01/11/2019
Day 21 of the partial government shutdown, FOX’s Chad Pergram focuses on trying to get a deal done on today’s “Speaker’s Lobby”:
I’m Chad Pergram with the Speaker’s Lobby.
You never quite know who might be the key player to orchestrate the next big deal in Washington.
Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham has long worked behind the scenes to try to engineer a bipartisan deal with fellow Senators to end the government shutdown. Among ideas Graham floated: more money for the border wall and then a DACA fix alongside other immigration proposals.
Graham told Fox Thursday that he was working on a possible deal unilaterally because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had “dealt herself out. She is a non-player.”
Graham huddled earlier this week with Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and then other GOP Senators like Susan Collins of Maine and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.
And then, the hammer fell. The President intervened, personally killing any efforts by the South Carolina Republican at a larger deal.
Graham then declared, “I’ve never been more depressed about moving forward.”
Graham said he supported Mr. Trump’s efforts to declare a national emergency to get the wall. “I hope it works,” said Graham.
With the Speaker’s Lobby, Chad Pergram, FOX News.
Follow Chad on Twitter: @ChadPergram
