Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was not having it on Sunday. President Trump is doing his Asia tour right now amid the Schumer shutdown, so, of course, NBC News’ Kristen Welker asked about this duel on the Hill.
“When will President Trump meet with Democrats to try to bring this shutdown to a close and get federal workers their paychecks back again?” asked the Meet the Press host.
🚨 WATCH: Scott Bessent SCHOOLS NBC’s Kristen Welker for putting a burden on President Trump to end the shutdown:
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) October 26, 2025
WELKER: “When will President Trump meet with Democrats to try to bring this shutdown to a close and get federal workers their paychecks back again?”
BESSENT:… pic.twitter.com/jKlxZt2ByL
Bessent was not having it:
Kristen, I’m going to have to reject the premise of your question. Why does President Trump have to meet with Democrats? Democrats just need to go into the Senate and vote to end the shutdown.”
The Democrats rejected a seven-week, clean continuing resolution that funded the government at Biden-era levels. There were no poison pills or GOP initiatives. It was everything they supported back in March. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is on record supporting this same CR from months ago.
There have been numerous attempts to reopen the government, even smaller bills to ensure that federal workers and service members get paid. They've refused. And they're doing this to exort another $1.5 trillion for illegal alien health care and NPR funding.
Trump and the Republicans don’t need to meet the Democrats on anything.