WH Blames “Obstructionist Losers” For Shutdown

Reuters reports:

The world’s most powerful government shut down on Saturday after President Donald Trump and the U.S. Congress failed to reach a deal on funding for federal agencies, highlighting the country’s deep political divisions.

For the first time since October 2013 – when a similar standoff that lasted 16 days kept only essential agency operations intact – federal workers were being told to stay at home or in some cases to work without pay until new funding is approved.

The shutdown began a year to the day after Trump was sworn in as president. His inability to cut a deal despite having a Republican majority in both houses of Congress marks arguably the most debilitating setback for his crisis-plagued administration.

From the White House:

Senate Democrats own the Schumer Shutdown. Tonight, they put politics above our national security, military families, vulnerable children, and our country’s ability to serve all Americans. We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands.

This is the behavior of obstructionist losers, not legislators. When Democrats start paying our armed forces and first responders we will reopen negotiations on immigration reform. During this politically manufactured Schumer Shutdown, the President and his Administration will fight for and protect the American people.

Vox reports:



During shutdowns, federal employees are divided into “essential” and “nonessential” groups (the official wording was changed to “excepted” and “non-excepted” in 1995 to avoid hurting people’s feelings). Nonessential personnel receive furloughs: They’re off work until the shutdown is resolved and stop receiving paychecks.

In the October 2013 shutdown, about 850,000 federal workers received furloughs, or about 40 percent of all federal nonmilitary employees. After shutdowns, furloughed workers almost always receive retroactive payments covering their salaries during the shutdown. Essential workers also see their pay withheld — but they have to work anyway.