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Trump: US needs 'good' government shutdown to fix trouble in Senate Trump: US needs 'good' government shutdown to fix trouble in Senate
(about 2 hours later)
Donald Trump has again upended conventional political wisdom by advocating a government shutdown in September to fix a “mess” in the Senate. In a week when votes are expected on a bipartisan $1.1tn budget deal to avoid a government shutdown, Donald Trump once again upended conventional political wisdom.
The president’s tweets, which prompted one leading senator to say he wished “somebody would take his iPhone away” – continued a return to wayward form after a period of relative stability. On Monday, remarks about the American civil war and the current crisis with North Korea prompted an influential historian to say that one of the “most bizarre … 24 hours in American presidential history” indicated “a confused mental state from the president”. On Tuesday morning, the president tweeted: “The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there!
Trump, who campaigned as an anti-Washington outsider, expressed his frustration on Tuesday with a system of government that has so far thwarted his agenda. “We … either elect more Republican senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good ‘shutdown’ in September to fix mess!”
Votes are expected this week on a bipartisan $1.1tn budget deal to avoid a government shutdown until the end of September. The deal contains several major wins for Democrats over Republicans. The tweets prompted one leading senator to say he wished “somebody would take his iPhone away”.
At 9.01am, the president tweeted: “The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there! We ...”
Six minutes later, he completed the thought: “… either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good ‘shutdown’ in September to fix mess!”
In the event of a shutdown, hundreds of thousands of public sector workers are sent home and national parks and museums close. The most recent shutdown was over 16 days during Barack Obama’s administration in October 2013.In the event of a shutdown, hundreds of thousands of public sector workers are sent home and national parks and museums close. The most recent shutdown was over 16 days during Barack Obama’s administration in October 2013.
Despite Republicans’ wishlist, the new spending bill contains no funding to begin building a wall on the Mexican border and does not impose major cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency or Planned Parenthood. Its $15bn boost for military spending is just half the sum Trump originally requested. The new spending bill contains several major wins for Democrats over Republicans. There is no funding to begin building a wall on the Mexican border and the bill does not impose major cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency or Planned Parenthood. Its $15bn boost for military spending is just half the sum requested by Trump.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, the House speaker, Paul Ryan, said, with an exasperated laugh: “How many times have I had this: ‘Do you agree with a tweet this morning?’ The Republican senator Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, told CNN on Tuesday: “I think the Democrats cleaned our clock. There are things in this bill that I just don’t understand. This was not winning from the Republican point of view.”
Noting that an appropriations bill required bipartisan support – 60 votes – in the Senate to pass, he added: “We’ve got a long ways to go between now and September, but I share the president’s frustration.” Later, despite his tweets, Trump tried to portray the deal favourably. “This is what winning looks like,” he said at the US Air Force Academy Commander-in-Chief trophy presentation, at the White House. “Our Republican team had its own victory – under the radar.”
Ryan offered a different appraisal of the spending agreement. He touted an increase in funding for border security and defense as well as money for combatting opioid addiction. The president touted a “massive and badly needed” increase in military funding as well as additional money for border security that he insisted would serve as “a down payment” on the promised border wall.
On the opposite side of the Capitol, on the floor of the Senate, the minority leader, Chuck Schumer, quoted the Rolling Stones song that is regularly played at Trump’s rallies despite the band having asked him to stop using it. His position was duly defended by budget director Mick Mulvaney, who accused the Democrats of falsely claiming they won and Republicans lost.
“It is truly a shame that the president is degrading [the spending bill] because he didn’t get 100% of what he wanted,” Schumer said. “Bipartisanship is best summed up by the Rolling Stones: ‘You can’t always get what you want’ – or at least everything you want.” “They wanted a shutdown,” the former congressman said. “We know that. They were desperate to make this administration look like we couldn’t function, we couldn’t govern.”
The bill will provide more money for defence, border security and school choice, Mulvaney said. He displayed photos of a 20ft steel wall on the border that he said would replace a lower mesh fence. There would be “several hundreds of millions of dollars” to extend this as well as levee walls, he said.
“We are building this now,” he added. “There is money in this deal to build this ... That’s what we got in this deal and that’s what we want you to know ... This is a huge win for border security.”
Pressed on Trump’s apparent wish for a shutdown, Mulvaney said: “I’ve been through a couple of shutdowns ... I think the president’s frustrated that he negotiated with the Democrats in good faith and they went out and spiked the football to make him look bad.
