Trump Supports Senate’s Clean CR to End Schumer’s Shutdown
President Donald Trump said Monday that he supports the clean continuing resolution (CR) that was advanced in the Senate Sunday night, which is well-positioned to reopen the government this week.
Democrats fell back significantly on the 40th day of the shutdown, with eight members of their caucus agreeing to help Republicans with a procedural vote on a deal to fund the government at 2024 and 2025 levels through January 2026, as noted by Breitbart News. After deadline agreements are met, the bill must pass an additional 60 votes before a vote on final passage.
“It depends on what deal we’re talking about, but if it’s a deal that I’ve heard about – it’s certainly, you know, they want to tweak the deal a little bit – but I would say so,” Trump said when asked if he supported the deal.
“I think, from everything I hear, that they haven’t changed anything, that we have the support of enough Democrats and that we are going to open our country,” he continued. “It’s a shame that it’s closed, but we will open our country very quickly.”
The deal is accompanied by three appropriations bills that extend funding for agriculture, military construction, Veterans Affairs and the Legislative Branch through fiscal 2026. Democrats also received assurances of a vote on a bill of their choice in the Senate — a far cry from Democratic leaders’ demands in recent months for extensions of Covid-era Obamacare subsidies they demanded in exchange for cooperation in reopening the government, and as reported Breitbart News:
The agreement includes back pay for federal employees and guarantees that the more than 4,000 federal employees laid off during the shutdown will be rehired, as well as a blanket ban on future workforce reductions until January 30. Those jobs are just a drop in the ocean compared to the roughly 250,000 the Trump administration cut before the shutdown.
Democrats who broke with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to vote for the bill included Senators Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV), John Fetterman (D-PA), Angus King (I-ME), all of whom voted for the previous House-passed Clean CR, as well as Dick Durbin (D-IL), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Jeanne. Shaheen (D-NH), all of whom have repeatedly voted against the House CR.
The break in leadership speaks to Schumer’s diminishing influence and lends even more credence to Trump’s declaration in late October that “Schumer is down.”
“He was beaten down, poor guy. I feel sorry for him. I’ve known him for a long time, but… I think he’s mentally gone. He was beaten up by young radical crazy people. And I think Chuck Schumer is… he’s gonzo,” Trump said.
“I think he’s probably not going to run. It shows that he’s losing in all the polls. Now it’s hard, you know, he wants to meet with me. It’s a little hard to be with this guy after he made a statement like that, but I’m just giving the facts. I think Chuck is probably done,” he added.
