Trump rejects Graham’s call to reopen government

President Trump on Monday said he is standing by his demand for border wall funding, dismissing calls from one of his top Republican allies to temporarily reopen the government.

Asked by reporters about Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) suggestion that Trump sign a stopgap spending bill to buy more time for talks, Trump responded, “I did reject it.”

“I’m not interested. I want to get it solved. I don’t want to just delay it. I want to get it solved,” he said.

{mosads}The comments come on the 24th day of the partial government shutdown and underscore that there is no end in sight to the standoff over wall funding.

Graham suggested during an interview on “Fox News Sunday” that the president could reopen the government to entice Democrats to return to the negotiating table.

“I would urge him to open up the government for a short period of time, like three weeks, before he pulls the plug. See if we can get a deal,” Graham said. “If we can’t at the end of three weeks, all bets are off — see if he can do it by himself with the emergency powers. That is my recommendation.”

Democrats have already pushed for that solution, passing a series of spending bills to reopen government agencies while funding the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 8 to buy more time for talks.

Graham has repeatedly urged Trump to consider using his emergency powers to bypass Congress and build the wall, but the president reiterated that he is not interested in taking that step for the time being.

“I’m not looking to call a national emergency,” he said. “This is so simple, we shouldn’t have to.”

The president also hit Democrats for traveling to Puerto Rico for an event while he has been at the White House.

“I’ve been here all weekend,” he said. “The Democrats have to do something, we need their votes, otherwise we can’t solve” the shutdown.

Updated at 10:52 a.m.