Trump says he would ‘love’ government shutdown over immigration

Speaking at a gathering of law enforcement officials and members of US Congress at the White House on Tuesday, Trump asserted that, "We’ll do a shutdown and it’s worth it for our country. I’d love to see a shutdown if we don’t get this stuff taken care of."
 
The sabre rattling statement came as American senators from both sides of the aisle were pushing for a two-year budget deal that could avert a government shutdown.
 
“If we have to shut it down because the Democrats don’t want safety and, unrelated but still related, they don’t want to take care of our military, then shut it down," the president said. "We’ll go with another shutdown.”
 
Democratic and Republican lawmakers are, meanwhile, trying to meet a Thursday deadline to fund the government.
 
Trump’s comments came despite earlier ones by Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer, speaking of optimism.
 
“There are still some outstanding issues to be resolved, but we are closer to an agreement than we have ever been,” the New York Democrat said on the Senate floor.
 
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, for his part, announced that he had a “good meeting” with Schumer.
 
“I’m optimistic that very soon we’ll be able to reach an agreement,” said the top Republican.
 
The government had to shut down last month, after Republicans and Democrats failed to reach an agreement on the stopgap funding measure to continue government services.