What Trump Told Senate Republicans in Shutdown Strategy Huddle

Republican senators were relieved when President Donald Trump urged them to remain steadfast in refusing to negotiate with Democrats until they vote to reopen the government, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., told The Daily Signal. 

“The president encouraged us all to remain steadfast, and we cheered when he said that,” Daines said in a phone interview following Republicans’ Tuesday meeting with Trump. “We just need the Democrats to come to their senses and realize that they’ve got to start paying the troops, the FAA controllers, TSA agents and others who depend on the federal government.”

When asked if Trump indicated that Republicans would need to cave to Democrats’ demands to pass the continuing resolution, Daines said, “You don’t negotiate when they take the government hostage.” 

“There is definitely room to negotiate and to continue to move forward on the appropriation bills,” Daines said, “but it’s not going to happen until after the shutdown is over.”

Senators were in the Oval Office with the president for about an hour following a Rose Garden lunch on Tuesday. In addition to talking shop, Trump signed MAGA hats and Bibles, Daines said. 

Trump did not discuss the possibility of nuking the filibuster to bypass Senate filibuster rules that require a 60-vote majority to reopen the government, according to Daines.

While Republicans also did not discuss the potential need for the House to reconvene to pass a longer CR, as the current one would only fund the government through Nov. 21, Daines said, “it’s generally agreed that the CR is going to have to be extended past Nov. 21.”

“That’s not enough time,” he said. 

“I think there’s pretty solid agreement that it is going to have to be extended because the Democrats have burned virtually a month now in the shutdown from what originally was going to be a seven-week CR,” Daines continued. “Now we’re just four weeks away from the 21st so we’re going to have to extend it.” 

Daines expects five or six “common sense” Democrats “that are tired of this game being played and the harm it’s creating” to eventually vote to reopen the government. But Daines is unsure when that will happen. 

“When you think about when the Democrats first shut this down on Oct. 1, there was some talk that it would only last a few days. Well, that was wrong,” he said. “I’m just not seeing a lot of interest in the Democrat in solving this problem at the moment.” 

George Caldwell contributed to this report.

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