Fox News’ Chris Wallace grilled Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday over whether Republicans are using the government shutdown as leverage for President Trump’s southern border wall.
Pence’s appearance on “Fox News Sunday” comes after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., rejected Trump’s offer to congressional Democrats to exchange $5.7 billion in wall funding for a three-year extension of the Obama-era program providing legal status for “Dreamers,” who came to the U.S. illegally as children, as well as a short-term reprieve for immigrants who arrived under the Temporary Protected Status framework.
“You could open the government tomorrow. The House has passed bills to open the government tomorrow, why don’t you sign them and open the government and then you can negotiate about this?” Wallace asked Pence.
The American people want Republicans to work on their priorities and secure the border, Pence said in response.
“No, I mean, isn’t it really that you just want the leverage and you figure if you don’t keep the government closed, then they’re going to go nowhere?” Wallace pressed.
“Again, I was there, I was sitting right next to the president when Speaker Pelosi said, if we reopen the government and took 30 days to negotiate, that she would not give the president funding for border security or a wall,” Pence replied.
Many Democrats have already come out in opposition to Trump’s proposal. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., told NBC News on Sunday the deal was a “starting point,” while 2020 contender Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., described it as a “nonstarter” on CBS News.
Senate Republicans need at least seven Democrats to get on board and support the measure when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., brings the measure to the floor for it to pass.
Pence couldn’t say Sunday whether they would have the votes, particularly as immigration hard-liners such as conservative commentator Ann Coulter and embattled Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, criticize Trump for offering “amnesty” to illegal immigrants.
“As the president often says, we will see,” the vice president said.
