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KRISTEN WELKER: We're now in the second-longest shutdown in U.S. history. When will President Trump meet with Democrats to try to bring this shutdown to a close and get federal workers their paychecks back again, Mr. Secretary? SCOTT BESSENT: Kristen, I'm going to have to reject the premise of your question. Why did President Trump have to meet with Democrats? Democrats just need to go into the Senate and vote to end the shutdown. WELKER: But President Trump has said in the past, “It’s up to the president” – BESSENT: No, no, no, no, no. WELKER: He said that in the past. He said, “You have to be a leader. The president has to lead. You have to get people into a room. You have to get a deal.” When is he going to do that? BESSENT: Well, he is leading, and there's no deal to do with Chuck Schumer. Chuck Schumer is trading off his polls. What's different than when he passed the clean CR in the spring, it's his polls. You know, he's, we're the whole country is being held captive to AOC’s polls. But let's look at the numbers. It's 52 to 3. Fifty-two Republicans have voted I believe it's 11 times to reopen the government. Three Democrats have. And right here, right now, I would urge moderate Democratic senators to come across the aisle, reopen the government, because I'll tell you, we're starting to eat in the muscle here. This is starting to affect travel. It’s starting to affect the economy. And you know, this is quixotic. I don't know what the purpose is. I'm not sure they do.