“I don’t anticipate a shutdown in September but if the Democrats aren’t going to behave any better than they have in the last couple of days, it may be inevitable.”
The president campaigned as an outsider who would “drain the swamp” and fix the broken politics of Washington. Asked to define a “good shutdown”, Mulvaney said: “It would be one that fixes this town. One that reinforces the message that this town really was as broken as they thought it was when they voted for Mr Trump … A good one would be something that fixes Washington DC permanently.”
Republicans have had to depend on Democratic votes to pass big spending bills in recent years because of opposition by fiscal conservatives in the House and the 60-vote threshold in the Senate.Republicans have had to depend on Democratic votes to pass big spending bills in recent years because of opposition by fiscal conservatives in the House and the 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
Senate Republicans recently triggered the so-called “nuclear option” to remove the 60-vote filibuster threshold for the supreme court nominee Neil Gorsuch. That change allowed a final vote to approve Gorsuch with a simple majority. On the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, the Democratic minority leader, Chuck Schumer, quoted the Rolling Stones song that is regularly played at Trump’s rallies despite the band having asked him to stop using it.
Republicans on Capitol Hill shot down any suggestion that they might drop the 60-vote requirement to avoid a filibuster on legislation, and conveyed familiar frustration with the president’s penchant for forcing them to respond to his unfiltered thoughts on Twitter. “It is truly a shame that the president is degrading [the spending bill] because he didn’t get 100% of what he wanted,” Schumer said. “Bipartisanship is best summed up by the Rolling Stones: ‘You can’t always get what you want’ – or at least everything you want.”
“I don’t think changing the legislative filibuster is a good idea,” said Senator Bob Corker, of Tennessee. “Both sides have led us to a bad place, but [it’s] probably best if the president let Congress deal with those issues ourselves, and maybe let him deal with some of the issues he has to deal with at the White House.” Other Republicans swiftly shot down the notion that they would nix the 60-vote requirement to avoid a filibuster on legislation. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, said there would be no changes to the rules.
Corker, who said he appreciated his own relationship with the president and his staff, had a simple request: “I do wish somebody would take his iPhone away from him.” “The American people expect us to work together,” McConnell told reporters on Capitol Hill. “There is an overwhelming majority, on a bipartisan basis, not interested in changing the way the Senate operates on a legislative calendar and that will not happen.”
The Arizona senator John McCain suggested Trump “think twice before he tweeted” and also said there was no appetite to change the legislative filibuster rules. So did Roy Blunt of Missouri, a member of Republican leadership. Two senior senators, Roy Blunt of Missouri and Bob Corker of Tennessee, agreed that rules reform was not an option. Marco Rubio of Florida was terse. “It’s not gonna happen,” he said.
“I don’t believe there’s anywhere close to the votes there to take that protection away,” he said. “In the last 100 years, in the last 50 years, in the last 10 years, we’ve been in the minority more than we’ve been in the majority.” There was also familiar exasperation with the president’s penchant for forcing members of his party to respond to his unfiltered thoughts on Twitter.
“A lot of things would have happened that [Trump] wouldn’t want to have happened, and we wouldn’t want to have happened, if it hadn’t been for the protection of the minority in the Senate.” Corker, who has worked closely with the Trump White House, said he appreciated his relationship with the president and his staff but nonetheless had a simple request: “I do wish somebody would take his iPhone away from him.” The Arizona senator John McCain suggested Trump should “think twice before he tweeted”.
The Florida senator Marco Rubio was more terse. “It’s not gonna happen,” he said. House Speaker Paul Ryan, meanwhile, said with an exasperated laugh: “How many times have I had this: ‘Do you agree with a tweet this morning?’
Before Tuesday, Trump’s most recent tweet had been: “President Andrew Jackson, who died 16 years before the civil war started, saw it coming and was angry. Would never have let it happen!” Ryan offered his own appraisal of the spending agreement, touting an increase in funding for border security and defence as well as money for combatting opioid addiction.
This followed an interview with the Washington Examiner in which Trump expressed confusion about the origins of the conflict and claimed that Jackson “was really angry” about it. “We’ve got a long ways to go between now and September,” he said. “But I share the president’s frustration.”
Trump also walked out of an interview with CBS, invited the authoritarian Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte to the White House and raised eyebrows by saying he would be “honoured” to meet the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, whom he also described as a “pretty smart cookie”.
Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian, told Politico: “It seems to be among the most bizarre recent 24 hours in American presidential history. It was all just surreal disarray and a confused mental state from the president.”