Stop manufacturing a crisis: top Democrats tells Prez Trump

Top Democratic Party leaders Tuesday asked Donald Trump to stop holding the American people hostage, stop manufacturing a crisis and reopen the government, after the US President blamed them for the impasse over his controversial border wall with Mexico.

Only minutes after President Trump gave his first prime-time address from the Oval Office, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer took to the airwaves to blame him for the partial government shutdown, which has now stretched to its 18th day, the second-longest ever.

The Republican president wants USD 5.7 billion to build a wall along the US-Mexican border, which would deliver on his signature campaign pledge.

But Democrats - who recently took control of the House of Representatives - are adamantly opposed to giving him the funds.

"Much of what we have heard from President Trump throughout this senseless shutdown has been full of misinformation and even malice. The President has chosen fear," Pelosi said.

"President Trump must stop holding the American people hostage, must stop manufacturing a crisis and must reopen the government," she said.

For weeks, the President and congressional Democrats have been at an impasse over his demand for federal funding to build the border wall.

In his eight-minute address carried live by all the major US television networks, Trump said the federal government remained shut because of the Democrats.

He said of the situation at the border: "This is a humanitarian crisis, a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul."
"Separate the shutdown from the arguments over border security," said Schumer. "There is bipartisan legislation -- supported by Democrats and Republicans -- to reopen government while allowing debate over border security to continue."
"Democrats and the President both want stronger border security," he said. "However, we sharply disagree with the President about the most effective way to do it."
Last week, the Democratic-controlled House passed bills to reopen the government without funding for the wall, which Pelosi has called "an immorality."
"This is no newfound, principled objection," McConnell said. "It's just political spite."
On Tuesday, Trump said, "The only thing that is immoral is the politicians to do nothing and continue to allow more innocent people to be so horribly victimised."