Democrats put themselves in a "corner they couldn’t find their way out of" in the government shutdown, said Marc Short, White House director of legislative affairs, on Tuesday.
"I think Democrats backed themselves into an untenable position," Short said Tuesday on Fox News’ "America’s Newsroom."
"We were always confused what the (Democrats’) strategy was, to say, we’ll shut down the government, take all the American troops’ paychecks hostage, take the customs and Border Patrol paychecks hostage, and 320 million Americans who are law-abiding and paying taxes, saying we’ll stop services to all of them, to try to solve this issue for 690,000 illegal residents," Short said in the interview.
Short said he believed that the Democrats’ base voters wanted to see them take action against the administration. "Their base was angry and forced them to listen to a minority view, and forced them into a shutdown position," the legislative affairs director said in the interview.
The director also praised President Donald Trump for his leadership over the issue. "The president’s position prevailed. He showed great leadership throughout the weekend.
Getting a budget deal done during the 17-day window of the continuing resolution is doable, Short said. "We were making significant progress. I think we can resume that and pick it up quickly," Short said in the "America’s Newsroom" interview.
Trump was also optimistic about a long-term budget solution in a late Monday tweet. "Big win for Republicans as Democrats cave on shutdown. Now I want a big win for everyone," Trump said in the tweet.
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