President Donald Trump has made it clear — if Democrat leaders want a seat at the table, they’ll have to end the government shutdown first. Speaking during a vibrant Diwali celebration at the White House, Trump delivered a sharp message to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries: reopen the government, and then we’ll talk.
“I would like to meet with both of them, but I set one little caveat,” Trump told reporters. “They have to let the country open. The people want to go back to work. They want to be served. They need the services of some people, and a lot of people need the money, the payroll, so I’ll do it as soon as they open up the country.”
The shutdown, now stretching beyond three weeks, has become a political standoff between Democrats demanding new spending for their pet programs and Republicans pushing for a clean funding bill. Senate Democrats have blocked a continuing resolution — a temporary measure to keep the government funded — as they fight to attach extensions for ObamaCare subsidies.
Democrats claim these subsidies are “essential” to avoid higher health insurance premiums. But critics say the move is nothing more than political blackmail — using hardworking Americans as leverage to protect Biden-era welfare expansions that should have ended long ago.
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