Senate Republicans were left scratching their heads after Trump fought openly with Democrats about spending and threatened to partially shut down the government if they didn’t agree to give him $5 billion for his border wall.
“Put me down as puzzled. I don’t see the strategy,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “I would just say, ‘and then what?’ I haven’t heard what happens next, so I don’t understand the strategy.”
Cornyn argued that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have no reason to cede middle ground to the president, and that he could be facing a shutdown just before Christmas.
“Right now, I don’t see the solution standing in front of me,” the Texas Republican said. “But I also don’t know of anything a shutdown resolves because the same problem is going to remain whenever you reopen the government.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said this week he is still hoping for a “smooth ending” to the funding battle.
But Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, believes the president’s comments have increased the likelihood of a shutdown and reiterated that negotiations are at a stand-still.
“We’re at an impasse at the moment,” Shelby said about negotiations before discussing the chances of a shutdown. “It’s probably more than possible now. It’ll shutdown unless we can resolve some things.”
The top Senate Republican appropriator added that no one was a winner in Tuesday’s explosive White House meeting. Shelby added that he was taken aback by the meeting between Trump, Pelosi and Schumer.
“That was interesting, wasn’t it? Wow,” Shelby said. “Is that the new norm?”
Pelosi and Schumer offered two deals to the president that would fund the government without the $5 billion the president has called for. The bills would include no more than $1.3 billion for border security — far short of the $5 billion Trump has requested.
“I’m not especially encouraged,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., about the likelihood of a deal, pointing to Pelosi’s ongoing push to retake the speakership and Trump, who he believes is not bluffing.
“Most members of the Senate don’t want to shut down the government. I think most Americans don’t want to see the government shut down. But you’ve got the two players here,” Kennedy said of Trump and Pelosi. “Even if President Trump is willing to move to middle ground Mrs. Pelosi won’t because she’s not going to be speaker if she does.”
