Democrats are putting the responsibility for any potential border wall-related government shutdown right where it belongs: on Donald Trump.
“If the president stepped out of it, we could get a budget done by Friday,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday in a conference call with reporters, referring to Democratic and Republican budget negotiators.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., agreed. She said that while Trump had promised during his campaign to build the barrier, “He did not promise that he would take food out of the mouths of babies” and cut programs for seniors, education and the environment to pay for it. She called the wall an “immoral, ineffective, unwise proposal.”
Trump is still making the ludicrous claim that Mexico will pay for the wall. “Eventually, but at a later date ... in some form.” But Congress should definitely make massive cuts elsewhere to give him the giant pile of cash needed to get started on a project that could cost tens of billions of dollars. You know, while we all wait for Mexico to do something its leaders have made absolutely clear will never happen.
This fight isn’t a straightforward Democrats vs. Republicans one, Schumer made clear, saying “Instead of risking a government shutdown by shoving this wall down Congress’s and the American people’s throats, the president ought to just let us come to an agreement”—the wall wouldn’t be a priority for many congressional Republicans without White House pressure on them. But Donald wants his precious wall, so that’s a Republican priority now and Democrats just have to keep saying no and reminding the media whose fault this really is.