The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has called on President Trump and Congress to reopen the government.
“The shutdown is harming the American people, the business community and the economy,” the conservative-leaning group’s executive vice president Neil Bradley wrote in a letter Tuesday.
NEW: The US Chamber of Commerce is calling on President Trump and Congress to reopen the government ASAP
`The shutdown is harming the American people, the business community and the economy’ pic.twitter.com/QUtHX0ioXK
— Laura Litvan (@LauraLitvan) January 8, 2019
In the letter, Bradley listed challenges U.S. businesses, companies, and citizens were facing without all the agencies of the federal government being fully operational.
“[T]he adverse consequences of the shutdown are wide and growing,” the letter said. Although it did recognize the “broken immigration system” in the U.S., the Chamber said that the situation for American citizens and businesses would only get worse if the shutdown continues.
But the group said it supported a bill that included increased border security and protection for so-called Dreamers, people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. The letter made no mention of supporting the border wall.
Trump has said he will not sign a bill that does not include the more than $5 billion in funding for a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The government went into partial shutdown after funding for several federal agencies ran out the Friday before Christmas. Democrats in Congress and Trump reached an impasse over border wall funding in the bill, which caused the Department of Homeland Security and eight other federal agencies to shut down.
Trump is due to address the nation from the Oval Office on Tuesday night, where he was expected to speak about why a border wall is necessary and why he regards the situation at the southern border as a crisis.
