Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said he’s hopeful the government shutdown could come to an end this week with President Trump back from his Asia trip.
In an interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” Warner sidestepped questions about where Democrats would be willing to compromise in the monthlong funding standoff but pressed for the president to come to the negotiating table.
Asked at what point the “pain and pressure” from air traffic controllers and other government workers will finally “end the shutdown,” Warner said, “I hope it ends it this week.”
“We knew this wasn’t going to end unless Donald Trump was back in the country. He’s now back in the country. He’s got to go ahead and put America first and sit down with us, deal with the health care shortage,” Warner added.
Warner said any negotiation will “require Trump in the room.”
“It’s why the bipartisan conversation so far, I don’t think we’ll ever get to ‘yes’ because unfortunately, my Republican colleagues can’t move on anything without a Trump sign-off,” Warner said.
“Trump has spent enough time going out there now trying to audition for a Nobel Prize, running around the world. Come back and put America first. Sit down and let’s get this resolved. It can be done in an hour,” the Democrat said, nodding to a frequent refrain the president uses.
Warner said he hopes, too, that the administration funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program after a federal judge ordered officials to spend an emergency fund for the program.
“We’re still waiting to see whether the administration wants to appeal that,” Warner said. “Get the money out to people in need. Sit down with us, get this resolved this week, and let’s get everybody back to work.”
Source: The Hill