avert temporary layoffs of federal workers.
“We’ll see
what happens. If there’s a shutdown, there’s a shutdown,” Trump told Reuters in
an interview, adding that Democrats would be to blame if the federal government
was left unfunded.
Congress has
until 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday to pass a bill to fund the government or face a
shutdown, which would temporarily lay off hundreds of thousands of federal
workers.
Republicans
introduced a bill on Wednesday to fund government operations at current levels
for one more week, giving them time to finish negotiations with Democrats on
the plan for the rest of the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
Trump said a
shutdown would be a “very negative thing” but that his administration was
prepared if it was necessary.
In a
wide-ranging interview, he defended the one-page tax plan he unveiled on
Wednesday from criticism that it would increase the U.S. deficit, saying better
trade deals and economic growth would offset the costs.
“We will do
trade deals that are going to make up for a tremendous amount of the deficit.
We are going to be doing trade deals that are going to be much better trade
deals,” Trump said.
Trump also
said it would be unfair to offer a debt bailout to Puerto Rico, a U.S.
territory, because it was unfair to people in U.S. states.
As part of the
budget negotiations, Democrats have called for financial support to prop up
Puerto Rico’s Medicaid program covering health insurance for the poor, but many
Republicans are opposed to the idea.
“I don’t think
that’s fair to the people of Iowa, and I don’t think it’s fair to the people of
Wisconsin and Ohio and North Carolina and Pennsylvania that we should be
bailing out Puerto Rico for billions and billions of dollars. No I don’t think
that’s fair,” Trump said.
(Source: Reuters/NAN)
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