Sen. Dick Durbin: Shutdown Will End When Trump Realizes He’s Lost Senate Republicans

As the government shutdown breaks records as the longest in U.S. history, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) was asked Sunday morning how the stalemate ends. It ends when Senate Republicans decide they’ve “had enough,” Durbin said.

“Open up this government tomorrow,” Durbin said on ABC’s This Week, calling on Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to make it happen. He rejected the administration’s claim that there is a national emergency on the southern border — pointing out that a wall would take years to build anyway — and cautioned against declaring one.

“Presidents have been very careful in using that,” he said. “When George W. Bush faced 9/11 he asked us for national emergency powers, we gave it to him on a bipartisan basis, united as a country to fight off terrorism. But if this president is going to turn to national emergencies every time he disagrees with Congress, I’m against it. Let’s make sure the branches of government are bound by the same Constitution.”

“How does this end?” asked ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos.

“I think it ends when the Senate Republicans say we’ve had enough,” Durbin replied. “We’re not going to stand here and be blamed for this. We believe the government should be opened. There should be timely negotiations on border security after the government is open.”

“Once the president realizes he’s lost the Senate Republicans, we can roll up our sleeves, open the government and get down to business,” he added.

Watch:

Sen. Dick Durbin says the shutdown will end when “Senate Republicans say we’ve had enough.”

“Once the president realizes he’s lost the Senate Republicans, we can roll up our sleeves, open the government and get down to business,” he adds https://t.co/P6iz1j1VA4 #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/TrdRJl3QGN

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 13, 2019

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