Trump demands border wall for Christmas – Washington Examiner

President Trump delivered a Christmas Day message that many won’t want to hear: “I can’t tell you when the government is going to be open. I can tell you it’s not going to be open until we have a wall, a fence, whatever they’d like to call it.”

“But it’s all the same thing, it’s a barrier from people pouring into our country,” Trump said.

Trump made the remarks to reporters in the Oval Office after he spoke to members of the U.S. armed forces via video conference for the holiday.

The federal government partially shut down at 12 a.m. Saturday after Congress could not pass spending legislation.

The White House and congressional Democrats are at a stalemate over funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump had said earlier this month he’d be proud to shut down the federal government in a fight over the border wall but now blames Senate Democrats for failing to approve a House-passed bill that includes the $5.7 billion he wants for the wall.

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday in an interview that the ongoing impasse could likely extend into 2019 but that the White House is waiting to hear back about a counter-offer made to Democrats on funding for border security that fell between the Democratic offer of $1.3 billion and Trump’s $5 billion demand.

When asked about federal workers impacted by the shutdown, Trump said Tuesday that “they know what’s happening” and that some have told him “they want the wall.”

There are roughly 320,000 federal workers that have been furloughed, or home without pay. Another 420,000 federal workers that are considered too essential have to work without pay, though they will likely get back-pay.

“The people of this country want border security,” the president said at the White House Tuesday. “I don’t want [murderers] in the country. The only way you’re going to do it is have a physical barrier, meaning a wall. And if you don’t have that, then we’re just not opening.”

Trump said that he awarded a contract for a 115-mile-long wall section to be built in Texas, something that he had announced on his Twitter on Sunday. No details have been released by the White House.

“It’s going to be built hopefully rapidly,” he said. “We’re going to have a great wall there.”

Trump said that he plans to visit the U.S.-Mexico border at the end January for the beginning of construction and that he hopes there will be a completed or renovated wall by the 2020 election.

“So while we’re fighting over funding, we’re also building,” he said.

The Senate is expected to reconvene in regular session Thursday to work toward a compromise after it adjourned Saturday afternoon for the holidays.