House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Monday that President Trump needs to stay out of Congress’ budget negotiations in order to get a bill done by Friday’s deadline.
On a Monday conference call with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez, Mrs. Pelosi said negotiations between the parties were going well before the White House requested funding for the border wall be included.
“I know appropriators try very hard to work in a bipartisan way and that was the path that we were on until the president intervened,” Mrs. Pelosi said.
Mr. Schumer emphasized the point when asked if a continuing resolution was inevitable to meet Friday’s deadline and prevent the government from being shutdown.
“No, I don’t think it’s inevitable at all. Before, the parties were negotiating quite well, until Donald Trump and the White House threw a monkey wrench into it,” he said.
The problem with funding the border wall, apart from Mrs. Pelosi’s description of an “immoral, ineffective, unwise proposal of a wall,” is that leaders say there hasn’t been a specific plan presented to Congress.
“We have no plan about this wall,” said Mr. Schumer, who added he would like the Republican leadership to ask Mr. Trump to have the wall debate as a separate issue not tied to this week’s spending bill.
Mrs. Pelosi said, “Let us all recognize that we have a responsibility to protect our borders. The fact is that the wall is a dereliction of duty in doing that.”
Both Democratic leaders said that without Mr. Trump and the White House intervening with the request of for the border wall, they can pass a budget by the deadline and avoid “kicking the can down the road,” as Mrs. Pelosi described.
“It’s my view that if the president stepped out of it, we could get a budget done by Friday,” Mr. Schumer said.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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