Border negotiations stall

WASHINGTON—With another possible partial government shutdown just two weeks away, President Donald Trump said Thursday he doubts whether lawmakers will reach a compromise on border security. The White House maintains that any long-term funding deal must include money for a wall along the southern U.S. border. The president believes negotiating with Congress will be a “waste of time” because of the Democrats’ staunch opposition to a wall, he told The New York Times on Thursday. He said he is prepared to take executive action when funding runs out on Feb. 15.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that “there’s not going to be any wall money in the legislation.” But she is open to lawmakers considering whether “enhanced fencing, Normandy fencing would work,” she said, adding, “If the president wants to call that a wall, he can call it a wall.” Normandy fencing refers to movable sections of crisscrossing steel beams that can block vehicles but are low enough to climb over. It gets its name from the Allied D-Day invasion of France during World War II, when the Germans used the barricades to try to protect the coast. Trump fired back on Twitter, “Let’s just call them WALLS from now on and stop playing political games!”

A bipartisan group of lawmakers tasked with hammering out a compromise met for the first time Wednesday but has not yet reached a consensus.