Democrats want to keep the government from being shut down, and they want to cooperate with Republicans, according to House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives.
"No one believes the Democrats want to shut down the government – that's irrational," Hoyer, D-Md., said Thursday on CNBC's "Squawk Box."
Hoyer's comment came after President Donald Trump, on Thursday morning, made that claim about Democrats in a tweet.
The minority whip said his party will not be held "hostage" amid a conflict with Republicans.
"I talked with Mr. [House Majority Leader Kevin] McCarthy [Wednesday]," Hoyer added. "We want to see a bill passed that would have full agreement. We agree on probably 80 percent. Now, you would think the rational person would say, 'OK, we agree on 80 percent. We'll put the 20 percent aside. The bill will include the 80 percent on which we agree and we'll pass it. And we'll fund the government and then we'll argue on that which we do not agree.'"
"That's the reasonable thing to do. Hopefully we'll do that, and hopefully we'll do it in the next 48 hours.
"Reasonable, responsible people can get their heads together. The issue is are we going to have reasonable, responsible interface with the administration. That hasn't happened to date," the minority whip said, noting the disagreement between the parties over healthcare and jobs.
Democrats would vote against a short-term spending bill to keep the government open if Republicans try to rush through a bill to repeal Obamacare, Hoyer said Thursday, according to HuffPost.
"If Republicans announce their intention to bring their harmful TrumpCare bill to the House floor tomorrow or Saturday, I will oppose a one-week continuing resolution and will advise House Democrats to oppose it as well," he said.
Congress must pass a funding bill by the end of the day Friday or federal programs will no longer be able to spend money, starting Saturday, which will be President Trump's hundredth day in office, according to Mother Jones.
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