Donald Trump is set to make an announcement in the Rose Garden at the White House on Friday, January 25. The announcement is set as the partial government shutdown extends to 35 days, the longest shutdown in United States history.
“The President will make remarks regarding the shutdown in the Rose Garden today at 1:30pm,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote on social media. “This will be an open press event.”
From NBC News:
The shutdown began just before Christmas and has left approximately 400,000 workers home from work without pay, while another 400,000 were required to be on the job without pay. Trump and congressional Democrats have been at a standoff of the president’s demand for $5.7 billion to build his wall along the southern border. On Thursday, the president said that if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., were about to reach a reasonable agreement to end the shutdown, he would support it.
The announcement comes on the same day that flights were grounded at LaGuardia Airport and delayed in Newark, New Jersey and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania due to a shortage of staff by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
“We have experienced a slight increase in sick leave at two air traffic control facilities affecting New York and Florida,” the FAA said in a statement to CNN. “As with severe storms, we will adjust operations to a safe rate to match available controller resources.”
It is believed that the President is set to back a deal that would temporarily end the government shutdown for the next few weeks without requiring money for his proposed border wall.
You can watch a live stream of the announcement below.
This is a developing story. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
