Trump threatens 2nd shutdown without ‘fair deal’
Jan 25, 2019, 10:04 AM | Updated: 12:47 pm
President Donald Trump says he’ll sign legislation shortly to reopen shuttered government departments for three weeks — until Feb. 15.
Even as President Donald Trump backs down and agrees to a short-term deal that reopens the government, he isn’t giving up on his push for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
And on top of that, he’s threatening to shut down the government again or use his presidential powers to address the border issue if he doesn’t get what he’s calling a “fair deal.”
Trump says the border barrier he wants built isn’t “medieval’ and shouldn’t be “controversial” because it will keep drugs and criminals from crossing into the United States.
He’s calling it “smart” and “see-through” walls.
Trump has announced that the government — after a record 35-day partial shutdown — will temporarily reopen for a few weeks while he negotiates with Congress on his demand for billions of dollars to pay for a border wall.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the Senate will pass legislation on Friday that’s intended to reopen the government.
McConnell says he knows “the pain that this episode has caused” across the country. The Kentucky Republican says federal workers who have gone without pay “deserve this resolution.”
McConnell says he hopes there will be “good-faith negotiations” in the coming weeks to settle differences on border security.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says Democrats oppose the billions of dollars Trump wants to build the wall, but do agree on other ways to secure the border. He says that “bodes well for coming to an eventual agreement.”
Economists believe the partial government shutdown will end up having only a minor impact on the overall economy as long as the government stays open.
Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, says the impact should end up being “barely significant” with economic growth coming at a moderate 2 percent.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, says he looks for first-quarter growth to be around 2.3 percent, down slightly from the 2.5 percent forecast if the shutdown had not happened.
But Zandi says if the government shuts down again after the current stop-gap funding ends Feb. 15, then that could be “very hard on the economy” because it would shatter business and consumer confidence.
