The United States President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will not be accepting any deal to prevent another partial government shutdown without getting funded for his long-demanded US-Mexico border wall.
According to The Hill news reports, when asked whether he will accept new border infrastructure other than a wall in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters, “No. Because if there’s no wall, it doesn’t work.”
Trump said he is ready to wait to see if the US Congress could come up with a deal before February 15, the funding deadline, before he decided to whether declare a national emergency at the southern border. Though, he did not sound to be optimistic negotiations that would produce a bill which he could support, accusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of “playing games” and saying “I don’t think they’re going to make a deal”.
On Thursday, in the Oval office, Pelosi said Democrats would remain adamantly opposed to funding border wall but could provide new border infrastructure in the spending bill.
During her weekly briefing, Pelosi said, “There’s not going to be any wall money in the legislation. However, if they have some suggestions about certain localities where technology, some infrastructure [is appropriate] … that’s part of the negotiation.”
However, Trump expressed his confidence that he would win over Pelosi, stating the 35-day shutdown with blames on him was actually a good status because it “set the table for where we are now” in the debate over the wall.
Tough, Trump has said he was open to new structures like “steel slats” or a “barrier” along the US-Mexico border, he said on Thursday, he would like to remain at his demand of a wall.