Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday that Democrats made no progress in talks with President Trump about reopening the government and that Trump is ready to keep the shutdown going for months or “even years” if he doesn’t get border wall money.
“We told the president, we needed the government open. He resisted,” Schumer told reporters at the White House after his meeting with Trump. “In fact, he said he’d keep the government closed for a very long period of time, months or even years.”
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Schumer, D-N.Y., said he and other Democrats told Trump they could only talk about boosting border security funding after the shutdown ends, a proposal Trump has rejected.
Trump confirmed at a subsequent press conference that he threatened a years-long shutdown.
“I did say that. Absolutely I said that,” Trump said in the White House Rose Garden. He added, however, that “I hope it doesn’t go on even beyond a few more days. It really could open very quickly.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., addressed reporters alongside Schumer and said talks with Trump were “lengthy and sometimes contentious” and also indicated no progress was made.
“We recognize on the Democratic side that we really cannot resolve this until we open up government, and we made that very clear to the president,” she said.
