Senate seeks solution to open government, Trump insists on wall

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators made a new try at ending a partial month-long government shutdown through a temporary funding bill on Thursday, but President Donald Trump demanded a “down payment” for a border wall that Democrats reject.

After the Republican-led Senate failed to advance two measures to reopen shuttered agencies, Democratic and Republican lawmakers spoke on the Senate floor and urged quick passage of a three-week, stopgap funding bill to create time for talks on border security.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said such a measure would only work “if there is a large down payment on the wall.

But a spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Senate Democrats had made clear to Republicans that “they will not support funding for the wall.”

Trump, who sparked the shutdown, now in its 34th day, with his demand for $5.7 billion in funding for the U.S.-Mexico border wall, told reporters after the votes in the Senate: “We have no choice but to have a wall or a barrier, and if we don’t have that, it’s just not going to work,” referring to border security.

Trump said that if Schumer and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell come to a “reasonable” agreement to end the partial government shutdown, “I would support it, yes.”