Dec. 23 (UPI) — The ongoing partial government shutdown could likely extend into 2019, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday.
Mulvaney, appearing on Fox News Sunday, said President Donald Trump “refuses to go along to get along” in his pursuit of funding for a border wall and said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is intentionally stalling negotiations until next year when she becomes speaker of the House.
“It’s very possible this shutdown will go beyond the 28th and into the new Congress,” Mulvaney said. “I think there’s an implication here for Nancy Pelosi’s election for the speakership. I think she’s now in that unfortunate position of being beholden to her left wing, to where she cannot be seen as agreeing with the president on anything until after she’s speaker.”
In a separate appearance on ABC News This Week, Mulvaney said the White House gave Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer a counter-offer Saturday night and was waiting to hear back.
He added the two sides could reach a compromise over plans for a “Steel Slat Barrier” that Trump posted on Twitter Friday.
“That’s what we want to build and that’s what the president needs to have money for,” Mulvaney said. “As to what the number is, all I can tell you is that the Democrats offered us … $1.6 billion a couple weeks ago, then they offered the president $1.3 billion this week. That’s a negotiation that seems like it’s going in the wrong direction.”
The Senate adjourned for the holidays on Saturday without a deal and made no plans to reconvene until Thursday.
Mulvaney said the extended shutdown wouldn’t affect federal paychecks set to go out Dec. 28, but paychecks set for Jan. 11 would be affected.
“This is what having a president who is nontraditional, who’s a different kind of president looks like,” Mulvaney said. “He is not going to be an ordinary president and that’s not what people wanted when they elected him.”
Trump, who canceled his end-of-the-year trip to Mar-a-Lago, wrote on Twitter Sunday that some kind of barrier is necessary to prevent drugs and criminals from entering the United States.
“The only way to stop drugs, gangs, human trafficking, criminal elements and much else from coming into our Country is with a Wall or Barrier,” he wrote. “Drones and all of the rest are wonderful and lots of fun, but it is only a good old fashioned Wall that works!”
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., told CNN’s State of the Union Sunday that the shutdown — the third of Trump’s presidency — was “unnecessary” and juvenile, as both sides are interested in working toward immigration solutions.
“This is a made-up fight, so the president can look like he’s fighting, but even if he wins, our borders are going to be insecure,” Corker said.
