‘Politics!’: Trump slams Democrats over budget in Twitter outburst
President Trump lashed out at congressional Democrats on Thursday, a day before lawmakers must pass a new spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. The administration is also looking to force a vote on a new health care bill.
In a flurry of tweets, the Republican president accused the opposing party of, among other things, “blocking” health care for coal miners, “bailing out insurance companies” and threatening to close America’s national parks.
The Democrats want to shut government if we don't bail out Puerto Rico and give billions to their insurance companies for OCare failure. NO!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2017
I want to help our miners while the Democrats are blocking their healthcare.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2017
I promise to rebuild our military and secure our border. Democrats want to shut down the government. Politics!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2017
What's more important? Rebuilding our military – or bailing out insurance companies? Ask the Democrats.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2017
Democrats jeopardizing the safety of our troops to bail out their donors from insurance companies. It is time to put #AmericaFirst????????
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2017
As families prepare for summer vacations in our National Parks – Democrats threaten to close them and shut down the government. Terrible!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2017
Some of Trump’s statements were misleading. For example, the day before sending these tweets, the White House agreed to continue funding Obamacare in order to avoid a showdown with Democrats.
Democrats are also not blocking health care for miners. The current resolution that guarantees miners’ health care expires Friday, and both Republicans and Democrats said this week they are working on permanent fix — the Miners Protection Act — that they hope to pass before the deadline. Otherwise, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., told the Herald-Dispatch that Congress would pass a continuing resolution to protect miners.
And if the government does shut down, some National Parks, which are federally funded, would close. But in fact, Trump’s executive order Wednesday directing his interior secretary to review the designation of dozens of national monuments on federal lands could put some of them at risk.
A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Trump’s tweetstorm “desperate” and “unhinged.”
“These shutdown tweets … show a startling lack of awareness for where the negotiations actually are,” Matt House, Schumer’s communications director, wrote on Twitter.
These shutdown tweets are desperate, unhinged, and show a startling lack of awareness for where the negotiations actually are. https://t.co/4EnXpJbyur
— Matt House (@mattwhouse) April 27, 2017
Later at a press conference, Schumer said it’s up to the Republican-controlled Congress to hammer out a budget deal.
“If there’s a shutdown, it falls on their shoulders,” Schumer said. “They know that.”
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., also dismissed Trump’s tirade.
“I don’t pay attention to his 3 a.m. tweeting,” Waters told Yahoo News, referring to the president’s proclivity for early morning social media missives.
In his first 97 days in office, President Trump has tweeted, on average, 5.17 times per day https://t.co/tSqcuOSEMB
— Dylan Stableford (@stableford) April 27, 2017
Earlier this week, Trump threatened that he might not approve a bill this week if it does not include funding for a “badly needed border wall” that he claims Mexico, “in some form,” would “eventually” pay for.
In a pair of tweets Sunday, the president accused Democrats of withholding money from the federal budget to start building the wall he wants constructed along the U.S. border with Mexico.
The Democrats don't want money from budget going to border wall despite the fact that it will stop drugs and very bad MS 13 gang members.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2017
Eventually, but at a later date so we can get started early, Mexico will be paying, in some form, for the badly needed border wall.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2017
“The Democrats don’t want money from budget going to border wall despite the fact that it will stop drugs and very bad MS 13 gang members,” Trump tweeted.
He added: “Eventually, but at a later date so we can get started early, Mexico will be paying, in some form, for the badly needed border wall.”
But by Monday, Trump said he would delay seeking funds for the wall until September in order to avoid a government shutdown.
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