Trump slammed for watching golf as government shutdown looms

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries ripped President Donald Trump on Friday for leaving town to watch golf matches in New York with just four days left to avoid a possible federal government shutdown.

“He doesn’t have the time to meet with Democratic leaders to fund the government and address the Republican health care crisis, but Donald Trump, right now, as we speak, is at a golf event,” Jeffries, D-N.Y., said at a news conference on Capitol Hill.

Trump left Washington, D.C., on Friday morning for Bethpage, Long Island, to watch matches at the Ryder Cup, a biennial men’s golf competition. Trump flew back to Washington on Air Force One on Friday afternoon.

Asked what he sees as an “off-ramp” to an impasse between Republicans and Democrats, Jeffries pointed at the president.

“Here’s the off-ramp: Donald Trump, get back to Washington, D.C.,” said Jeffries.

“Why are you at a golf event right now, and the government is four days away from closing? That’s outrageous.”

Jeffries and other Democrats argue that Republicans and Trump will be to blame if the federal government shuts down on Wednesday for lack of a stopgap funding package.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, in a statement to CNBC, said, “The only person Hakeem Jeffries and the Democrats can blame for a government shutdown is themselves.”

“The Trump Administration wants a straightforward and clean CR [continuing resolution] to continue funding the government – the exact same proposal that Democrats supported just six months ago, and 13 times under the Biden Administration,” Jackson said.

“But radical Democrats are threatening to shut the government down if they don’t get their nearly $1.5 trillion wish list of demands, including free health care for illegal aliens,” she said. “The [Democrats’] radical agenda was rejected by the American people less than a year ago at the ballot box; now they’re trying to shut down the government and hold the American people hostage over it.”

Republicans, who hold narrow majorities in the House and Senate, want to pass what they call a “clean” bill to temporarily extend funding.

But Democratic leaders insist that the bill include an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year. Those credits reduce the cost of health insurance plans purchased on Obamacare marketplaces.

Republicans call those demands unreasonable, arguing that Democrats are the ones standing in the way of the government staying open.

Democrats say Republicans are refusing to negotiate with them because they want to shut the government down.

A funding bill needs 60 votes to be adopted in the Senate, which means it cannot pass on a party-line vote.

There are 53 Republican senators and 45 Democratic senators. The two independent senators caucus with the Democrats.