President Donald Trump on Friday slammed Senate Democrats for slapping down the House’s stopgap funding measure ahead of a nine-day recess and looming government shutdown.
Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, Trump praised House Republicans for approving a continuing resolution that would keep the government funded through November, calling it “an amazing vote.” But that measure failed in the Senate 48-44, setting the stage for a shutdown showdown.
The president claimed Senate Democrats, all of whom but one voted against the measure, “want to shut down the country.” He applauded the single outlier, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, saying “he wants to keep the country open.” Two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky, also voted against the bill.
Trump bashed Democrats for supporting a laundry list issues — from trans rights to crime — and claimed, “if they don’t get everything they want, all these things that they want … they want to close our government down.”
Trump also criticized the 58 House Democrats who opposed a resolution passed earlier Friday that would honor Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist and White House ally who was shot and killed last week.
