Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham is urging President Trump to reopen the federal government for a three week period before declaring a national emergency at the southern border.
The president has toyed with the idea of declaring a national emergency in order to use money toward the border wall he’s been demanding to curve the flow of illegal immigration into the U.S.
Mr. Graham said lawmakers could continue to negotiate and hopefully reach a deal before the president takes such an enormous step.
“If we can’t, all bets are off,” Mr. Graham said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Democrats have refused to give the president funds for his wall, sparking a partial government shutdown which has reached the longest in U.S. history. Roughly 800,000 government workers missed a paycheck on Friday.
The South Carolina Republican said Democrats thus far have not been willing to budge.
“Nancy Pelosi says even if you open up the government we won’t fund a wall,” he told Fox News. “That’s why I’m depressed.”
Sen. Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat, said Mr. Graham’s advice to the president was solid.
“If the president ends this shutdown crisis, we have folks who can negotiate,” Mr. Coons said.
The lawmaker said Democrats had voted for $1.3 billion in border security before the shutdown started.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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