President Trump said Thursday that Democrats would be to blame if government funding runs out this week and suggested a shutdown could delay GOP efforts to extend expiring tax cuts.
“They do a shutdown, and, ultimately, that might lead to very, very high taxes because we’re talking about a shutdown,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We’re talking about getting to work immediately on the greatest tax bill ever passed. That was the one we did. It was a renewal, and it’s an addition to it.”
“We’re going to cut people’s taxes. And if we don’t open, the Democrats are stopping all of these good things that we’re providing,” he added.
The government will shut down on Saturday if lawmakers do not come to an agreement on a funding bill. The House earlier this week passed a GOP-crafted continuing resolution that would fund the government for six months.
At least eight Senate Democrats would have to vote for that stopgap measure, along with all Republicans, for it to pass the upper chamber and head to Trump’s desk.
Some Democrats have argued the GOP bill would cut critical services and have declared it “dead on arrival” in the Senate.
“If there’s a shutdown, it’s only because of the Democrats, and they would really be taking away a lot from our country, and from the people of our country.”
Trump and congressional Republicans are also working to advance a major policy bill before the end of the year that would include extensions of his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).
Several provisions of the TCJA, including cuts to personal income tax rates, will expire at the end of the year unless Trump signs a bill to extend them.
