WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. John Katko said he walked away from a lunch meeting with President Donald Trump on Tuesday convinced that there’s no end in sight for the 25-day partial government shutdown.
Katko, R-Camillus, was among nine House Republicans invited to meet privately with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.
During the one-hour meeting, Trump asked the GOP House members to stand firm in their position and refuse to vote for Democratic bills to reopen the government, Katko said.
“It’s clear that both sides are not budging,” Katko said after the meeting. “I would just encourage both sides to try to compromise.”
The White House initially invited Katko to join a bipartisan group of five House Republicans and five House Democrats on Tuesday to discuss ideas for ending the shutdown, the longest in U.S. history.
But the five Democrats turned down the invitation, prompting criticism from Republicans, including Katko.
“That was disturbing to me,” Katko said. “What would it hurt to come and talk about it.”
After the meeting, Katko said he was invited back to the White House for a second meeting Wednesday with the president and members of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a group of moderate House Republicans and Democrats.
The Tuesday lunch was Katko’s first face-to-face meeting with Trump since the Queens native was elected president in 2016. The three-term congressman did not support or vote for Trump.
Katko has been among a small group of moderate House Republicans who have voted with Democrats over the past two weeks on bills to fund the government and end the shutdown, without including $5.7 billion for a border wall requested by Trump.
After the meeting Tuesday, Katko returned to the House and was among six Republicans to break ranks and vote for a new Democratic bill to open the government. Katko made a campaign promise when he first campaigned for office in 2014 to never support a government shutdown.
The issue of Katko’s voting record on the shutdown did not come up at Tuesday’s meeting with the president, he said.
“He talked and made it clear what his positions were,” Katko said of Trump. “He was very clear about what they were doing and why they were doing it. I was very thankful he didn’t vilify me for not voting to shut down the government.”
When given a chance to speak at the meeting, Katko said, he shared his perspective as a former drug prosecutor that a border wall has to be part of a comprehensive border security and immigration reform plan.
“We know border security is about more than security at the point of entry,” Katko said. “If you don’t have border security as well as barriers, then you won’t have border security.”
Katko was joined at the lunch by eight other Republicans representing a broad cross-section of the country. They were Reps. Susan Brooks (Ind.), Doug Collins (Ga.), Rodney Davis (Ill.), Brad Wenstrup (Ohio), Jodey Arrington (Texas), Van Taylor (Texas), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio) and Clay Higgins (La.).
Among the Trump administration officials in attendance were White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and senior adviser Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
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