Tag: Mike Pence

Vice President Mike Pence, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and other republican leaders speak to reporters after meeting with Democratic leaders about a deal to end the partial government shutdown. Pence and McCarthy said President Donald Trump was calm during the…

In an interview with NBC News' Hallie Jackson, Vice President Mike Pence defends the Trump administration's claims that thousands of terrorists are crossing the U.S. southern border. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc About: MSNBC is the premier destination for in-depth…

The White House announced that President Trump would make a prime-time address and then travel to the southern border this week. Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times WASHINGTON — President Trump unleashed an offensive on Monday to persuade Americans that a “humanitarian and security crisis” on the southern border must be addressed before a government shutdown can end, announcing a prime-time address for Tuesday and a trip to the border later in the week. Senate Democrats, for their part, were moving to halt legislation to pressure Republicans to reopen the government, starting Tuesday. On Capitol Hill, Democrats tried to use leverage of their own to force Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, to come to the table and pressure Mr. Trump. The House, under Ms. Pelosi, passed a package of bills on Thursday, the day Democrats took control of the chamber, to reopen the one-quarter of the government without funding Mr. Trump’s wall. “Unfortunately, President Trump keeps rejecting the bipartisan House-passed bills, which have already received strong bipartisan support in the Senate, to reopen the government,” Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Schumer wrote. Mr. Trump’s request that the major networks broadcast his speech live set off a day of tense deliberations at ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. But several network producers said privately on Monday that they were uncomfortable turning down the president amid a national event affecting millions like the government shutdown. “If what he has to say is clearly just in his self-interest and does not address the greater national interest, then the next time the White House comes around, I might not be inclined to offer it.” In the recent past, White House requests to interrupt prime-time programming on the nation’s broadcast networks were rare and usually reserved for moments of national import, like the death of Osama bin Laden, and networks usually granted the requests. On Monday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, announced Mr. Trump’s plans to travel Thursday to the border, which would be the 20th day of the partial government shutdown if an agreement between Congress and the White House is not reached.

Vice-president Mike Pence said Donald Trump has yet to decide whether he will declare a national emergency over his demand for a wall along the southwest border – the key sticking point in negotiations over the partial government shutdown that has affected 800,000 federal employees. White House counsel is reviewing whether the president has the ability to declare a national emergency in the current situation, Pence told reporters at a media briefing on Monday. Trump threatens national emergency in 'next few days' over wall and shutdown Read more “What I’m aware of is that they’re looking at it and the President is considering it,” Pence said during the briefing alongside homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Office of Management and Budget acting director Russell Vought in Washington. But asked whether Trump has made up his mind on declaring a national emergency as a way to bypass congressional approval and move ahead with spending public money on construction of the wall, as the president has repeatedly threatened in recent days, Pence replied: “He’s made no decision on that.” Such a move would all but certainly invite legal challenges. As the shutdown stretches into its third week, the Internal Revenue Service announced on Monday that it would process tax returns beginning 28 January 2019 and would provide refunds to taxpayers despite the shutdown. The agency said it would be recalling some of its furloughed employees to process the filings. It is not yet known which part of the 1,989-mile border, which crosses four US states, Trump plans to visit or what he plans to do there. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called the wall “immoral” and refuses to budge on providing taxpayers’ funding for it. As a first act, the newly-empowered House Democrats passed legislation last week to re-open the government while congressional leaders and the administration continued to debate border security. Senate Democrats are, meanwhile, threatening to block any legislation that does not reopen the federal government as a way to pressure McConnell to bring up a government funding bill for a vote in the Senate.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In an unexpected breakthrough that could end the government shutdown, President Donald Trump has backed down from his demand for a wall and offered instead to post Vice-President Mike Pence at the border with big binoculars. According to the White House, Pence’s mission at the border will alternate between keeping an eye out for potential intruders and glaring menacingly into the distance. At a press conference announcing the development, Pence appeared to embrace his new role as the nation’s first line of defense against illegal immigration. “If anyone wants to sneak into the United States, why, lordy, they’ll have to get past Mike Pence first,” he said. The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, denied that stationing Pence at the border represented a concession on Trump’s part and claimed that the Vice-President was “just as good as a wall.” “If anyone can take the place of an inanimate object, it’s Mike Pence,” she said.

Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced late Friday night that it would freeze a pay raise for Vice President Mike Pence, members of the cabinet and other high-ranking political appointees in light of the partial government shutdown. The high-level officials were positioned to receive a raise of about $10,000 a year — which was to go into effect on Saturday — as 800,000 federal employees were entering their third week without pay. But on Friday night, the Office of Personnel Management announced that “it would be prudent for agencies to continue to pay these senior political officials at the frozen rate until appropriations legislation is enacted that would clarify the status of the freeze.” The decision came during an unexpected optics issue for the Trump administration: While correctional officers, Transportation Security Administration agents and other federal employees work without pay during the government shutdown, Mr. Pence’s annual salary would have jumped to $243,500 from $230,700. The administration appeared to be aware of the perception problem and was trying to avoid it. Democratic lawmakers, who are at an impasse with Mr. Trump over his vow to not reopen the government without funding for a wall along the southwest border, earlier on Friday put pressure on the Trump administration, criticizing the potential raises. Representative David E. Price of North Carolina described increasing the salaries of high-ranking officials during a shutdown as “astounding and the height of hypocrisy.” Representative Nita M. Lowey of New York said that the bill passed by the House on Thursday to reopen the government would also block what she described as “lavish raises.” That bill, however, is viewed as a nonstarter in the Republican-controlled Senate. The Government Accountability Office had also received questions about whether the raises could move forward, but responded that the issue was, so far, an unresolved legal question, according to a person familiar with the conversation. The salary increases would have come as the leaders of some of the unions representing federal workers criticized Mr. Trump for what they say is a lack of empathy for the financial problems facing federal employees who have not been paid during the shutdown. Under the provision, high-ranking officials would have their pay rates frozen, even though the federal schedule of pay raises would increase. Last March, Republicans tried to end the freeze, but Democrats succeeded in their efforts to keep it.

Happening Now: President Trump speaks to the press following his second meeting with Congressional leaders at the White House. Joining him at the impromptu press conference is Vice President Mike Pence, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and House…

The 13th day of the partial government shutdown is coming to an end as the newly minted Democrat-led House wastes no time in enacting its agenda. Vice President Mike Pence sounds off on the shutdown and the battle for the…

Live from the Senate Floor. The Vice President participates in the opening of the 116th Congress and swears in senators. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and…

Congressional leaders, including Representative Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, met with President Trump to discuss border security. WASHINGTON — President Trump and Democratic congressional leaders dug in Wednesday for a lengthy partial shutdown in a newly divided government after a White House meeting — the first in 22 days — could not break an impasse over Mr. Trump’s demands for billions of dollars for a border wall. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said after the meeting that he had no intention of putting Democratic bills to reopen the government to a vote if Mr. Trump would not sign them. With the partial government funding lapse dragging into its 12th day and affecting 800,000 federal employees, the confrontation in the Situation Room only served to highlight the depth of the divide. At one point, he said Ms. Pelosi should back it because she was “a good Catholic” and Vatican City is surrounded by a wall, according to one of the officials familiar with the discussion. The homeland security measure would devote $1.3 billion to border security measures, such as enhanced surveillance and fortified fencing, but not the wall. Before he met congressional leaders on Wednesday, Mr. Trump publicly rejected a compromise that Mr. Pence floated privately with Democrats last month to stave off the government funding lapse, saying $2.5 billion in border security spending was insufficient. “No, not $2.5 billion, no — we’re asking for $5.6” billion, Mr. Trump said during a cabinet meeting, hours before the Situation Room briefing. It was the president’s first face-to-face meeting with Democratic leaders since a combative session last month when he said he would insist that any government spending bill include money for a border wall — and would proudly own the consequences if that meant a shutdown. Some lawmakers have grown anxious about the shutdown’s impact on their constituents, including federal workers who are not receiving pay while their agencies are denied funding.