Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said voters will fault Trump and the GOP. He blamed Trump for reneging on a near deal that Schumer said the two men had approached during a White House meeting Friday.
“Negotiating with President Trump is like negotiating with Jell-O,” Schumer said.
Although the House and Senate were in session Saturday, it was unclear whether lawmakers would take any votes of consequence.
Democrats said they oppose the three-week plan, viewing it as a way to stall negotiations over the future of the “Dreamers,” whose protections expire in March. Republicans declared they would not reopen talks until the government shutdown ends, a strategy aimed at trying to erode Democratic cohesion.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Trump had earned an F for “failure in leadership.” She said Republicans are “so incompetent and negligent that they couldn’t get it together to keep the government open.”
The fourth government shutdown in a quarter-century began at the stroke of midnight at the start of a weekend, so many of the immediate effects will be muted for most Americans.
