Senate Democrats blast Trump's lack of urgency on a shutdown deal

WASHINGTON — An independent senator who caucuses with Democrats said Senate Democrats are giving the White House too much power in the fight to reopen the federal government — particularly given President Donald Trump’s admitted lack of urgency about ending the shutdown.

Asked Tuesday whether he feels any urgency to strike a deal with congressional Democrats that would turn on the federal lights, Trump expressed none, instead taunting the opposition party and threatening to “close up” more federal programs they value during the shutdown.

“We’re not closing up Republican programs, because we think they work. So the Democrats are getting killed, but they’re not telling the people about that. I say it,” Trump said while seated across from his Argentine counterpart in the White House’s ornate Cabinet Room, adding, “we’re going to be closing up Democrat programs … that we disagree with. And they’re never going to open again.”

His warning came as Senate Democrats again this week kept voting against a so-called “clean” continuing resolution that would restore government funding until Nov. 21, a measure already approved by the House.

One Senate independent who caucuses with Democrats, Sen. Angus King of Maine, has been voting with Republicans to reopen the federal apparatus. On Wednesday, he said Democrats’ resistance to the House stopgap measure only hands Trump more power.

“I’ve been voting ‘yes’ on reopening because of my concern about just this, that the administration would use it as a license for further depredations of the government, both in terms of cutting funding, but they’re also selectively funding things with no appropriation, which is illegal,” King said.

“So this is what I’ve been concerned about, and the gross partisanship of it is shocking, even for this administration,” added King, who has joined Democrats John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada in voting with Republicans to send the House-approved stopgap to Trump’s desk. “I read this morning, there’s an analysis of the funds that have been cut thus far, 97.3% in Democratic congressional districts. I’ve never seen anything like that. I mean, clearly you try to reward your friends, but this is beyond anything in my experience, and that’s … not the president’s unilateral power to take steps like that.”

Several veteran Senate Democrats said they were shocked to hear a sitting chief executive — the head of the federal government — express a willingness to allow a government shutdown to drag on.

Typically, shutdowns end after a period of direct and intense presidential engagement with lawmakers, said Sen. Tim Kaine. The Virginia Democrat said the ongoing 16-day shutdown would continue until Trump decides he wants it to end.

“He thinks that’s a threat. It’s not a threat,” Kaine said Wednesday of Trump’s vow to cancel more programs that Democrats value. “If he wanted to put pressure, what he would say is, ‘When the government opens, there will be no more firings, there will be no more cancellations of economic development deals, there will be no more impoundments.’

“So he seems to think he’s got the leverage. But he’s got the idea of leverage all wrong. The leverage he has is by saying, ‘When we open, I’m going to stop doing all the unlawful things I’ve been doing since the beginning of the year,’” he added. “The bottom line is we’re not getting out of this if he doesn’t engage.”

To that end, Trump has shown no eagerness to reopen the government or negotiate with the opposition party. In fact, he has tried pinning the blame on congressional Democrats — even though multiple polls show that voters believe he and Republican lawmakers are more responsible for the shutdown.

“We’ve had many, many shutdowns, and this is a shutdown that shouldn’t have happened,” Trump said Tuesday before vowing to announce additional program cancellations before he is slated to head to his south Florida resort to wrap the workweek.

“The Democrats are getting killed, and we’re going to have a list of them on Friday, closing up some of the most egregious socialist, semi-communist — probably not full communist, we’re saving that for New York — but semi-communist programs,” he said. “And we’re closing them up.”

‘MAGA all the way’

Trump’s tough talk came as analysts and Democrats warned a prolonged shutdown would only cause further economic pain for American workers and companies.

“While government shutdowns may seem like political events, their impact on staffing, especially in construction, is very real. Delays in permitting, onboarding, and project funding can stall hiring and cost the industry millions,” Dave Brown, CEO of Hays Americas, a recruiting firm that specializes in professional staffing, said in a statement accompanying a research note on the shutdown’s expected impact.

The potential economic damage would not stop with the construction industry, Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Wednesday.

“Look at how the shutdown is hurting farmers here in the U.S.,” the Massachusetts Democrat told reporters. “Apparently, Trump has decided it’s ‘Argentina first,’ not ‘America first.’”

She was referring to a $20 billion bailout package the Trump administration announced on Tuesday, when the president hosted the country’s president, Javier Milei. The U.S. leader struggled to directly answer a reporter’s question about how the aid monies aligned with his “America first” philosophy.

“No, it’s really meant to help a good financial philosophy where Argentina can, after 20 years of disaster, because it was very successful at one point. And it can be again, like Venezuela. Venezuela was very, very successful and now it’s a dictatorship. So, we can — when we can help our neighbors — you know, we’re making tremendous progress in South America,” Trump said before asking Secretary of State Marco Rubio to speak.

Trump on Tuesday added the aid package was for his “friend” Milei, who he described as “MAGA all the way.”

On Capitol Hill this week, Trump’s allies have said it is up to Senate Democrats to reopen the government. House GOP leaders on Wednesday used words like “madness” and “charade” and “dirty deal” to describe Democrats’ demands on health care and other issues in exchange for the votes to pass a stopgap bill.

“It should outrage every American because it does us. Democrats in Congress, again, have voted nine times. Here’s the tally. Every single time the Republicans have voted to pay the troops and, by the way, all other federal employees, federal workers and the Democrats have voted over and over to stop it,” Speaker Mike Johnson, among the closest Trump allies in Congress, told reporters Wednesday before the House stopgap stalled again in the Senate.

“And the depressing irony … on this particular subject among all others is that the most pro-shutdown Democrats actually represent the most active duty service members back home whom they have taken hostage in this insidious political game,” the Louisiana Republican said. “We won’t sell out the long-term security and future of the United States so that Chuck Schumer can prevent a primary challenge from his left wing. We will not be a part of that nonsense.”

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