress.”

After branding the current immigration issue as a “growing humanitarian and security crisis,” Trump said Democrats have refused to acknowledge the crisis, something House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) denied when they delivered a response minutes after Trump addressed the nation.

“Sadly, much of what we heard from President Trump throughout this senseless shutdown has been full of misinformation and even malice,” Pelosi said at the beginning of their response. “The president has chosen fear. We want to start with the facts.”

She said Trump has been rejecting bipartisan bills, “which would reopen government over his obsession with forcing American taxpayers to waste billions of dollars on an expensive and ineffective wall.”

“President Trump must stop holding American people hostage, must stop manufacturing a crisis, and must reopen the government,” Pelosi said.

Schumer said Trump has shut down the government due to his inability to make Mexico pay for the wall.

“We don’t govern by temper tantrum,” he said. “No president should pound the table and demand he gets his way, or else the government shuts down, hurting millions of Americans who are treated as leverage.”

Schumer said the solution to the problem is separating the shutdown from arguments regarding border security.

“There is bipartisan legislation supported by Democrats and Republicans, to reopen government, while allowing debate over border security to continue,” he said.

Trump said “this situation could be solved in a 45-minute meeting,” and invited congressional leadership to a meeting today at the White House to discuss a solution for the 18-day shutdown.