Mulvaney: If The Government Shuts Down, We'll Make Sure It's to Change Washington

Katie Pavlich | May 02, 2017 3:05 PM

Early Tuesday morning, President Trump tweeted that a government shut down in September might be necessary to advance Republican priorities.

The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there! We....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017

either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good "shutdown" in September to fix mess!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017

During the daily White House press briefing Tuesday afternoon, Budget Director Mick Mulvaney defended the President's statement.

"A shutdown is not a goal, it is a negotiating tool," Mulvaney said. "If the Democrats aren't going to behave any better than they have, [a shutdown] may be inevitable."

"But, a good shutdown would be one that fixes the problems of this town," he continued. "The President wants to see Washington get better, to get fixed."

Mulvaney also argued Democrats desperately wanted a government shutdown last week in order to claim the Trump administration couldn't function or govern properly.