The White House on Saturday changed the voicemail on its comments line to make sure callers knew who to blame for the government shutdown – Democrats.
“Thank you for calling the White House. Unfortunately, we cannot answer your call today, because Congressional Democrats are holding government funding, including funding for our troops and other national security priorities, hostage to an unrelated immigration debate,” a woman says on the outgoing message. “Due to this obstruction, the government is shut down.”
The Senate failed Friday night to get the votes needed to pass a temporary spending bill that would have kept the government operating until Feb. 16.
Democrats have not budged in their insistence that any funding agreement include protections for the 800,000 immigrants brought illegally to the United States from deportation.
Republicans and President Trump want stricter and more expansive immigration changes and funding for a wall on the Mexican border.
Until there’s a resolution, the White House said you can leave a message for the president online.
“In the meantime, you can leave a comment for the president at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact. We look forward to taking your calls as soon as the government reopens,” the message said.
By Sunday, the comments line – 202-456-1111 – consisted of a busy signal.