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The Democratic leaders, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. Photo: Tom Williams/CQPHO
Democratic leaders, NY Senator Chuck Schumer, and CA Representative Nancy Pelosi. Photo: Tom Williams/CQPHO

Schumer and Pelosi: ‘the moment to reach a deal is now’

Democratic leaders in Congress will meet with the president to try to reach an agreement before the government-funding deadline expires.

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Amid President Trump continued calls for a border wall, the government's grace period is over - it must reach an agreement on next year's financing.

With renewed strength, waiting to retake control of the House of Representatives in January, Democratic leaders, New York Senator Chuck Schumer and California Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi are heading to the White House to try to reach a middle ground with the president.

Schumer and Pelosi will sit face to face with Trump in an effort to avoid a government shutdown. This will be the first time since Trump was elected president two years ago that Democrats have more leverage than Republicans in the House.

“Republicans still control the House, the Senate, and the White House, and they have the power to keep the government open," the Democratic leaders wrote in a statement prior to the meeting. "Our country cannot afford a Trump Shutdown, especially at this time of economic uncertainty. This holiday season, the president knows full well that his wall proposal does not have the votes to pass the House and the Senate, and should not be an obstacle to a bipartisan agreement."

Again, the president does not seem to agree.

This Tuesday morning Trump showed on Twitter that he won’t accept anything less than what he has demanded for his border wall.

"ICE, Border Patrol, and our Military have done a fantastic job of securing our Southern Border. A great wall would be, however, a far easier and less expensive solution," he wrote. "We have already built large new sections and fully renovated others, making them like new. The Democrats, however, for strictly political reasons and because they been pulled so far left, do NOT want border security."

Trump falls back into inaccuracies because, as CNBC explained, "while Congress has allocated money to build new fencing or replace existing structures on the border during the Trump’s administration, it has not constructed any of the wall prototypes that the president desires.”

The administrative and financial stagnation at the governmental level is another example of the White House's intransigence when it comes to imposing its anti-immigrant agenda.

Trump has promised the construction of a border wall with Mexico since he launched his campaign for president, even assuring that it would be fully paid by the Mexican government.

Though he has had his agenda blocked by federal judges and civil lawsuits, Trump tried to negotiate with the Democrats, using citizenship for the undocumented Dreamers who arrived in the country as children in order to get his wall.

Following the Democratic victory in the mid-term elections, the incoming Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has remained firm, refusing to give in to the poisonous demands of the Republicans and the President.

Along with Schumer, Pelosi intends to "offer President Trump 1.3 billion dollars in financing for a border fence" on Tuesday, much less than the 5 billion dollars the president has demanded from the beginning.

As the Washington Post explained, "Schumer had previously suggested that Trump accept $1.6 billion in border funds" as part of a bipartisan proposal in the Senate. However, it is unlikely that the new Democratic House of Representatives will approve that amount, so $1.3 is the new figure.

This money "would extend current funding levels contained in the spending bill for the Homeland Security Department," the Post continues, and would allow keeping at bay the economic instability that the country is experiencing thanks to the trade war that the president has unleashed against China.

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