Trump appeared in the Oval Office on Thursday, where he told reporters, "If the government shuts down, it's not the Republicans' fault. You know, we passed a bill where we had an incredible Republican vote. We only had one negative vote."
Trump referred to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), the lone Republican to vote against the CR, as a "grandstander" and then added, "People were amazed that the Republicans were able to vote in unison like that and so strongly. If there's a shutdown, even the Democrats admit it'll be their fault. And I'm hearing a lot of Democrats are going to vote for it, and I hope they do."
The president emphasized that he wants, what he has called, "one big beautiful bill" in order to fund the government until the end of the fiscal year.
"We put everything in. We can have big tax cuts. We're going to have tremendous incentives for companies coming into our country and employing lots of people," Trump added, speaking to reporters.
Some reports have indicated the Democrats, like Trump said during the meeting, are going to vote for the bill, according to The Hill. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is reportedly giving room for more centrist Democrats to vote in favor of the bill, which may clear the 60-vote threshold needed to pass the bill outright.
The bill, which passed on a vote of 217-213 on Tuesday, with one Democrat voting for it and one Republican voting against it, would cut around $13 billion from nondefense funding in the government and would increase spending for defense at around $6 billion.
The House Freedom Caucus, which has members usually opposed to continuing resolutions, said of the bill that it will "reduce and then freeze spending for the next six months to allow President Trump and his Administration to continue their critical work within the Executive Branch to find and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse."
