Donald Trump threatens to bust border deal as shutdown deadline nears

WASHINGTON: Congress has only a few days left to come up with an agreement on border security spending to prevent a government shutdown and may yet see the process upended once President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

Trump in recent days has repeatedly declared the negotiations a waste of time and said on Feb. 1 that his speech to a joint session of Congress would reveal more of his own plans. He suggested that might include a politically and legally fraught emergency declaration to circumvent Congress to begin building a border wall.

While the government has funding to keep operating until Feb. 15, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the 17 Republicans and Democrats on a House-Senate conference committee need to wrap up their work by Friday to allow time to vote on any plan to resolve the stalemate.


While staff members talked over the weekend, real progress isn't expected until after party meetings on Tuesday.

When the talks began last week, Democrats offered no new money for border barriers and Republicans were still seeking $5.7 billion for a wall. They suggested an openness to border fencing, but not the wall Trump made a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. For lawmakers in the talks, Trump and Pelosi are proving the biggest obstacles to a compromise.

Some Republicans accused Democrats of being inflexible given that they'd supported funding for new fencing in the past. “They are moving in the wrong direction by now saying zero funding,” said Georgia Representative Tom Graves, who serves on the conference committee.

“If there's another shutdown, it lies at the feet of Nancy Pelosi.” Trump told reporters on Friday there's a “good chance” he'll declare a national emergency to bypass Congress and tap existing sources of money to build a wall if lawmakers don't give into his demands.

He's suggested the declaration could come as early as his State of the Union speech, and that another government shutdown to force the issue remained a possibility.

“I don't take anything off the table,” Trump said in the interview with CBS news broadcast on Sunday. Pelosi “can keep playing her games, but we will win.” At the same time, White House aides said the president's State of the Union speech would implore Congress to compromise on issues including immigration and “bridge old divisions”.