President Donald Trump, who famously vowed to negotiate big deals in the White House, came out of a government shutdown battle on Friday politically wounded and outmanoeuvred by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
With Americans exasperated over the 35-day shutdown’s impact on everyday life, Trump finally gave in and agreed to reopen the government until February 15, without getting the $5.7 billion he had demanded for a border wall.
In a speech in the Rose Garden, he did not admit to backing down. But behind the scenes at the White House, there was a recognition that he had lost this round. “Perhaps he lost the short-term battle,” a senior administration official said.
True to form for this administration, the outcome was uncertain until the last minute. On Thursday night, Vice President Mike Pence and senior adviser Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, presented Trump with four options, including declaring a national emergency right away, which would let him fund the building of border a wall without congressional approval but guaranteeing a court challenge.
Trump slept on it. On Friday morning, an air of uncertainty hung over the White House as Trump pondered. Aides prepared the Rose Garden event without knowing for sure what he would say.
He opted to let lawmakers fully reopen the government for three weeks and try again to craft a mutually agreeable border security package, the senior administration official said.
A key factor for Trump, the official said, were stories of law enforcement officials unable to adequately do their jobs because of the shutdown that had left 800,000 federal workers at home on furlough or working for no pay.
“We don’t think we caved,” said another senior White House official. “We have been consistent that we want to go through the process. The president wants to give this one more shot.”
Several officials said the struggle was not entirely over. They said Trump has grown increasingly confident that more Democratic lawmakers will support border security funding in weeks ahead, despite Pelosi’s flatly telling him that under no circumstances would she allow wall money to emerge from the House of Representatives that her fellow Democrats control after sweeping to a majority in the November mid-term elections.
Gaining the advantage, at least for now, was Pelosi. As House speaker, she is now Trump’s main foil in Washington. — Reuters
Steve Holland and Jeff Mason
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