1 of 3 | President Donald Trump speaks during a lunch with Republican senators in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. Photo by Allison Robbert/UPI | License Photo
The U.S. government shutdown has lasted three full weeks, and the Senate plans to vote on judicial nominations Tuesday and a House-passed funding bill on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump hosted the Senate Republicans for lunch Tuesday in the White House Rose Garden on Day 21 of the shutdown.
Earlier, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., told reporters Monday he didn’t know the lunch agenda.
“I know the president’s been real good about reaching out and making sure that Republicans are working all on the same page. I think most of the conversation is what happens next after the Democrats decide to reopen the government and get off the Schumer shutdown,” Mullin said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., attacked Democrats for refusing to give up their position in the battle to fund the government.
“Democrats used to care about the harm that shutdowns caused hardworking Americans. But now we can all see very clearly – that was always based on politics and not principle,” Johnson said.
He said the government would be open “if Democrats were not terrified of their radical base.”
Some Republican senators are concerned about the Trump plan to cut transportation funding to the “blue states,” saying it’s inappropriate, The Hill reported.
On Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration said there were “increased staffing shortages across the system” on Sunday, and that flights were backed up in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Newark, N.J., The Hill reported.
