Schumer: House funding bill ‘a loser’

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) blasted a House stopgap funding bill on Wednesday, calling the plan a “loser.”

“It’s a loser in terms of the things that this country needs. We could easily sit down and come to an agreement that would get the support of a majority of both sides,” Schumer said from the Senate floor.

Schumer added that if “God forbid, there’s a shutdown, it will fall on the majority leader’s shoulders and the president’s shoulders.”

House Republicans are pitching a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government through mid-February.

It would include a six-year authorization for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a two-year delay of ObamaCare’s medical device tax and Cadillac tax on high-cost health plans and a one-year delay of the health insurance tax starting in 2019.

Congress has until Friday night to delay a shutdown, the fourth such deadline since September. 

Republicans will need at least nine Democratic votes to get a short-term funding bill through the Senate.

But Democrats are remaining coy about if they will support another short-term bill. Eighteen Democrats voted for the December legislation.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday urged Democrats to support the legislation instead of “manufacturing [a] crisis” over immigration — which is not a part of a deal.

“I find it difficult to believe that my Democratic colleagues would want to shut down the government for American citizens and vote down a six-year reauthorization of health insurance for American children all over illegal immigration,” he said.

Schumer fired back, saying that President Trump created a “manufactured crisis” when he announced he would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and kick the issue to Congress.

“What leads to a government shutdown? One side deciding everything and then saying to the other side, you must go along,” he said.

A bipartisan group of senators is expected to unveil their immigration legislation on Wednesday, but without Trump’s approval, it appears unlikely to get a vote in the Senate.

McConnell added on Wednesday that it would not be possible to get a deal on immigration or the budget caps this week, but lawmakers have until at least March to pass a  fix for DACA recipients — immigrants brought to this country illegally as children who are protected under the Obama-era program.

“We have until March at least to complete our ongoing negotiations on immigration. We have until Friday to fund the government. I would urge my Democratic friends to honor their stated commitments and join in a bipartisan effort to keep the government open,” he said.