Trump is downplaying a possible government shutdown


If Congress is unable to pass a bill to fund the government by a Saturday morning deadline, it won't be that big of a deal, President Trump told Reuters in an interview Thursday.
"We'll see what happens," he said. "If there's a shutdown, there's a shutdown." Unless a bill is passed by 12:01 a.m. ET Saturday, the government will have to temporarily lay off hundreds of thousands of federal workers, which Trump admits would be a "very negative thing."
On Wednesday, the GOP introduced a bill that keeps the government afloat for another week, which would give Republicans and Democrats more time to negotiate a plan that funds the government through Sept. 30. Trump told Reuters his administration is prepared for a shutdown, and if it does take place, it will be the Democrats' fault.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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