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Representatives bracing for Round 2 of wall fight

The sudden end Friday of the government shutdown — the longest in U.S. history — drew tentative praise from local Republican representatives, who already appear set on another showdown in the weeks to come.

President Donald Trump signed a bill late Friday to end the shutdown, which left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks and hundreds of thousands more contractors out of work for more than a month. Democrats immediately celebrated the spending bill as a win, having avoided any additional money for the southern border wall Trump demanded.

But the measure keeps the government open for just three more weeks, setting the stage for further negotiations and another potential standoff.

Local members of Congress mustered all the praise they could for the short-term funding deal, which returned the government to the status quo before Christmas.

“I commend the president for moving negotiations forward,” Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-15th District, wrote after Trump announced his intention to sign the funding bill. “Today’s gesture will ensure federal workers can be paid while Congress continues to negotiate border protection and reforms to our immigration system.”

Rep. John Joyce, R-13th District, who took his new House seat in the midst of the shutdown, laid blame on his Democratic colleagues for their refusal to entertain Trump’s wall plan. House Majority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has rejected the proposed wall, which the president has sometimes described as a “steel barrier” or “steel slats.”

“The reason that the people of our district sent me to Washington is simple: They are fed up with politics as usual,” Joyce said after Trump’s announcement. “The people of PA-13 are tired of kicking the can down the road when it comes to securing our border and do not understand why Democrats, who have supported physical barriers in the past, refuse to offer a single dollar for the wall. As we continue to negotiate over the next three weeks, I urge the Democrats to change their tune and send a bill containing wall funding to President Trump’s desk.”

That stance — that congressional Democrats have unreasonably held out despite the president’s willingness to negotiate — extended to the Senate, where Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., expressed hope that his colleagues would cut a deal.

“I hope Democrats, who promised to negotiate in good faith if the government were open, will now compromise with the president so the country can put this frustrating episode behind us,” Toomey said in a written statement.

It’s not clear what such a compromise would look like. In the shutdown’s final days, Trump said he would accept a “down payment” for a future wall, a plan Democrats balked at. Some Democrats have suggested funding high-tech border security without a wall, which has become a singular physical symbol of the president’s agenda.

While congressional Republicans licked their wounds, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., placed the blame squarely on Trump, who has warned of another standoff next month.

“It should not have taken 36 days of pain to our nation’s workers and families for President Trump to accept the same agreement that was on the table when the shutdown began,” Casey wrote. “The fact that it took this long is a recognition of President Trump’s failed leadership.”

In other news:

As he settles into his congressional service, Joyce is slated to sit on two committees, including one with a key role in the ongoing immigration fight.

Joyce said he is set to sit on the Homeland Security Committee and the Committee on Small Business, while he will join an anti-abortion caucus and one dealing with rural internet service.

The Homeland Security Committee oversees the department by the same name, which has been central to the fight over border security funding.

“The confidence House Republican leaders have shown in me is extremely humbling and I am excited to begin participating on these two outstanding committees,” Joyce said.

Ryan Brown can be reached at rbrown@altoonamirror.com.

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