President Trump Suggests Pelosi Should Stop Getting Paid During Shutdown
President asks, 'Why is Nancy Pelosi getting paid when people who are working are not?'
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With the US Government's partial shutdown now in its fourth week, with no end in sight, President Donald Trump has blasted Nancy Pelosi for receiving a paycheck while federal workers are working without getting paid.
On Tuesday, Trump questioned whether the Democratic House speaker should continue getting paid while the standoff drags on, as Pelosi accused the president of holding hundreds of thousands of federal workers' paychecks “hostage.”
“Why is Nancy Pelosi getting paid when people who are working are not?” Trump posted on Twitter, as he presses senior Democrats to support the funding he's requested for the Southern Border wall.
Why is Nancy Pelosi getting paid when people who are working are not?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2019
Minutes later, Pelosi fired back.
“@realDonaldTrump, stop holding the paychecks of 800,000 Americans hostage. There is no reason for them to suffering right now. Re-open the government! #TrumpShutdown,” Pelosi tweeted in response.
.@realDonaldTrump, stop holding the paychecks of 800,000 Americans hostage. There is no reason for them to be suffering right now. Re-open the government! #TrumpShutdown https://t.co/3yQ3B9fOOn
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 15, 2019
According to Fox News, Trump has not made any specific announcement about donating or forgoing his own presidential salary during the shutdown, but in the past, the president has donated his full presidential salary anyway.
The most recent donation went to the Small Business Association.
A spokesman for Pelosi did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment on whether the House speaker would donate or forgo her salary during the shutdown.
According to Fox Business Network, more than 58 House lawmakers and 13 senators have either refused their pay of $174,000 annually, asked for it to be held, or announced they plan to donate it.
Freshman Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas; Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va.; Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; and Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, among others have opted to forego their paychecks.
Trump and congressional Democrats, like Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have been at odds for four weeks over a spending package to fund the government.
Trump requested $5.7 billion for border security and construction of a concrete wall or steel barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, while Democrats have vowed to block any such funding.
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The shutdown, which began Dec. 22, has left more than 800,000 federal workers and contractors working without pay, or simply staying home.
Last Friday marked the first missed paycheck for those workers, forcing some to apply for unemployment benefits.
“[Trump] thinks maybe they could just ask their father for more money,” Pelosi said last week after a contentious meeting at the White House.
“But they can’t.”
Trump walked out of that meeting after Pelosi flatly refused to consider any spending bill that included wall funding.
Trump has said that “most of the people not getting paid are Democrats,” but also empathized with federal workers who have gone without pay.
“I can relate,” Trump said last week.
“And I’m sure that the people that are on the receiving end will make adjustments.
"They always do. And they’ll make adjustments.
"People understand exactly what’s going on.
"Many of those people that won’t be receiving a paycheck, many of those people agree 100 percent with what I’m doing.”
