President Trump and Senate Democrat leader Charles E. Schumer on Friday began the finger-pointing about who will get the blame for a government shutdown at midnight.
“Now it’s up to the Democrats as to whether or not we have a shutdown tonight,” Mr. Trump said at a meeting with Senate Republicans.
On the Senate floor, Mr. Schumer said Mr. Trump would “own” the shutdown after calling for it at least 25 times.
He recalled that Mr. Trump said he would be “proud” to shut down the government.
Mr. Trump said they were working “very hard” to get the spending bill passed, but it will take Democrat support to pass the 60-vote threshold to advance legislation in the upper chamber.
The House on Thursday night passed a spending bill that included the $5 billion that the president demanded, setting up the Senate showdown before a midnight deadline to keep funding dozens of agencies and departments.
The Senate approved a spending bill Wednesday that did not include the extra spending on border security after it appeared the White House agreed to the deal.
But Mr. Trump reversed course Thursday, issuing a veto threat that prompted House Republicans to rewrite the legislation.
The House narrowly passed the bill in a 217-185 vote, largely along party lines.
The bill included $5.7 billion in additional border security in a measure that would fund dozens of departments and agencies at their current levels through Feb. 8.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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