President Donald Trump is brushing off concerns about a potential government shutdown — and resigning himself to the possibility that Senate Democrats won’t cave on the Republican funding legislation.
“These people are crazy, the Democrats,” Trump said on Friday in response to a question from NOTUS. “So if it has to shut down, it’ll have to shut down. But they’re the ones that are shutting it down.”
House Republicans passed a continuing resolution to fund the government at current levels until Nov. 21. But the CR has stalled in the Senate, where at least seven Democratic votes are needed to move forward.
Congressional Democrats have refused to vote for the CR, seeking to use their leverage to negotiate concessions, specifically demanding an extension of subsidies that reduce health care costs for more than 20 million people.
But Republicans haven’t budged. Trump initially agreed to meet this week with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, but canceled the meeting.
For his part, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he still thinks there is a path forward if Democrats dial back their demands.
“I’m a big believer that there’s always a way out,” the South Dakota Republican told The Associated Press on Thursday. “And I think there are off-ramps here, but I don’t think that the negotiating position, at least at the moment, that the Democrats are trying to exert here is going to get you there.”
Congress must come to a deal by the end of Tuesday to avoid a shutdown. In addition to funding ceasing to flow, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has signaled that a shutdown could be taken as an opportunity to permanently lay off federal workers.
Trump did not answer NOTUS’s question about that proposal.
“The radical left Democrats want to shut it down,” Trump said when NOTUS whether he was concerned about workers suffering during a shutdown. “We have a great economy. The numbers are fantastic. The economy is doing well. Prices are down. We have virtually no inflation. Everything’s going good. We’re respected by every nation in the world. And you know what happened? The Democrats want to shut it down.”