GOP Sen. Bob Corker blames shutdown on 'tyranny' of 'talk-radio hosts that get the president spun up'

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 21 December 2018

A government shutdown is nearly guaranteed, and retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) is not having any of it.

With a midnight Friday deadline looming, the House passed a government spending bill Thursday that would grant $5.7 billion for President Trump's border wall. With the clock ticking, senators then took hours to decide whether they'd even vote on it. Some Republicans split over whether to advance the continuing resolution to the floor, some weren't even in Washington, and still others — including Corker — remained undecided as talks dragged on.

Still, Corker wasn't completely indifferent to the last-minute scramble, telling reporters that "two talk-radio show hosts ... basically influenced the president" and put the government in "shutdown mode." Indeed, Trump was reportedly ready to sign a bill passed by the House and Senate that did not include money for the wall, but changed his mind after being harangued by conservative media figures.

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The new bill has seemingly stalled at 43 senators in favor of advancing to a vote and 45 opposed, seeing as senators had left D.C. after being assured Trump would sign their previous short-term resolution without border wall funding. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said the government will "probably" shut down after this, per CNN. Trump, meanwhile, said he's prepared for a "very long" shutdown if a spending bill doesn't fund the wall.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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