Pelosi Says Govt Shutdown Will Last as Long as It Has to, No Funding for Trump’s Wall

California Democrat and House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi responded to the President’s demand, saying that he will not get anything to fund the border wall, as she suggested that the progress made is very little, even though the government has been partially shut down for some two weeks now.

According to Newsweek, Pelosi took part in NBC’s Today show where she was asked if Trump would receive the $5 billion he requested to fund the border wall.

“No, nothing for the wall,” Pelosi said. “We’re talking about border security. We can go through this back-and-forth. No. How many more times can we say no? No—nothing for the wall.”

President Trump met with Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer prior to the government shutdown, where he claimed that he will be taking responsibility for any federal government stoppage and added that he would be “proud to shut down the government for border security.”

Since then, the President has sought to blame the Democrats for the shutdown because they will not agree to a budget that includes any of the $5 billion of funding Trump is demanding for his border wall, which he claims will stop undocumented migrants crossing into the U.S.

Democrats will once again be the majority in the House of Representatives on Thursday when the new batch of Congresspeople are sworn in following the midterm elections in November. They plan to pass legislation to fund the federal departments currently shut down.

While they refuse to explicitly fund the wall, they have shown willingness to give an extra $1.6 billion to border security. However, Trump and the Republicans want more—and specifically for the wall’s construction, not just border security.

“We asked the president to support the bills that we support that will open up government,” Schumer told reporters after a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, CBS News reported.

“We asked him to give us one good reason—I asked him directly, I said ‘Mr. President gives me one good reason why you should continue your shutdown of the eight cabinet departments while we are debating our differences on homeland security.’ He could not give a good answer,” said Schumer.