White House budget director Mick Mulvaney on Monday said Democrats’ inability to reach an agreement on a government funding measure is an indication of dysfunction within the party.
“This is something the likes of which Washington has never seen before. This is a bill that Democrats support. Yet they are still not voting for it. They oppose the bill but they don’t really oppose the parts of it,” Mulvaney said on “CBS This Morning.”
“It’s the first time I think anybody can remember seeing this in Washington. Maybe it speaks to how bad the dysfunction is within the Senate Democrats,” Mulvaney added.
{mosads}The government shutdown stretched into its third day on Monday. The Senate is expected to take a procedural vote at noon on Monday on a funding bill that would keep the government open for about three weeks.
Democrats have opposed short-term funding bills in both chambers of Congress, and have held out for a deal on immigration reform instead. They have blamed President Trump for the shutdown, saying he’s been difficult to negotiate with.
Republicans, meanwhile, have pinned the shutdown on Democrats, saying they’re holding government funding hostage over the immigration debate.
Mulvaney said Sunday that this year’s shutdown is different than the one he voted for in 2013 because immigration reform is not part of the proposed funding bill. Funding for ObamaCare was part of the 2013 bill he and other Republicans opposed, he said.
Mulvaney added that he’s “hard pressed” to think of anything more Trump could do to end the shutdown. Instead, he put the onus on Democrats to come to an agreement to reopen the government.
“I think the folks who hold the cards here are Democrats who say they want to work across the aisle,” Mulvaney said.