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President Donald Trump once again blamed Democrats for the government shutdown during his 60 Minutes interview with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell that aired Sunday (November 2) night and claimed that it will end when they comply.
"The Republicans are voting almost unanimously to end it, and the Democrats keep voting against ending it," Trump said. "You know, they've never had this. This has happened like 18 times before. The Democrats always voted for an extension, always saying, 'Give us an extension, we'll work it out.'"
The shutdown began on October 1 and is just days shy of surpassing the 35-day record set during Trump's first administration between 2018 and 2019. The president didn't offer a specific plan to address health care costs, a main issue for the Democrats who want their Republican colleagues in Congress to agree to extend government subsidies for the more than 20 million Americans with Obamacare, which Trump referred to as "terrible" and "bad health care far too high a price."
"We should fix that. Fix it. And we can fix it with the Democrats," he added. "All they have to do is let the country open and we'll fix it."
Trump had previously helped end the 2019 government shutdown by bringing members of Congress to the White House for discussions, however, said he wouldn't be "extorted by the Democrats who have lost their way" with the current shutdown, claiming the Democrats would eventually capitulate and vote to end the shutdown.
"And if they don't vote, that's their problem," he said.
Trump's 60 Minutes appearance came days after he suggested "the nuclear option" of ending the filibuster, which he reiterated during the interview.
"The Republicans have to get tougher. If we end the filibuster, we can do exactly what we want," Trump told O'Donnell. "We're not going to lose power."