Kaine: Trump is ‘irrelevant’ to budget negotiations

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) on Tuesday said President Trump is “irrelevant” to negotiations to fund the federal government and avoid a shutdown, adding that the president will sign whatever Congress sends him.

“Donald Trump is going sit at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue and tweet while we’re going to find a deal. And then we’re going to send a deal up to him, and he’s going to sign it. He is irrelevant to this process,” Kaine said on MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes.”

“Congress is going to do the deal, we’re going to send it to him and he’s going to sign it, regardless of what’s in it,” he added.

Kaine’s comments came after Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) canceled a meeting regarding budget negotiations with Trump and Republican leaders.

{mosads}Trump had tweeted Tuesday morning that he didn’t “see a deal” with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown. 

Democrats have insisted that any funding deal include protections for young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children after Trump announced plans to halt the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program earlier this year.

“Given that the President doesn’t see a deal between Democrats and the White House, we believe the best path forward is to continue negotiating with our Republican counterparts in Congress instead,” Schumer and Pelosi said in a joint statement on Tuesday. 

Trump delivered remarks later Tuesday afternoon with empty chairs on either side of him, and nameplates on the table indicating the seats were for Schumer and Pelosi.

Trump said he was “not surprised” they canceled, suggesting they are “all talk” and “no action.”

Kaine served as Hillary Clinton’s running mate in the 2016 election, which the two lost to Trump and Vice President Pence.