President Trump said Saturday that he wants to end the partial government shutdown that is stretching into its third week while reiterating his claim that most of the federal workers being furloughed or forced to work without pay are Democrats.
“I don’t care that most of the workers not getting paid are Democrats, I want to stop the Shutdown as soon as we are in agreement on Strong Border Security!” the president tweeted. “I am in the White House ready to go, where are the Dems?”
The government entered a partial shutdown on Dec. 22, shuttering about 25 percent of the government and leaving hundreds of thousands of workers furloughed or forced to work without pay for the time being.{mosads}
The shutdown began amid an impasse between the White House and lawmakers over Trump’s demand for billions of dollars in funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump gathered with congressional leaders at the White House on Friday for the latest round of negotiations over a potential funding deal. The president has also commissioned a working group to continue negotiating on Saturday.
The president dug in on Saturday on his demand for $5.6 billion to fund his proposed wall as part of any deal to end the shutdown. He has also threatened to keep parts of the government shut down for years until he gets his desired funding to build the border wall.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) have both said they would not agree to allocate any additional funds for the wall.
The House passed spending bills this week to reopen the government without border wall funding, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has refused to bring the House-passed measure to the floor for a vote, saying he wouldn’t introduce any legislation that didn’t have the public endorsement of the White House.
The president first claimed in December that most of the federal employees impacted by the shutdown are Democrats, prompting backlash from lawmakers.
“Do the Dems realize that most of the people not getting paid are Democrats?” he tweeted last week.