Former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.) said on Sunday that President Trump’s agreement to temporarily reopen the government without the guarantee of funding for a border wall is a “concession,” but not a “cave.”
Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Santorum said that criticism of the deal by conservatives, including Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, is an “overreaction.”
{mosads}Dobbs said on his show last Friday that the deal announced earlier in the day was a “victory for [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi [D-Calif.].”
“And to deny it is to try to escape from reality,” Dobbs added.
“The reality is we’ve got three weeks,” Santorum said on Sunday. “We have three weeks, the bill’s in conference. Now they can sit down and strike a deal if they want to strike a deal.”
Santorum then said that he did not think the agreement was a concession “whatsoever” before quickly adding: “I mean, it is a concession, but it’s not a cave.”
“It’s a concession to say, OK, I’ll accept your terms that you wanted in order for us to get a deal. Now let’s see whether you can get a deal,” he added.
Trump has maintained that his decision to allow the government to fully reopen for three weeks without funding for a wall was not a concession, and that he will declare a national emergency to build one if a bipartisan conference committee doesn’t provide funds for it.
“This was in no way a concession. It was taking care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the Shutdown with the understanding that in 21 days, if no deal is done, it’s off to the races!” he tweeted Friday.
“We’ll work with the Democrats and negotiate and if we can’t do that, then we’ll do — obviously we’ll do the emergency because that’s what it is. It’s a national emergency,” he told reporters at the White House earlier in the day.