Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer placed onus on Republicans to avert a government shutdown Wednesday and urged President Donald Trump to meet with Democrats to negotiate ahead of the looming Tuesday deadline.
In an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Schumer said he was hopeful the Senate could achieve a stopgap bill by next week but handed responsibility for a potential shutdown to Trump and GOP lawmakers. The president on Tuesday backed out from a planned meeting with Democrats to discuss a deal.
“It’s so easy to just sit down and talk to us, and we know we’re not going to get everything, but he’s not even doing that,” Schumer said. “And the American people are going to say, ‘WTF? Why won’t he do that?’ There’s no good reason.”
In a post to Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump said that “after reviewing the details of the unserious and ridiculous demands being made by the Minority Radical Left Democrats in return for their Votes to keep our thriving Country open, I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive.”
Trump canceled the meeting after reportedly meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, as House GOP leaders worried a meeting between Democrats and the president could undermine Republicans’ leverage.
Schumer appeared confident in the interview that Americans would place blame on Republicans if Congress can’t come to an agreement in time to avert a shutdown, rather than blaming Democrats for holding out for a deal.
“Ask the Republicans,” he said. “First, they control the show. They have the presidency, they have the Senate, they have the House, so they’re in charge. And God forbid there’s a shutdown — which we don’t want — American people are going to know they’re in charge and say, ‘what the heck?’”
Schumer said Democrats are continuing to request a meeting with Trump, though he said Trump has been advising Republican lawmakers to “ignore the Democrats.”
“He said he doesn’t need Democrats,” Schumer said. “Well, then he doesn’t know how to count because there are 60 votes in the Senate that you need to pass this, and he’s got 53.”
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