10 January 2019 - US Government Shutdown
Trump walks out of shutdown negotiations after Democrats reject wall money, calls meeting ‘total waste of time’
Erica Werner, Sean Sullivan, Mike DeBonis and Seung Min Kim (The Washington Post, 09/01/2019)
Talks between President Trump and congressional Democrats aimed at ending the partial government shutdown collapsed in acrimony and disarray Wednesday, with the president walking out of the White House meeting and calling it “a total waste of time” after Democrats rejected his demand for border-wall funding.
Furious Democrats accused Trump of slamming his hand on the table before he exited, and they said he ignored their pleas to reopen the federal government as they continue to negotiate over his border wall demands. With the shutdown nearing the three-week mark, some 800,000 workers are about to miss their first paycheck.
“He thinks maybe they could just ask their father for more money. But they can’t,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), an implicit dig at Trump’s wealthy upbringing.
Trump’s Emergency Powers Threat Could End Shutdown Crisis, but at What Cost?
Charlie Savage (The New York Times, 09/01/2019)
President Trump’s repeated threat to declare a national emergency so he can build his border wall without congressional approval has been denounced by Democrats as extreme and an overreach. But it could be the only politically realistic way out of the shutdown crisis in the nation’s capital.
“I think we might work a deal, and if we don’t, I may go that route. I have the absolute right to do national emergency if I want,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Wednesday. “My threshold will be if I can’t make a deal with people that are unreasonable.”
If the president does invoke emergency powers to circumvent Congress, it would be an extraordinary violation of constitutional norms — and establish a precedent for presidents who fail to win approval for funding a policy goal.
The government shutdown's impact so far
Daniel Barnes (ABC News, 09/01/2019)
The federal government is well into its third week of a partial shutdown, and President Donald Trump appears no closer to a deal with Democratic leaders to reopen several key agencies.
As a result, more and more government functions are faltering, and an estimated 800,000 federal employees are facing the prospect of missing their first paychecks of 2019.
With negotiations at a standstill, Trump has threatened to keep key agencies shuttered for months or even a year if Democrats don't agree to fund his desired border wall, and he is considering declaring a national emergency to try to get it done without them.
Buckle up, this government shutdown is going to break all records
Chris Cillizza (CNN, 09/01/2019)
Welcome to day 19 of the government shutdown!
As it stands, this is already the second-longest shutdown in modern political history -- and by Saturday, it will break the record currently held by the 1995-1996 shutdown showdown at 21 days.
And barring a Doug-Flutie-to-Gerard-Phelan level Hail Mary, this shutdown could well drag on for weeks -- not just days -- longer.