Trump reverses, says Dems to blame for shutdown
President Trump on Friday said Democrats will be to blame if the government shuts down, a reversal from last week when he said he would be “proud” to trigger a shutdown if border wall funding was not included in a year-end spending bill.
“The Democrats now own the shutdown!” he tweeted.
The tweet was one of several Trump sent on Friday morning, a day after the House approved a stopgap funding bill that includes $5.7 billion for Trump’s wall and border security.
{mosads}The House acted after Trump rejected a bill, approved in a Senate voice vote, that also funded the government but didn’t include the money for Trump’s wall.
Democrats in the Senate say they will not accept the House bill, which would need 60 votes to break procedural hurdles in the upper chamber.
Trump in a televised Oval Office meeting last week with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that he would own any shutdown over border security.
“I am proud to shut down the government for border security,” Trump told the Democratic leaders. “I will take the mantle. I will shut it down, I’m not going to blame you for it.”
The president is now attempting to shift blame to Democrats less than 24 hours before parts of the government would shutdown at midnight Friday.
Democrats, pointing to last week’s meeting and the Senate bill, say it will be Trump’s fault if the government shuts down.
In separate messages on Friday, Trump urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to fight “as hard as he fought for anything” to secure wall funding, including ending the legislative filibuster.
“Mitch, use the Nuclear Option and get it done! Our Country is counting on you!” he wrote.
The spending bill needs 60 votes to pass the Senate, which Republicans control by a 51-49 margin. Trump has repeatedly called on McConnell to end the filibuster, but the Senate leader has rejected the idea.
Trump plans to meet with Senate Republicans at the White House to discuss the funding impasse.
The president earlier tweeted that if Senate Democrats block the measure as promised, it “will be a Democrat Shutdown!”
“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!” he added in the tweet.
Tal Axelrod contributed.
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