Photo: Alamy
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the media on Tuesday during a briefing in Washington, D.C., where she touched on a variety of topics and especially reiterated President Trump’s demand for Republicans to vote yes on the proposed continuing resolution (CR).
“Voting against this continuing resolution will hurt the American people and kill the incredible momentum that President Trump has built over the past 51 days,” she stated.
She noted the president “fully endorses” the resolution before Congress.
The stopgap legislation may be voted on as early as Tuesday, according to CBS.
The legislation was released last week. “This straightforward continuing resolution ensures the government remains open and working for Americans,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.
According to a press release from the committee, the bill focuses on funding core government services, providing funding for healthcare services and benefits for veterans, and protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid recipients, among other integral federal functions.
The bill also sparked staunch criticism from President Trump for Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has opposed the CR bill so far, despite the president’s request for unification.
This week, Trump called on Massie to be primaried. “Congressman Thomas Massie, of beautiful Kentucky, is an automatic ‘NO’ vote on just about everything, despite the fact that he has always voted for Continuing Resolutions in the past. HE SHOULD BE PRIMARIED, and I will lead the charge against him,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
During Tuesday’s press briefing, Leavitt said the president wanted “everybody to get onboard with this bill” and urged “every Republican, and Democrats, too, to do what’s right for the American public.”
Amid the anticipation of Congress’s vote on the CR, Leavitt also addressed questions from reporters inquiring about the state of the trade war with Canada, as the president announced this week an additional 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum imports in response to Ontario’s threat to cut off electricity to American consumers. This amounts to a 50 percent tariff on such imports so far.
“President Trump believes in reciprocity, and it is about dang time that we have a president who actually looks out for the interests of American business and workers – and all he’s asking for at the end of the day are fair and balanced trade practices and unfortunately Canada has not been treating us very fairly at all,” Leavitt said.
