Chuck Schumer Warns Trump Not To Ruin Budget Talks By Getting Involved

WASHINGTON ' When Congress returns from its spring break, it will have just four days to pass a spending plan for the rest of the year and thereby head off a government shutdown.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that despite the looming April 28 deadline, President Donald Trump hasnt been negotiating with Democrats on a deal. And he said thats just fine ' because lawmakers on the Hill are on track to get it done and Trump should just leave thoseArt of the Deal impulses in a trophy case at Mar-a-Lago.Republican leaders have claimed the White House was including Democrats in talks over spending bills for the rest of this year and for 2018, but Schumer said that was news to him.I dont know where they came up with that, Schumer told reporters on a conference call, adding that hed had one conversation with White House budget director Mick Mulvaney and that was to tell him Trumps budget proposal was dead.I told Director Mulvaney that I thought his budget was so far away from where both Senate Democrats and Senate Republicansa number of them have called it dead on arrivalthat his next years budget was sort of a non-starter, Schumer said.Rather than try to push the White Houses vision, Schumer suggested Mulvaney and Trump leave it to the lawmakers.I said to him that the best thing he can do is let the four corners ' House Republicans, House Democrats, Senate Republicans, Senate Democratsnegotiate this 2017 budget as well as the 2018 budget, and we might be able to come up with things, Schumer said. I said that to [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell as well, and he didnt argue with me. I said I dont even know who to negotiate with on 2017, given where their budget is. So there are no negotiations.McConnell told reporters this past Friday, before Congress left for two weeks, that talks were proceeding and that Democrats would have to be involved in order to pass anything. He was optimistic they would.While Schumer and other top Democrats may not be hearing from the White House, the minority leader was similarly optimistic ' as long as Trump doesnt decide to practice his art.We can get this done. We Democrats want to get it done. We hope our Republican colleagues wont insist on things that force a government shutdown, Schumer said. But I think talks are going pretty well right now, and the White House doesnt have to throw a monkey wrench into it. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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