Government shutdown continues as Senate fails to advance GOP bill and Democrat gives 22-hour speech

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer intervened during Sen. Jeff Merkley’s ongoing speech to ask the Oregon Democrat a probing question on the Senate floor. Schumer criticized President Trump for refusing to negotiate on the ongoing shutdown and health care issues.

Schumer accused the president of “spending all his time eroding democracy, stripping us of our rights.”

“People expect that this president who thinks he’s a king will not go on a foreign trip,” Schumer said, referring to the president’s upcoming trip to Asia. “But instead, to do the people’s business and help us, sit down with us and negotiate a way out of this health care crisis.”

The New York Democrat explained how he and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries requested a meeting with the president to negotiate health insurance tax credits that are a top priority for the party.

“Jeffries and I asked him yesterday, we really demanded that he sit down and talk to us, and negotiate – not just talk to us – negotiate a serious approach to avoiding all the devastating things that are going to happen,” Schumer said. “And he said four hours later, after talking with Thune and Johnson, no, he wouldn’t do it. Well, that’s a shame.”

Schumer said Mr. Trump “is the focal point of this health care crisis,” that House Speaker Mike Johnson “is paralyzed because of divisions within his caucus” and that Senate Majority Leader John Thune “continues to follow.”

“President Trump is the person who could get Republicans to pass a decent proposal,” Schumer said.