Trump Says ‘We Will Not Be Extorted’ on Shutdown

Trump hosted Senate Republicans today.
Reuters
By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Good evening. Here's your update for Day 21 of the government shutdown.

Trump Holds Firm on Shutdown as GOP Eyes New Funding Bill

As the government shutdown enters its fourth week, Senate Republicans visited the White House on Tuesday for a celebratory luncheon at President Donald Trump's new Rose Garden Club.

The president saluted congressional Republicans, who have largely stuck together in the shutdown fight, and signaled little interest in negotiating a deal with Democrats, who are demanding an extension of expiring healthcare subsidies and have repeatedly called for Trump to get involved in negotiations.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that Democrats reached out to Trump on Tuesday seeking to set up talks before Trump's planned trip to Asia at the end of the week. "We urged him to meet with us," Schumer said. "We said we'll set up an appointment with him anytime, anyplace before he leaves."

It's unclear if anything will come of the request, but Trump on Tuesday called on Democrats to "stop the madness" and approve a Republican short-term continuing resolution to fund the government. "From the beginning, our message has been very simple: We will not be extorted on this crazy plot of theirs," Trump said. "Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats need to vote for the clean, bipartisan CR and reopen our government. ... They are the obstructionists."

Trump also praised White House budget director Russell Vought, who has used the shutdown to announce funding freezes for infrastructure and climate projects in Democratic-led states and cities. "They call him Darth Vader, I call him a fine man," Trump said. "He's cutting Democrat priorities, and they're never going to get them back."

'We don't need to pass any more bills': In his meandering remarks, Trump also touted the $200 million White House ballroom he's having built as well as other construction projects; defended his tariff policies and his controversial military crackdown on crime; and praised the gathered GOP senators for their work in advancing his agenda and approving his nominees. And he hailed the package of tax and spending cuts Republicans passed this summer.

"We passed a bill. We don't need to pass any more bills. We got everything in that bill," Trump said. He falsely claimed that the bill would "secure" Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Schumer blasts the GOP 'pep rally': The Democratic leader called for House Republicans, who haven't held a vote since September 19, to come back to the Capitol and criticized Senate Republicans for their visit with the president. "As millions of Americans continue to endure the pain of one of the longest shutdowns in American history, Republicans will be celebrating keeping the shutdown going," Schumer said. "Republicans may not have time to fix people's healthcare, but apparently, they got plenty of time for a mini pep rally with Donald Trump."

A new GOP stopgap: Even as Trump called on Democrats to approve the GOP's stopgap spending bill, Republicans are now acknowledging that the shutdown has dragged on so long that the House-passed measure funding the government for seven weeks will need to be updated. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins all reportedly said Tuesday that the timeframe in the Republican bill will need to be extended.

"There's a realization that we're going to have to have an extension because we've wasted all these weeks," Collins said.

GOP leaders had wanted to pass a stopgap to buy time for further progress on full-year spending bills. That work has essentially been frozen during the shutdown. With their original November 21 deadline fast approaching, Republicans reportedly are divided over how long a new funding bill should last. "GOP leaders are discussing dates ranging from mid-December to deep into 2026, and - in hopes of bringing Democrats aboard a shutdown-ending stopgap - they have offered to hold a separate vote on extending key health insurance subsidies alongside it," Politico reported Monday night. Democrats have insisted that Republicans provide more of a guarantee that the expiring subsidies will be extended.

Thune reportedly suggested that a full-year CR may be needed as the shutdown fight continues. Collins told reporters that she adamantly opposes such a long-term CR, but other Republicans are embracing the option. "The idea of going deeper into the year - or potentially next year - has gained traction with a growing number of Republicans who acknowledge that they will need more than just a month to negotiate a sweeping deal that would set new funding levels, and new policy priorities, for the rest of the fiscal year," Politico said.

How Trump Is Paying Some Federal Workers During the Shutdown

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are not receiving paychecks due to the government shutdown, but the White House has promised to pay some favored categories of employees such as servicemembers and immigration officials by shifting federal funds around in highly unorthodox - and potentially illegal - ways.

As The New York Times's Tony Romm reports, the Trump administration has "stretched its authority" to pay some workers, despite a lack of approval for the payments from Congress, which controls spending under the Constitution.

To pay members of the military, Trump has tapped $8 billion from a special fund dedicated to research and development of weaponry while giving the Pentagon approval to use any leftover funds to meet payroll. To pay immigration agents and other law enforcement officials, the White House has turned to a $10 billion fund dedicated to border protection that was created by the massive tax and policy law last summer - though those paychecks have not yet been issued. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on social media last week that more than 70,000 federal agents will receive "super" paychecks on October 22 that cover all hours worked during the shutdown.

Legal scholars have questioned the White House's drive to expand its power over spending, largely at the expense of Congress, but the Trump administration argues that the shutdown fundamentally alters the rules. The general counsel of the White House budget office said that under normal circumstances, the executive branch cannot shift funds from one account to another, Romm reports. But during the shutdown, the lapse in funding means that payment accounts no longer exist, the administration argues, giving the executive branch more leeway to use existing funds as it sees fit.

More broadly, the Trump administration and many of its conservative supporters argue that the executive branch should have far more power than it has claimed over the last few decades, including the right to freeze or redirect spending authorized by Congress.

Although pushback from Congress on the issue has been modest, some lawmakers are raising questions about Trump's reprogramming of funds. "Look, I want the troops to be paid," Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz said, per Politico. "But, as usual, they find the most illegal way to do everything."

Some Republicans are concerned, as well. Sen. Jerry Moran, a senior Republican on the Appropriations Committee, told Politico that he wants the White House to follow the established rules. While paying troops is "a desired outcome," Moran said, "there's a process that's required - by Constitution and by law - for Congress to be not only consulted but engaged."

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, another appropriator, also called on the White House to play by the rules. "There's a way we take care of this," she said. "It's called appropriations. It's called reprogramming. And I don't think that process is being respected."

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