Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that President Trump's declaration that he would "love" to have another government shutdown if Democrats don't agree to a deal on immigration "speaks for itself."
"Speaks for itself," Schumer told reporters at a Senate Democratic press conference. "We had one Trump shutdown, nobody wants another maybe except him."
Moments prior, Trump told reporters at the White House that he is not against a shutdown if congressional Democrats "don't want safety" in any immigration deal.
"I'd love to see a shut down if we can't get this stuff taken care of," Trump said. "If we have to shut it down because the Democrats don't want safety...let's shut it down."
Schumer and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are working toward a potential deal on spending caps ahead of the Feb. 8 spending deadline, but progress has been waning on any deal involving immigration and Dreamers with only a month standing between them and the March 5 deadline.
McConnell and Senate Republicans plan to bring up an immigration bill next week but have not revealed the measure that would serve as a base bill. McConnell has promised to allow fair consideration of multiple proposals, but has said it will be a race to see what bill can attain the requisite 60 votes for support.