(Bloomberg) -- Saying President Trump is a “terrible negotiator,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called on his Republican counterpart Mitch McConnell to intervene in talks to reopen the partially shuttered U.S. government.
McConnell is a skilled negotiator and can’t keep “shuffling off to the sidelines,” Schumer said on the Senate floor ahead of a meeting with the president and other congressional leaders on the shutdown, which is now 14 days long. An intervention is needed because Trump has been “erratic, unreliable and sometimes even irrational,” the Democrat said.
“America needs leader McConnell to get involved and stop this shutdown,” Schumer said.
McConnell has refused to call any bills for a vote in the Senate unless they are first supported by Trump. That includes legislation passed last night by the Democrat-controlled House which would open eight of the nine shuttered government departments and temporarily fund the Homeland Security Department while negotiations continue on funding for a border wall that Trump demands. The White House has threatened to veto the package.
- Read more on how Trump and congressional Democrats have staked out ground that leaves them far from any deal.
- And a look at how airlines, mortgage lenders and breweries are feeling the shutdown pain already
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