WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top U.S. Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump should not interfere in lawmakers’ negotiations if he wants a smooth government funding process.
“We believe if President Trump stays out of the appropriations process, we can get good bipartisan agreement and government can move smoothly forward,” Schumer told reporters. “As long as Trump doesn’t interfere, we can move the government forward.”
On a separate legislative issue likely to be debated in the new Congress that convenes in January, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said there was widespread interest in doing an infrastructure investment bill.
But he warned passage might be difficult as Republicans would not want the spending to add to government deficits.
“The question is how are you going to pay for it. That becomes very challenging because there’s no sort of easy way to pay for infrastructure without impacting an awful lot of Americans,” McConnell said.
(Reporting by Amanda Becker and Richard Cowan; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Susan Heavey and Susan Thomas)
