Democrats: Trump ‘Temper Tantrum’ Got Him ‘What He Wanted’

X Facebook Email Flipboard Pinterest Print Reddit

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) had harsh words for President Trump early Saturday morning over that they are calling “the Trump shutdown.”

Thanks to Trump large parts of the federal government are being closed after Congress failed to pass legislation that would provide funding for his “ineffective and expensive” border wall.

Schumer and Pelosi also said that the cause of the shutdown was Trump’s “temper tantrum” and not any recognizable government policy.

The two Democratic congressional leaders issued a joint statement this morning after the midnight deadline to fund the government had passed.

They said in the statement:

“President Trump has said more than 25 times that he wanted a shutdown and now he has gotten what he wanted.”

“Democrats have offered Republicans multiple proposals to keep the government open, including one that already passed the Senate unanimously, and all of which include funding for strong, sensible, and effective border security – not the president’s ineffective and expensive wall.”

“If President Trump and Republicans choose to continue this Trump Shutdown, the new House Democratic majority will swiftly pass legislation to re-open government in January.”

Democrats are making very clear that Trump himself caused the shutdown and should be held accountable. With great fanfire Trump summoned Pelosi and Schumer to the Oval Office for a televised meeting last Tuesday.

During that meeting, with millions of people watching on TV, he said that he would “take the mantle” and “own” a shutdown over funding for his border wall.

Then yesterday Trump tried to subvert Democratic arguments that he was to blame for the shutdown by posting a video on Twitter saying that it was up to Democrats to bring the funding lapse to an end.

“Now it’s up to the Senate, and it’s really up to the Democrats, because we need their votes,” Trump said in the video. “We’re going to have a shutdown — there’s nothing we can do about that.”

“Call it a Democrat shutdown, call it whatever you want,” he added. “Let’s work together, let’s be bipartisan and let’s get it done. The shutdown hopefully will not last long.”

Members of both the House and the Senate will continue discussions today about how to resolve the impasse.

The shutdown affects about 25 percent of the federal government. White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney sent a memo to federal agencies late Friday telling them to execute preparations for a shutdown.

Impacted by the loss of funding are an estimated 800,000 federal workers in the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Treasury, Homeland Security, Interior, State, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Author
Recent Posts

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.