"But yesterday, President Trump, hounded by the radical voices of the hard right, threw another temper tantrum, and here we are, once again, on the brink of what the President has spent months saying he wanted: a Trump shutdown. The President will try to do his best to blame Democrats, but it's flatly absurd. President Trump called for a shutdown no less than twenty-five times. In our meeting in the Oval Office, President Trump said, quote: "If we don't get what we want, I, President Trump, will shut down the government." "I am proud to shut it down," said President Trump. "I'm not going to blame you," meaning Democrats, "I will take the mantle of shutting it down." Those are President Trump's words and nothing he says or does today can undo that. No Democrat has called for shutting the government down. We are all working to avoid it. The President seems to relish it. He seems to feel it'll throw a bone to his base. The problem being, his base is less than one quarter of America. Mr. President, President Trump- you cannot erase months of video of you saying that you wanted a shutdown and that you wanted the responsibility and blame for a shutdown. President Trump, you own the shutdown. You said so in your own words."

“Each of those proposals contains 1.3 billion dollars of real border security, not a wall. There's no wall in those proposals. Democrats support real border security, not a wall. And by the way, that is in addition- in addition- to the 1.3 billion dollars in border security Congress allocated last year, the majority of which the Trump administration has not yet spent. They're asking for loads of more money? They haven't even spent last year's money. It's clearly a political gambit by President Trump to appease his never-happy base.”

“It has to be the legislation itself, it has to be big bold and strong. If Republicans work with us to get good strong legislation then yes... but look at 2008 where we spent a year and a half trying to get something good done, ACA , and we didn't do all the other things that needed to be done. We will not repeat the same mistake.”

“President Trump turned away from not one but two bipartisan compromises. Each would have averted this shutdown....It is something the majority could have avoided entirely, a concern the president could have obivated, if he were only willing to take yes for an answer.”

“People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens, and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who entered the U.S. legally.”

“was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president. This president should not hold office one day longer”

“This may have been the most chaotic week of what's undoubtedly the most chaotic presidency ever in the history of the United States. The stock market is in a tumult and decline. The Secretary of Defense, one of the only steady pairs of hands in our government, is resigning from the administration in protest. And the United States is pulling out of Syria and likely Afghanistan, abandoning our coalitions, allies, and the Kurds, and surrendering the field to Putin, Iran, Hezbollah, ISIS, the Taliban, and Bashar Al-Assad. The position of Defense Secretary, of Attorney General, of Ambassador to the United Nations, of Interior Secretary, and even Chief of Staff to the President are all in flux. The institutions of our government lack steady and experienced leadership. With all of these departures it's about to get even more unsteady. The President is making decisions without counsel, without preparation, and even without communication between between relevant departments and relevant agencies. All of this turmoil is causing chaos in the markets, chaos abroad, and it's making the United States less prosperous, and less secure. And to top it all off, President Trump has thrown a temper tantrum and now has us careening toward a Trump shutdown over Christmas.”