Schumer to Trump: You will own the shutdown
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday warned President Trump that Democrats won’t back down on their opposition to funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, and that he will be blamed for a partial government shutdown.
“You cannot erase months of video of you saying that you wanted a shutdown and that you wanted the responsibility and blame for a shutdown. President Trump, you own the shutdown,” Schumer said during a Senate floor speech. “The president will try to do his best to blame Democrats, but it’s flatly absurd.”
{mosads}Schumer’s remarks came as a lapse in funding impacting roughly 25 percent of the federal government is scheduled to start at midnight without a deal on spending legislation.
The Senate is planning to vote on a House-passed bill that would fund a portion of the government through Feb. 8 and include $5.7 billion for the border wall. The measure is not expected to pass.
Trump — reversing course after he said he would accept the “mantle” for a shutdown — tried on Friday to pin the blame of a looming partial shutdown on Democrats.
“The Democrats, whose votes we need in the Senate, will probably vote against Border Security and the Wall even though they know it is DESPERATELY NEEDED. If the Dems vote no, there will be a shutdown that will last for a very long time. People don’t want Open Borders and Crime!” Trump said as part of the series of tweets.
He added in a follow-up tweet, ”the Democrats now own the shutdown!”
Both sides are digging in with no obvious escape hatch on legislation that could pass both the House and Senate and garner Trump’s signature.
House Republicans, backed by Trump, are demanding $5 billion for the wall, while Democrats have pointed to $1.3 billion as their cap and noted it would go toward fencing and not a wall.
Schumer reiterated on Friday that Democrats will not budge even if Trump throws a “temper tantrum.”
“There are not the votes in the Senate for an expensive taxpayer-funded border wall,” Schumer said. “So, President Trump, you will not get your wall. Abandon your shutdown strategy. You’re not getting the wall today, next week or on Jan. 3 when Democrats take back control of the House.”
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