Claiming President Donald Trump "can't take yes for an answer," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., delivered a scathing review of the cause of Congress' government shutdown, blaming "a dysfunctional president."
"Our democracy was designed to run on compromise," Schumer told the Senate floor Sunday. "The Senate was designed to run on compromise. We are no dictatorship, subject to the whims of an executive – just as we're not a one-party system where the winner of an election gets to decide everything and the minority nothing.
"The government can only operate if the majority party accepts and seeks compromise. The majority however has forgotten the lessons of the founding fathers, they have shown that they do not know how to compromise. Not only do they not consult us, they can't even get on the same page with their president, president from their own party. The congressional leaders tell me to negotiate with President Trump. President Trump tells me to figure it out with the congressional leaders.
"This political catch-22 never seen before has driven our government to dysfunction. Americans know why the dysfunction is occurring, a dysfunctional president; hence, we are in a Trump Shutdown."
President Trump and Schumer have swapped blame, and barbs, as #SchumerShutdown and #TrumpShutdown competed for top trending topics this weekend on Twitter. Schumer went so far as to claim "negotiating with President Trump is like negotiating with Jell-O."
Schumer did not recycle that quip on the Senate floor Sunday, but he did repeat the "can't take yes for an answer" phrase he has also employed the day before.
"All along the president's saying, 'well, I'll do DACA and Dreamers in return for the wall' – he's got it – he can't take yes for an answer," Schumer reiterated Sunday. "That's why we're here. And we don't have anyone in the White House or here in the Senate, in the House – Republicans are the president's own party – to tell him he's got to straighten this whole thing out. He can't say 'yes' one minute and 'no' the next."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.