US President Donald Trump is making a "major announcement" from the White House about the current record-breaking government shutdown and what he called the "humanitarian crisis" on the US-Mexico border.
About a quarter of the US government has been shuttered since December 22, due to a standoff between Trump and the congressional Democrats over some $5.6 billion for construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border.
Senate Democrats blocked the attempt to approve the funding until the new House of Representatives convened on January 3 with a Democrat majority. The new Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) has refused to give any funding to the wall, ever, at one point leading to Trump walking out of negotiations at the White House and calling them a “total waste of time.”
Some 800,000 federal workers are affected by the shutdown, and are either staying home or working as “essential” personnel, but not receiving any pay until the government reopens. The 29-day (and-counting shutdown) has been the longest in US history, surpassing the 21-day record set under the Clinton administration in 1996.
Source : RT - Daily news
WATCH LIVE: President Trump speaks on border crisis & government shutdown
WATCH LIVE: President Trump speaks on border crisis & government shutdown
