Democrats offer more money for border security
The Latest on the partial government shutdown (all times local): 11:50 p.m.
Democrats are adding hundreds of millions of dollars to improve ports of entry from Mexico and hire more immigration judges to a batch of spending bills the House will consider next week.
The move represents the party’s first steps in detailing how it would bolster border security as it battles President Donald Trump over his demand for building Southwest border wall. Trump’s refusal to sign spending bills that lack $5.7 billion to start constructing that wall has prompted the partial government shutdown that enters its 29th day Saturday.
A Democratic aide said none of the money was for the border wall.
The aide said the bills will include $524 million to improve a port of entry in California and another in Arizona. Another $563 million is to hire more immigration judges.
The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the figures publicly.—
___
8:50 p.m.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow is brushing off concerns that the ongoing partial government shutdown will have long-term negative impact on the economy.
Kudlow tells reporters at the White House Friday that the hardship federal workers are experiencing is surely “a bad thing,” but that he expects the economy to bounce back quickly once the shutdown is over.
Kudlow says: “This stuff going on now is temporary” and is predicting, “the recovery will be almost immediate.”
He adds that, when the government re-opens, “the switch will turn and you won’t even hardly know it happened.”
Kevin Hassett, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, had said earlier this week that the shutdown is slowing growth more than predicted.
___
6 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he will make a major announcement on the government shutdown and the southern border on Saturday afternoon from the White House.
Trump and Democrats in Congress remain far apart over Trump’s insistence on funding for a wall along the Mexican border as the price of reopening the government.
The two sides have traded taunts and avoided talks so far this week. Trump says the announcement will take place at 3 p.m. He says the announcement involves “the Humanitarian Crisis on our Southern Border.”
The political stakes are high as the shutdown moves into a fifth week, with hundreds of thousands of federal workers going without pay and no outward signs of resolution.
___
12:30 p.m.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (puh-LOH’-see) is accusing the White House of leaking information about her planned congressional trip to Afghanistan and saying it’s “very irresponsible on the part of the president.”
Pelosi’s comments Friday came after President Donald Trump canceled the military plane that was to have carried a congressional delegation to Afghanistan on the previously undisclosed troop visit. Trump suggested she travel by commercial plane instead.
Pelosi said she planned to do just that but was thwarted after “the administration leaked that we were traveling commercially.” She says the State Department reported “the president outing” the original trip made the scene on the ground in Afghanistan “more dangerous because it’s a signal to the bad actors that we’re coming.”
The White House has denied leaking Pelosi’s backup plan to fly commercially and says it leaked nothing that would cause a security risk.
Pelosi and Trump are at an impasse over funding Trump wants for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. The partial government shutdown has reached its 28th day.
___
11:30 a.m.
The White House is denying that it leaked Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (puh-LOH’-seez) backup plan to fly to Afghanistan commercially after President Donald Trump grounded her Air Force jet.
A White House official speaking Friday on the condition of anonymity to address Pelosi’s charge said it didn’t leak her plan.
Trump revealed the previously secret trip publicly on Thursday and denied Pelosi the use of a military plane for the trip.
Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill says she and accompanying lawmakers were prepared to take a commercial flight but canceled after the State Department warned that publicity over the visit had “significantly increased the danger to the delegation and to the troops, security, and other officials supporting the trip.”
Pelosi and Trump are at an impasse over funding Trump wants for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, which Pelosi opposes. The partial government shutdown has reached its 28th day.
___
By Zeke Miller.
___
10:15 a.m.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is canceling a congressional fact-finding trip to Afghanistan and claiming the White House leaked her plans to fly commercial.
Friday’s announcement by Pelosi’s office came a day after President Donald Trump nixed Pelosi’s plans to take a military aircraft to Afghanistan.
Spokesman Drew Hammill says Pelosi and accompanying lawmakers were prepared to take a commercial flight but canceled after the State Department warned that publicity over the visit had “significantly increased the danger to the delegation and to the troops, security, and other officials supporting the trip.”
Trump’s move to cancel the military plane traditionally used to fly to war zones came a day after Pelosi infuriated Trump by moving to delay Trump’s Jan. 29 State of the Union speech in the House chamber.
The White House has not responded to Pelosi’s leak claim.
Pelosi and Trump are at an impasse over funding Trump wants for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, which Pelosi opposes. The partial government shutdown has reached its 28th day.
___
12:20 a.m.
She imperiled his State of the Union address. He denied her a plane to visit troops abroad.
The shutdown battle between President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is playing out as a surreal game of constitutional brinkmanship, with both flexing their political powers from opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue as the negotiations to end the monthlong partial government shutdown remain stalled.
In dramatic fashion, Trump issued a letter to Pelosi on Thursday, just before she and other lawmakers were set to depart on the previously undisclosed trip to Afghanistan and Brussels. Trump belittled the trip as a “public relations event” — even though he had just made a similar warzone stop — and said it would be best if Pelosi remained in Washington to negotiate.
No Comment