New House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) criticized Democrats on Thursday evening after they pushed through a bill to re-open the government — without any new funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall.
The House vote was 239-192, almost entirely along party lines, as Democrats rejected Trump’s position entirely:
The House votes to reopen DHS until February 8, the same bill the Senate approved by voice vote right before Christmas. But with Trump opposed since it punts on border wall money, McConnell won’t take it up now. The House vote was 239-192
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 4, 2019
In response, McCarthy issued a statement — his first major statement as the leader of the opposition in the House:
“House Democrats are shortchanging border security and prolonging the shutdown in order to score political points against the President. The appropriations bill Democrats passed is wholly inadequate to secure the border. It will not get approval from the Republican Senate or the President, and Democrats know it.
“I look forward to meeting with Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer at the White House tomorrow. They should bring a more serious offer.”
Republican and Democratic leaders have been invited to meet with President Trump at the White House on Friday to continue their negotiations.
The partial government shutdown is expected to drag on for days, at least — and possibly weeks or even months — as neither side seems prepared to compromise.
Trump has said that he would be willing to construct something more akin to a fence — a steel slat barrier — instead of a wall, but has insisted on a physical barrier at the border.
Newly-installed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi reiterated Thursday that she saw the wall as “immoral”:
Pelosi claims Trump’s wall is not a wall between Mexico and the U.S.: “It’s a wall between reality and his supporters”
Pelosi says Democrats don’t want the wall because it’s an “immorality between countries,” and it has “nothing to do with politics”
“We’re not doing a wall!” pic.twitter.com/LycixGTAPu
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 4, 2019
As Breitbart News’ Rebecca Mansour noted Thursday, the Democrats’ spending bill included tens of billions of dollars in excess spending above the White House budget request — without including the $5 billion the president wants for the wall.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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