Vice President Mike Pence sent a message to House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats on Thursday night — and he only needed four words to explain what’s holding up the government shutdown heading into it’s 13th day.
“No wall, no deal,” Pence told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson when asked about President Donald Trump’s position on the current government shutdown.
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“What we completely focused on is keeping the president’s promise to build a wall, to pass legislation that provides other support for border security,” Pence said on Thursday’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
That doesn’t mean the Trump administration is unwilling to compromise and meet the Democrats halfway to get the government back running, Pence explained. But without the $5.6 billion for border security in the budget, there would be no bargaining.
When asked about proposed concessions that would give Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA, or “Dreamers”) a pathway to citizenship in exchange for a wall, Pence said it’s possible.
In fact, it’s something Trump proposed over a year ago.
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“There are a lot of people talking about a lot of different ideas. The better part of a year ago, the president expressed a willingness to deal with the issue of Dreamers in a compassionate way for people who were brought here as children for no fault of their own,” Pence said.
“He’s discussed that, it’s being talked about,” he continued. “We’re here to make a deal but it’s a deal that’s gonna result in achieving real gains on border security and you have no border security without a wall.”
“We’ll have no deal without a wall,” Pence said.
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— The Horn editorial team