WASHINGTON ― The Senate was on the verge of a bipartisan deal with the White House on confirming dozens of Trump administration nominees in exchange for unfreezing billions of dollars in spending until President Donald Trump blew it up ― twice.
The dramatic collapse in talks over the weekend doesn’t bode well for the tougher job lawmakers are facing of funding the government ahead of next month’s Sept. 30 deadline. The White House is pushing for massive spending cuts that Democrats have dismissed as a nonstarter, increasing the odds of a costly government shutdown.
In Saturday’s skirmish, Senate Democrats held firm and refused to quickly confirm Trump’s nominees without extracting concessions from the administration. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) blamed the president for ultimately walking away and telling Republicans to leave town for the August recess without agreeing to terms the GOP had seemed amenable to.
“Is this the ‘Art of the deal?’ Posture, cajole, stamp your feet, and then give up?” Schumer said in a press conference. “This says it all. Donald Trump tried to bully us, go around us, threaten us, call us names — but he got nothing, and he walked away with his tail between his legs.”
