vulnerable Democrats running for reelection next year in states that President Trump won don’t want any part of that strategy. They are aiming to show swing voters who backed Trump that they’re willing to work with Republicans when it makes sense.
“I think it’s stupid talk. You don’t want to shut the government down. That’s not where I’m going to be,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who is running for reelection in a state Trump won by more than 20 points over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Tester said he wants the Dreamers taken care of, but “you don’t shut the government down.”
It’s one of the few rifts that has emerged this year between liberals and centrists, who have stayed remarkably unified in opposition to Trump’s agenda.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who is up for reelection next year in a state Trump carried with 56 percent of the vote, said, “I don’t have much appetite for a government shutdown and I don’t like lines in the sand.”
McCaskill said “fixing the law for the Dreamers is a very big priority,” but declined to endorse the position of liberal Democrats.
“I guess it means I’m not in the mix for 2020,” she quipped, when a reporter noted that some colleagues with White House ambitions want to make funding the government contingent on an immigration deal.
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