MEMPHIS, Tenn. — President Donald Trump said Monday that Republicans should stop negotiating with Democrats to end the partial government shutdown and instead focus on passing voting legislation, even as Transportation Security Administration agents work without paychecks and lines at some airports stretch for hours.
“I’m suggesting strongly to the Republican Party, don’t make any deal on anything,” Trump said during a crime reduction event in Memphis.
He suggested that he would use the standoff over funding for the Department of Homeland Security as leverage to pass his voter ID bill, which he says is necessary to combat voter fraud by noncitizens — something that is exceedingly rare.
“Don’t make any deal on anything unless you include voter ID,” Trump said, referring to a bill that he calls the SAVE America Act.
As the midterm elections near and Republicans face an uphill climb to keep control of Congress, Trump has repeatedly amplified unfounded claims that American elections are rife with fraud.
Critics of the SAVE America Act say it would suppress and discourage legal voting, particularly among groups that typically support Democrats, such as naturalized citizens, people of color and lower-income people. The measure, they say, places an undue burden on eligible voters who may lack the necessary documentation to comply with requirements that they submit proof of citizenship when registering to vote and show identification at the polls.
As Trump pushes for the bill’s passage, the partial government shutdown is continuing. Democrats’ demands include blocking immigration officers from wearing masks to shield their identities and requiring them to obtain warrants from judges to enter private homes or businesses.
Talks between Senate Democrats and the White House had been deadlocked for weeks with little progress, but there were signs in recent days that lawmakers and Trump administration officials were open to reaching a deal, particularly as delays at airport security checkpoints spiraled.
Over the weekend, Trump and his top border official, Tom Homan, announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would be deployed Monday to assist with long lines at U.S. airports as negotiations continued.
Hours later, Trump abruptly called for Republicans to abandon the talks. In a social media post, he called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to publicly identify Republican holdouts, “kill the filibuster” and work through the Easter holiday.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that Thune had reached out to Trump over the weekend to suggest that there be a bill to fund everything but ICE, as negotiations continued, which the president rejected.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said in an interview on Fox News that he and other senators were prepared to accept the Democrats’ offer, but that Trump thwarted the move.
“It would have worked,” Kennedy said. ”We could have had TSA paid by the end of the week, but the president said ‘no deal.’”
Even as Trump upended negotiations, travelers at some U.S. airports spent hours waiting in lines or missed their flights — scenarios that only stand to worsen should Republicans heed Trump’s demand. TSA agents across the country have called out en masse or quit, and officials have warned that should the shutdown continue, some smaller airports may have to close. Trump said Monday that he would send National Guard troops to further assist should he need to.
Although ICE agents now deployed to airports and the TSA personnel they are working alongside are part of the same department, ICE agents are getting paid while the TSA agents are not. That is because Congress appropriated tens of billions of dollars last year to support Trump’s immigration agenda.
Last week, Homan and another top White House aide offered narrow concessions on some of the Democrats’ demands, including requiring immigration officers to show identification and limiting enforcement at sensitive locations like hospitals and schools.
Homan then went to the Capitol twice last week to meet with a bipartisan group of senators whose support was viewed as essential to any deal. Though he and Senate Democrats acknowledged that there were outstanding issues, the meetings offered some momentum.
But that progress stalled Monday.
Speaking in Memphis, Trump urged Republicans to skip the Easter holiday to get the legislation passed. “You don’t have to take a fast vote,” he said. “Don’t worry about Easter, going home. In fact, make this one for Jesus.”