Parts of the U.S. government shut down as Friday night turned to Saturday morning because of the House and Senate's inability to finalize a federal-spending deal before the deadline.
Lawmakers returned to work on Saturday in hopes of negotiating some sort of deal that would end the shut down of one quarter of the government, which affects 800,000 federal workers. But there's one big problem standing in the way: President Trump's demand for $5 billion in funding for his proposed wall along the border with Mexico. So far, Democrats have remained steady in their efforts against the wall.
"President Trump, if you want to open the government, you must abandon the wall – plain and simple," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said from the Senate floor.
Trump, however, doesn't seem to be backing down. He tweeted on Saturday morning, threatening a "long stay" if he doesn't get the "desperately needed Border Security" needed. He also appears to be backing off his statement from last week— he claimed he would be "proud" to shut down the government, telling Schumer he wasn't going to blame him for it — only to tweet that "Democrats now own the shutdown."
Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi are reportedly prepared for the closure to last past Jan. 3, when Dems take control of the House and Pelosi will likely become speaker. In a joint statement, the two said Trump "threw a temper tantrum and convinced House Republicans to push our nation into a destructive Trump shutdown in the middle of the holiday season."
The statement continued, "Democrats have offered Republicans multiple proposals to keep the government open, including one that already passed the Senate unanimously, and all of which include funding for strong, sensible, and effective border security — not the president's ineffective and expensive wall. If President Trump and Republicans choose to continue this Trump Shutdown, the new House Democratic majority will swiftly pass legislation to re-open government in January."