Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warns Democrats they'll own the shutdown, hurt the economy

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday said the administration’s new tariffs will help American workers but Senate Democrats will hurt the economy if they shut down the government.

“We’ve got strategic industries where we’ve got to protect the American worker,” he told reporters at the White House. “But I can tell you what’s not good for the economy is this government shutdown.”

“I don’t know what Democrats are thinking here, because they’re going to own it,” he said. “And to the extent that it hurts confidence, it hurts the American people.”

On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York was looking for a way to back out of a shutdown showdown with Republicans. A day earlier he said his Democrats would filibuster the House-passed stopgap spending bill to avert a shutdown at midnight Friday.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, also had a warning for Senate Democrats: “It’s time to fish or cut bait.”

The bill, which funds the government through September, needs Democratic votes to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold to survive a filibuster, but voting for the Trump-backed bill, though, is too much for Democratic lawmakers to tolerate.

Mr. Schumer on Wednesday demanded a “clean” stopgap bill, what’s known as a continuing resolution or “CR” on Capitol Hill, that lasts until April 11.