Democrats to Trump: 'End this shutdown now'

(9 Jan 2019) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday accused President Donald Trump of choosing fear instead of facts in making the case to the American people for his border wall.    In a rebuttal to Trump's Oval Office address, Pelosi said "we all agree that we need to secure our borders".    But she noted that although the House of Representatives had passed legislation to reopen government on the first day of the new Congress, Trump rejected that legislation because it did not have funding for the wall.    "The fact is: President Trump must stop holding the American people hostage, must stop manufacturing a crisis, and must reopen the government," she continued. The impasse over wall funding has led to a partial government shutdown, now in its third week. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the president should reopen government while talks continue over the US-Mexico border wall, because there's "no excuse for hurting millions of Americans".    The "symbol of America should be the Statue of Liberty, not a 30-foot wall," he went on. Schumer noted that Trump had promised to have Mexico pay for the wall, but failed to do so and is now "unable to convince Congress or the American people to foot the bill".    "American democracy doesn't work that way. We don't govern by temper tantrum," the Senate minority leader said. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...