Trump Admits U.S. Government Shutdown

U.S. President Donald Trump admitted that the federal government could shut down if Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress fail to reach consensus on a bill to continue funding the economy by October 1, TASS reports.

"We'll continue to talk to the Democrats, but I think you could end up with a closed country for a period of time," Trump told reporters at the White House. "We’ll take care of the military, we’ll take care of Social Security, we’ll take care of the things that we have to take care of," he noted, adding that in the event of a shutdown, "a lot of the things that Democrats fight for, which in many cases aren’t very good, will not be able to be paid for."

"We’ll watch and see how they do with that to handle their constituents," Trump noted, explaining that in order to continue funding the government, the relevant bill, previously approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, must also be supported by the Senate. "But in the Senate, we have 53 senators (from among the Republicans. - TASS note) in total, and we need 60 votes. That means we need Democrat votes in favor of the bill drafted by Republicans. And I don’t know if you can make a deal with these people," the head of the White House concluded.