Reed Rebukes Trump for Threatening Another U.S. Federal Gov’t Shutdown

WASHINGTON, DC - There are 77 days left to pass annual appropriations bills and fund the federal government ahead of the next fiscal year, which starts in October.

But this week, President Trump blindsided lawmakers across the political spectrum when he threatened to force a government shutdown unless Republican Senators abolish the filibuster, pass his election takeover scheme known as the so-called SAVE Act, and allow Republicans to advance any legislation they want through a party line vote.

During a Monday interview on Fox & Friends about the so-called SAVE Act, President Trump told the hosts: "It's so important that Republicans have to do it. It's so insane. Otherwise, we're going to have a shutdown in September." Trump also added: "If you terminate the filibuster, everything goes away. And we do anything we want. We pass everything we want."

U.S. Senator Jack Reed calls Trump's threat to deny taxpayers basic services "wasteful, irresponsible, and outrageous." Senator Reed also notes that the regressive SAVE Act is an attempted power grab that even leading Republicans acknowledge is an unworkable ploy that would "hurt voters" and hand the president unprecedented authority to be the arbiter of electoral outcomes - something the Founding Fathers warned against.

Reed, a leading member of the Appropriations Committee, says it's simple: Democrats want to follow regular order and establish a bipartisan agreement on domestic and defense spending so the Senate can pass balanced, bipartisan appropriations bills that help working Americans pay their bills and ensure the Trump Administration follows the law.

Meanwhile, Republicans, who already control the White House, U.S. House of Representatives, and U.S. Senate, are prioritizing wasteful wars, White House vanity projects, and a new fleet of luxury aircraft for Trump and his political appointees. Instead of providing meaningful oversight, Congressional Republicans are handing President Trump more power and greenlighting his sky-high tariffs and inflation-inducing, billionaire-first economic policies.

Reed notes that Democrats have popular opinion on their side and are focused on lowering the costs of housing, health care, groceries, and transportation, while pushing back against the Trump Administration's controversial and unpopular health care cuts, price-raising tariffs, and executive overreach.

"Democrats are laser focused on lowering costs, expanding opportunity, and ensuring the federal government works for the people it serves. Republicans want to pretend that the economy is great and that if they just give the wealthy a bigger tax break everything will be fine. It's not fine. And it's not okay that President Trump seems to be leveraging the Oval Office to pocket billions of dollars for himself while placing a heavier financial burden on working Americans. It's not okay for Republicans to pass lopsided bills with limited oversight that reduce accountability while allowing the President's allies to fly around in luxury aircraft at taxpayer expense. It's time to put a stop to wasteful corporate subsidies for Big Oil and direct real savings and tax breaks to hardworking Americans," said Reed.

Republicans have already used a party-line vote to fund Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) through 2029, but have failed to pass any of the 12 Fiscal Year 2027 appropriations bills through the House and the Senate.

"Democrats want a budget for the middle-class that helps people, not a shutdown. We are fighting for a high quality of life at an affordable cost and a federal government that works better for families," noted Reed.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Tweet