Democratic lawmakers counter that the president hurt negotiations when he initially expressed support for a compromise and then abruptly turned away from it.
“How can you negotiate with the president under those circumstances where he agrees face-to-face to move forward with a certain path and then within two hours calls back and pulls the plug?” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., on ABC’s “This Week.”
Five Republicans were among the senators who voted Friday night against a House-passed plan. The measure gained 50 votes to proceed to 49 against, but 60 were needed to break a Democratic filibuster. One of those senators, Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky, said he is opposed to short-term fiscal bills and called the blame game “ridiculous on both sides.”
“It’s gamesmanship and it’s partisanship,” Paul said.
Paul said the answer to solving the brinksmanship is to guarantee Democrats in writing that they’ll get their debate on immigration issues.
Durbin said bipartisan conversations are taking place and lawmakers from both sides are “in good faith trying to find common ground and put this behind us.”
