Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) rebutted President Trump’s Oval Office address Tuesday night, accusing Trump of “manufacturing a crisis.” “The president is rejecting these bipartisan bills which would re-open government over his obsession with forcing American taxpayers to waste billions of dollars on an expensive and ineffective wall,” Pelosi said, adding that the president had “chosen fear” to pursue his desired $5.7 billion in border-wall funding. “American democracy doesn't work that way. We don't govern by temper tantrum,” Schumer said. While Trump announced that he had invited Democrats for discussions about the border security issue on Wednesday, the two leading Democrats implored the president to separate the shutdown from further talks about the wall. “Mr. President, re-open the government and we can work to resolve our differences over border security, but end this shutdown now,” Schumer said.