Ernst says Democrats refusing to work on budget deal

WASHINGTON — The clock continues to tick on the time to come to a federal budget agreement. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, says President Donald Trump has tried to work with Democrats.

“He has given on all sorts of areas — a matter of fact in just reopening the government this last weekend — he gave some great concessions in order to allow Democrats and Republicans to come together for an additional three weeks to work this out,” Ernst says. She says the effort to reach a compromise has been one-sided.

“What we have seen so far, especially in the conference committee that is dealing specifically with Homeland Security, is a multitude of suggestions coming forward from the GOP, but an absolute refusal to budge at all from our Democratic colleagues,” according to Ernst. Ernst says they need to work together to find a way forward to solve the issue and keep the government running. “I don’t want to see it shut down again. The president I don’t think wants to see it shut down again — but let’s not push him — lets make sure that we as Congress are stepping up and providing a pathway forward,” Ernst says.

Ernst says there have been a lot of proposals to keep the government from shutting down. She says they need to figure out a workable plan and move on it. “The president has made it very clear that he wants to see funding for border security,” Ernst says. “A lot of friends on the left have continually said ‘there’s no plan, there’s no plan.’ There is a plan folks — let’s make it very clear — that Customs and Border Patrol has a 33-point plan that they have outlined. They have had this on the table for a very long time.” Ernst says they can go through that plan point-by-point and come up with a solution that would take care of the issue.

Ernst made her comments during her conference call with reporters.