Donald Trump today claimed, without evidence, that “most of the people not getting paid” in the partial government shutdown are Democrats, days after he contended that many federal workers support his call for more border wall funding.
Trump made the claim in a morning tweet as the shutdown entered its sixth day, with hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed without pay amid signs pointing toward a prolonged standoff.
Have the Democrats finally realized that we desperately need Border Security and a Wall on the Southern Border. Need to stop Drugs, Human Trafficking,Gang Members & Criminals from coming into our Country. Do the Dems realize that most of the people not getting paid are Democrats?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 27, 2018
The implication is that Trump would be more willing to reopen the government if those who were working without pay were Republicans, a loyalty to party that Trump has shown repeatedly in other ways.
The message contrasted with Trump’s claim in an Oval Office appearance on Christmas morning that “many of those workers” had told him to continue to shut down the government “until you get the funding for the wall.”
“These federal workers want the wall,” Trump said at the time.
About 25 percent of the federal government has been shut down since Saturday, with roughly 800,000 workers affected, including an estimated 350,000 who are on furlough at home without pay.
At the heart of the stalemate is Trump’s demand for $5 billion in funding for his proposed wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Congressional Democrats have rejected that figure and made counteroffers for border security of as much as $1.6 billion.
But the two sides remain deadlocked, and it appears unlikely that a resolution will come before the week is out.
The Senate is set to convene late today, but no votes are scheduled.
The House, meanwhile, is out of session until further notice, and the office of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Wednesday that it will give lawmakers 24 hours’ notice of any expected votes in the chamber.
A spokesman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said Democrats’ likely plan is to put a bill that funds the government, without money for Trump’s wall, on the floor on Jan. 3.
That is the first day of the new session of Congress, when Democrats take control of the House.
With no end to the shutdown in site, the Office of Personnel Management sent out a Twitter posting this morning in which it shared advice and letter templates for federal workers to use in negotiating for deferred rent and payments to other creditors.