White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney described the rules of Senate procedure to CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta after the journalist suggested Friday Republicans were at fault for the impending government shutdown.
“How can it be the Schumer shutdown when Republicans control the White House, the House and the Senate,” Acosta asked during the White House press conference.
“Come on you know the answer to that as well as anybody,” Mulvaney shot back. “I have to laugh when people say that … you know as well as anybody that it takes 60 votes in the Senate to pass an appropriations bill.”
“I know that,” Acosta conceded.
“So when you only have 51 votes in the Senate than you have to have Democrat support in order to … fund the government,” Mulvaney concluded.
The approaching shutdown will take effect Friday at midnight should Congress fail to pass a short-term spending bill that would fund the government through February 16.
The House passed the stopgap spending measure Thursday night and the bill is supposed to go before the Senate Friday afternoon, despite concerns Democrats hold enough no votes to block its passage.
Negotiations stagnated in recent days amid Democrats’ refusal to support legislation that doesn’t include protections for Dreamers.