Chuck Schumer says Americans will put 'tremendous pressure' on Trump to end govt shutdown

WASHINGTON, DC: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned Tuesday, September 30, that President Trump and Republican leaders will soon face mounting public pressure to end an impending government shutdown. 

With federal funding set to expire at 12:01 am Wednesday, Schumer accused the GOP of driving the country toward crisis by stonewalling last-minute negotiations. He insisted that Democrats were ready to make a deal, but were met with resistance from the Republican side.

Chuck Schumer says Republicans will come under pressure to end shutdown

"It’s in their court to solve it. It’s their shutdown," Schumer said. "And as I said, they are going to face tremendous pressure from the American people. Trump in the room admitted. I said to him, this is going to be very bad for you, these increases in the health care."

Schumer emphasized that Democrats see health care as a fight worth having and urged Republicans to prevent a shutdown.

Schumer said, "And it’s not going to be good for you. It’s not going to be good for America or anybody. And he admitted that. So I think we believe that this is an issue worth fighting for. We hope the Republicans avoid the shutdown."

He criticized GOP leaders for waiting until the last minute to negotiate, saying, "If a shutdown happens, it’s because they refused to come to the table until the final hour."

Chuck Schumer warns about growing healthcare crisis

Schumer pressed the point further, saying, “Look, first, it’s right now in the Republicans’ court. We said this to Trump yesterday. He can easily call up Thune and Johnson and say, just add the two parts we want added to the bill. They can take it out of our bill, put it in theirs, and solve it.”

He warned that the growing healthcare crisis is becoming more visible to Americans, who will, in his words, “put tremendous pressure on Republicans to act.”

Democrats have made their support for the stopgap funding bill contingent on preserving expanded Obamacare subsidies, accusing Republicans of trying to gut healthcare coverage for ordinary Americans.

Although Trump met with congressional leaders on Monday, the meeting ended without an agreement. Democrats continued to demand healthcare concessions, while Republicans insisted on passing a clean funding bill. Just days before, Trump had canceled another scheduled meeting with top Democrats, dismissing their proposals as “unserious and ridiculous.”

With the House narrowly approving the GOP’s stopgap bill and Senate Republicans still needing Democratic support to reach the 60-vote threshold, the deadlock appears far from resolved.

Trump accuses Democrats of insisting on healthcare provisions for undocumented immigrants

Trump blames Democrats for the likely government shutdown, accusing them of insisting on healthcare provisions for undocumented immigrants, a move he strongly opposes, and refusing to compromise, which he says is driving the country toward a funding crisis.

Trump said on the government shutdown, "We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible and bad for them like cutting vast numbers of people out. Cutting things they like, cutting programs they like. We can do things medically and other ways including benefits. We can cut large numbers of people."

To which Schumer responded, "There it is. Trump ADMITS that he’s using Americans as political pawns."