[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 196 (Wednesday, December 12, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S7458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                           GOVERNMENT FUNDING

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, let me talk a little bit about yesterday 
afternoon. Yesterday, Leader Pelosi and I met with President Trump 
about funding the government past next week. We gave the President two 
options to keep the government open. The first option: Pass the six 
bipartisan appropriations bills and a 1-year CR for the Department of 
Homeland Security only. And, if they don't like that one, a 1-year CR 
for the rest of government.
  We told the President that both of these options would pass both 
Chambers. It was his choice to either accept one of those two options 
or shut the government down. Yesterday, unfortunately, it was clear 
that the President is clinging to his position of billions of dollars 
for an unnecessary, ineffective, border wall. President Trump will soon 
realize that his position will not result in a wall but will result in 
a Trump shutdown, and he seems to relish the idea, amazingly enough.
  The President has called for a shutdown at least 20 times since he 
came to office. You can add at least five or six more times to that 
number from our meeting. Here is a direct quote from President Trump 
yesterday: ``If we don't get what we want, one way or the other . . . I 
[President Trump] will shut down the government. . . . `'
  President Trump said:

       I am proud to shut down the government. . . . [so] I will 
     take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I'm not 
     going to blame you [meaning Democrats] for it. . . . I will 
     take the mantle of shutting it down.

  It was astounding that any President, even this one, would say that. 
No President should ever say that he or she would be proud to shut the 
government down. No President should so glibly use the American 
Government and the millions of workers who work so hard as a bargaining 
chip, but that is where President Trump is headed.
  President Trump made clear that he will hold parts of the government 
hostage for a petty campaign pledge to fire up his base. That is all it 
is. He never researched the wall. He talked about it on the campaign 
and he said: Oh, Mexico will pay for it. If President Trump holds to 
this position--that unless he gets his wall, he will shut down the 
government--who will suffer needlessly? The American people.
  Of course, Leader Pelosi and I had to spend much of the meeting 
trying to untie the knots in logic the President was tying himself in. 
President Trump started by bragging about how great border security is 
going under his watch. That, by the way, is with no wall. If it were 
truly the case as the President said, that border security is better 
than it has ever been, what is wrong with another year of the same 
funding? If things are going so great, why does he have to threaten to 
shut down the government for his $5 billion wall? It makes no sense. 
None of it is based on fact.
  Mr. President, there is no wall.
  Mr. President, Mexico has not agreed to pay for it. None of that is 
true, and it is difficult--if nearly impossible--to negotiate with a 
President in front of the press who peddles such blatant and dangerous 
falsehoods.
  Because Leader Pelosi and I simply didn't go along with him, 
President Trump threw a temper tantrum and promised to shut down the 
government unless he got what he wanted. Evidently, the Trump temper 
tantrum continued even after the meeting, with news reports saying he 
threw papers around the White House in frustration.
  Why did he continue? Because someone finally spoke truth to power. 
Someone finally contradicted him when he throws around blatant 
falsehoods on such a regular basis. The President is so used to 
obsequious advisers who fail to dispel his false and made-up facts that 
he lives in a cocoon of his own mistruth. Leader Pelosi and I had to 
tell him, no, Mr. President, that is not true. We had to puncture that 
cocoon, and he threw a temper tantrum because of it.
  It is unfortunate that we have arrived at this point. The President's 
advisers should have been telling the President the truth all along. 
Unfortunately, too many of my Republican colleagues in the Senate and 
in the House seem too afraid to tell the President when he is wrong, 
even though they know he is wrong. They find it easier to throw up 
their hands and wait for someone else to solve the problem or 
capitulate and agree with the President.
  At the moment, Senator McConnell, the majority leader of this body 
and my friend, is staying as far away as he can from the year-end 
spending fight. We didn't hear a peep about it today. Leader McConnell 
says he doesn't want a shutdown, but he refuses to engage with the 
President to tell him what is transparently obvious to everyone else: 
There will be no additional money for the wall. We need to pass a 
continuing resolution for DHS or for all the remaining Agencies to keep 
the government open.
  Leader McConnell has an obligation as majority leader, and that is to 
help persuade President Trump to take one of the two options we 
offered. The idea that Senator McConnell has nothing to do with 
appropriations as majority leader of the Senate, who still is on that 
committee, does not withstand the slightest scrutiny.
  If, unfortunately, the President refuses to compromise, Leader 
McConnell will not be able to avoid this issue. In the unfortunate 
event that President Trump causes a shutdown, the Democratic House will 
come into power January 3 and pass one of our two options to fund the 
government, and then it will fall right back in Leader McConnell's lap.
  My view is--for whatever it is worth to him--it is better to solve 
this now because the leader is going to be stuck with it 2 weeks from 
now, after an unfortunate government shutdown caused by his President, 
if he doesn't act now.
  If I were a Republican, I would get involved right now and help pull 
the President back from the brink. Democrats have given him two 
reasonable options. We made it crystal clear that Democrats are for 
keeping the government open. We have no demands beyond that, only the 
President does.
  If President Trump wants to continue his temper tantrum ahead of the 
holidays and cause a shutdown, it is now so clear it is solely on his 
back. We hope the President chooses one of the reasonable options we 
gave him yesterday, and we hope the country can avoid a Trump shutdown.
  I yield the floor.

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