Trump trashes Schumer, predicts deal to end shutdown, airport chaos

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Mar 26, 2026

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President Donald Trump trashed Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, on Thursday and predicted Democrats would soon cave and make a deal to end the partial government shutdown that has caused chaos at airports, even though the two parties remain far apart in talks.

With airport security lines stretching for hours and Congress set to leave town for a two-week recess, Trump said the Senate minority leader could compromise to avoid incentivizing Republican efforts to scrap the filibuster rule that requires 60-vote supermajority to pass most legislation.

“Chuck Schumer, a desperate, crippled politician, who has lost control of the Radical Left Democrats, will make a deal now because he thinks that if he doesn’t, Republicans will TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, something which they should do whether he makes a deal or not,” Trump wrote on his social media site.

“Democrats are punishing the American people,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting. “They need to end the shutdown.”

Schumer and House Democratic Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries have demanded that any funding deal include Trump agreeing to what they call common-sense reforms to his crackdown on undocumented immigrants.

“We’ve been talking about ICE reforms from Day One,” said Schumer, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) said talks, which seemed to be moving forward at the start of the week, have stalled because Democrats are including proposals to force ICE agents to ditch masks and agree to obtain warrants from judges to enter private homes and businesses.

If Democrats put a “more realistic offer on the table, we’ll be back in business,” Thune said.

The warring parties are keenly aware of the potential political consequences of not reaching a deal, especially as Congress planns to leave Washington, D.C. for a two-week spring recess at the end of the week.

Talks over a potential deal center on Democratic proposals to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security excluding ICE. Republicans want such a compromise to also fund Border Patrol and some portions of ICE.

Under such a plan, Republicans would seek to fund the rest of ICE using the budget reconciliation process, which only requires a simple majority vote in the Senate.

Trump has been pushing Republicans to end the filibuster even before the DHS shutdown, but GOP leaders say they don’t have support for that move.

The TSA says it may have to shut down operations at some smaller and regional airports if the budget impasse drags on.

“This is a dire situation,” TSA Director Ha Nguyen McNeill testified at a hearing on Capitol Hill. “At this point, we have to look at all options.”