House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said it was “totally irresponsible” for President Trump to threaten to shut down the federal government if he doesn’t get money for legislative priorities like his promised southern border wall in December’s funding bill.
“We’re not about closing down government,” Pelosi told ABC’s “This Week,” referring to the Democratic caucus. “The Republicans have the majority. They have the signature of the president. It’s up to them to keep government open.”
But Pelosi said her party was willing to negotiate, and by the end of 2017 wanted to secure protection for young illegal immigrants through the DREAM Act.
However, she admitted it was difficult to have the required conversations with the Trump administration because of “the chaos that exists in the White House right now.”
“I have said to him, when we’ve had our differences with Republicans across the aisle or down Pennsylvania Avenue, we’ve always been able to at least to go forward based on data, evidence, facts, a bottom line in terms of a number,” Pelosi said. “To say, ‘Unless I get a wall, I’m going to shut the government down’ is totally irresponsible for a president of the United States.”
Pelosi also said Trump “went rogue” this week on issues like Obamacare, the Iran deal and tax reform.
When asked whether she would discuss her signature piece of legislation with the president, she added “we’re a little far down the road” to talk to Trump about the Affordable Care Act.
