WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has invited U.S. Rep. John Katko to the White House today with a small group of House members to discuss border security and ending the partial government shutdown.
The White House did not identify the members of Congress or say how many are invited to the lunch meeting at 12:30 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room. A spokeswoman for Katko confirmed he plans to attend.
Katko, R-Camillus, is among a small group of moderate Republicans who have consistently voted with Democrats for bills to fund the government and end the shutdown, which entered a record 25th day on Tuesday.
Katko told syracuse.com on Friday that Trump should offer Democrats a compromise deal on immigration in exchange for additional funding the president wants for a wall on the southern border.
The third-term congressman suggested that Trump offer to extend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children to remain in the country without fear of deportation.
Trump also invited some moderate Democratic House members to the White House lunch, but at least two of the invited members declined, according to the Capitol Hill publication Roll Call.
The White House meeting appeared to be put together at the last minute, Roll Call reported, with members receiving invites on an hourly basis Monday evening.
The lunch will be Katko’s first face-to-face meeting with Trump since the president took office in 2017. Katko did not vote for Trump or support him in the 2016 presidential campaign. The congressman co-chairs the Tuesday Group, a moderate group of House Republicans.
Katko has sided with Democrats on bills to reopen the government without Trump’s requested $5.7 billion for a border wall. Katko said he wanted to keep a campaign promise that he would never vote for legislation that would lead to a government shutdown.
Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751
