Kimmel slams Dems: Shutdown deal was in exchange ‘for nothing’

Jimmy Kimmel is hitting Senate Democrats for the deal they accepted to end the three-day government shutdown, saying that they ultimately agreed to fund the government “for nothing.”

On “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Monday night, the late-night host, who often weighs in on politics, said that Democrats agreed to pass the short-term bill to fund the government for three more weeks “in exchange for a promise from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that they would have a debate and a vote on DACA — in other words, for nothing.”

Democrats on Monday agreed to end the shutdown after McConnell promised the Senate would take up discussion and a vote on a bill to protect young undocumented immigrants who benefit from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that President Trump rescinded, the issue that became a sticking point for Democrats withholding support for a stopgap funding bill.

{mosads}Kimmel joked that Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) “thought” he had struck a deal with Trump on Friday after the two met hours before the shutdown deadline, “but then the president’s team came in and said, ‘No, no, no, bad boy, go back to bed and eat a cheeseburger,’ and the deal was off.”

The comedian slammed Trump for being unable to negotiate a deal with Schumer, despite claiming to be a “dealmaker,” and for having harshly criticized President Barack Obama for lack of leadership during the 2013 shutdown.

“It’s funny, [Trump] always claimed to be the best negotiator,” Kimmel said. “This was his big selling point — ‘I’m the dealmaker.’ At this point, it seems pretty clear he couldn’t even negotiate 20 percent off at Bed, Bath & Beyond with the coupon.”

Kimmel sparred with a staffer for Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) ahead of the shutdown over the inclusion of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program in the short-term spending bill, which Republicans included in the legislation in order to woo Democrats into voting for the measure.