President Trump Says Democrats Want a Government Shutdown
The president says ‘radical left’ Democrats want to engineer a shutdown because they want money restored for health care for illegal migrants.
President Trump is blaming a potential government shutdown on Democrats who won’t go along with the Republican spending plan.
“We are going to see if the radical left Democrats want to shut down,” Mr. Trump told reporters as he left the White House to head to the Ryder Cup golf tournament at Bethpage Black on Long Island.
Senate Democrats have blocked support of a Republican short-term spending plan to keep the government open unless it includes an extension of expiring health insurance subsidies and changes to the GOP’s Medicaid cuts that were instituted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“The Democrats want to shut it down because they want to give ultimately trillions of dollars to illegal migrants that come into our country illegally,” Mr. Trump added.
The White House budget office is reportedly instructing federal agencies to prepare for mass firings if the government shuts down on October 1. Shutdowns have traditionally been short inconveniences for government employees, with back pay offered after a budget deal is reached, but this time the president is looking to permanently eliminate jobs, which could pressure Democrats to keep the government open.
“The Democrats are crazy so if it has to shut down it will have to shut down but they are the ones that are shutting it down,” Mr. Trump added before boarding Marine One to take him to Joint Base Andrews to head to New York.
Air Force One gave Mr. Trump a birds-eye view of the Ryder Cup course before landing. The American team was already down 3-1 against the Europeans when the president landed in New York.
“We’ll get it done one way or the other,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “We’ll get it done,” he added while saying he was going to give the players a pep talk.
Mr. Trump, who brought along his granddaughter Kai Trump, was welcomed on the grounds of the tournament with cheers and chants of “USA! USA!” and a flyover by four fighter jets as the national anthem was performed.
Wearing white golf shoes, the president shook hands with Bryson DeChambeau and Ben Griffin before they teed off against their European opponents for the afternoon session of the weekend-long tournament.
