Trump says he won’t budge on Schumer’s $1.5 trillion demand for illegal immigrants’ healthcare

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA: President Donald Trump said he refused Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's demand to allocate $1.5 trillion for the healthcare of illegal immigrants as part of negotiations to reopen the US government after the shutdown. Republicans have accused Democrats of triggering the shutdown to fund free healthcare for undocumented immigrants. 

Donald Trump doubles down on Chuck Schumer

After stepping off Air Force One in Palm Beach, Trump told reporters, “So the shutdown continues. The Republican Party is not going to pay a trillion and a half dollars for the illegal immigrants coming into our country.

"They’re coming in for a lot of reasons — from prisons, from jails, from all over the place. We’re not going to do that. So the shutdown continues. It’s a Democrats’ shutdown, a Schumer shutdown, because his career has failed and is over.” 

Democrats accused of forcing shutdown

According to Trump and other top Republicans, Democrats forced the government shutdown because they want to provide free healthcare to immigrants living in the US illegally.

Republicans also claimed that Democrats are trying to extend tax credits that make health insurance premiums more affordable through Obamacare marketplaces and​ reverse Medicaid cuts in Trump’s major bill. 

“We don’t want to give illegal aliens the health care of Americans, Trump said. “Democrats want to destroy health care in America by giving it to millions and millions of illegal aliens. And there’s not money for that. Nobody has money for that.”

Schumer's response to the allegations 

Earlier this month, Schumer, during his appearance on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’, hit back against the accusations, saying, "It's a total, absolute, effing lie."

He went on to say, "They thought that they could barrel us into a shutdown simply because we wanted to fix that healthcare, and they haven't been able to," he continued.

"They've tried to lie, as you said. They tried to bludgeon us, but I think the number one reason that they're lying is they're afraid of the truth."

"First, now that we’ve shown the Republicans that they can’t bully us, they can’t bludgeon us. They’ve tried twice to get us to vote for their bill, which does nothing to protect Americans’ healthcare.

We’re willing to sit down and negotiate a good deal to help the American people out of the healthcare dilemma," he explained.