WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Tuesday at the White House that his administration planned to produce a list on Friday of “Democrat programs” that will be closed as a result of the ongoing federal government shutdown.
He did not specify the programs but indicated that the closures would be permanent.
The 15th government shutdown, now in its 14th day, lingers into a third week as Republican and Democratic lawmakers continue to blame each other for their impasse and disruptions that have resulted.
“Only Democrats have made demands, and by the way very expensive demands” in return for voting to reopen the government, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, said in a speech to the Senate on Tuesday.
Senate Democrats are pushing to use their legislative leverage of withholding necessary votes for a stopgap funding bill to advocate for healthcare fixes.
Senator Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat who represents many furloughed federal workers, told NPR’s Morning Edition on Tuesday it will take Trump engaging with Democrats to end the shutdown.
“If the president engages, we can solve this in 48 hours,” Kaine said.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Gram Slattery; Additional reporting by Bo Erickson; Editing by Richard Chang)
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