Trump on Tuesday pointed out the risk Democrats are taking by allowing a government shutdown, threatening that the administration could make cuts to programs that Democrats like and that the cuts would be irreversible.
“You all know [White House budget director] Russell Vought, he’s become very popular recently because he can trim the budget to a level that you couldn’t do any other way. So, they’re taking a risk by having a shutdown. Because of the shutdown, we can do things medically and other ways, including benefits, we can cut large numbers of people out. We don’t want to do that, but we don’t want fraud, waste and abuse,” Trump said.
White House Budget Director Russell Vought apparently has directed agencies to prepare for mass firings.
Trump said that there would “likely” be a shutdown, but that it is not “inevitable,” as he repeated the lie that Democrats want to give healthcare to immigrants in the country illegally, even as Democrats are focused on the enhanced ACA benefits set to expire at the end of the year.
Those ACA benefits are not available to immigrants without legal status.
Trump said “we just, as a country, cannot afford to take care of millions of people.”