Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), one of the key negotiators of a funding deal that would prevent a shutdown on Friday, offered his response to President Donald Trump’s reaction to the deal.
Reacting to the deal announcement earlier, President Donald Trump said, “I can’t say I’m happy. I can’t say I’m thrilled.”
Leahy said, “We were not trying to pass something to thrill the president or anybody else. Every one of us had to give on it. We had meetings late until last night in my office I have in the Capitol.”
He continued, “Each one of us had to give something. That’s how you finally get a deal. Nobody wins everything. We started off knowing that even though the president gave his solemn word during the campaign that Mexico was going to pay for this wall, that it is not going to be, he is not going to be able to carry through with what he promised the American people he would. But we have the responsibility to do a whole lot of things. We’ve got six other bills besides Homeland Security here. We’ve reached agreement on all of them. I mean, this covers everything from opioids to infrastructure to security along the border.”
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