MR. SHORT: If I follow up on that one question. Again, I think it's important to remember that, yes, we're approaching the March 5th deadline, but the President put forward what he asked for last fall. We've been asking Congress to address this.
And, Jim, back to your question - the reality is, there is no legislation for them to pull up. They say there is this Flake-Durbin-Graham proposal; there is not legislation to vote on. So when they say we need to have DACA solved before you do a continuing resolution to keep the government open, there isn't actually a bill for them to even vote on - which I think shows that this is really about politics and not really about policy.
DIRECTOR MULVANEY: And I think General Kelly will also tell you that he actually mentioned this to the senators during his confirmation process. So this administration has been trying for at least a year now to get some progress on DACA and it's Congress that's taking that -
Yes, sir.
Q Could I start with Marc, if I could, and then I got a question for you as well, Mick. You've been the one who's been up there on Capitol Hill every day. What I'm getting from the podium today is, if this happens, it's the Democrats' fault. What, as a practical matter, can you do between now and midnight tonight to change the equation and get people onboard the CR?
MR. SHORT: Well, John, I think, again, one of our challenges is, I don't think it's clear what the Democrats are asking for. I accept that you're saying they want a solution to DACA, but there is not bill text that they're asking Republicans to bring up. So I think that they really believe for political reasons it's better for them to force the shutdown.
The President is continuing to reach out to them, and he will continue to do so throughout the day. He is actively on the phone. That's what we will continue to try to be saying,
"What is a solution that you guys think would be necessary?"
We, frankly, think that giving the Children's Health Insurance Program - something the Democrats have asked for reauthorizing it for six years - was something that would attract Democrat votes. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that's the case.
Q And, Mick, if I could to you - because the other big story of the week has been the CFPB and your request for zero funding. Are you working to reduce spending there? What's the future of the CFPB? What's Leandra English's current role there? And does she continue to draw a salary?
DIRECTOR MULVANEY: Six questions at once.
Q It's all about the same thing.
DIRECTOR MULVANEY: It is. I won't speak to litigation, but with Ms. English, we do intend - we've asked for no money this quarter over at the CFPB simply because we didn't think it was necessary. CFPB has $177 million in its reserve fund, and we're able to operate next quarter off of that. So that was the reason that we asked for no money this quarter.
We intend to continue to fulfill the statutory mission of the CFPB. I've told people from the day I walked in there - I wasn't there to shut the place down or blow it up, but we will focus on the statutory mission and we have plenty of money in the bank to do that.
Yes, sir. And this will have to be the last. Yes, sir.
Q Thank you very much. You mentioned that DACA is not an immediate now because of March - the March 5th deadline. You know, though, that that is the sticking point for many Democrats. So for people who are sitting at home and they are wondering, "If there is a government shutdown, how long would this last," could this potentially go weeks, like the last one was 16 days, especially since you're talking about the March 5th deadline? What is the realistic timeframe of how long - and this is for either of you - a shutdown could potentially last?
DIRECTOR MULVANEY: Yeah. You all have seen that we talk about immigration, and you all have seen the quote from Mr. Schumer from 2013, but I'll read it again. He says, "Basically it's sort of like this...We could say, we're shutting down the government, we're not going to raise the debt ceiling until you pass immigration reform. It would be governmental chaos."
There are examples of statements exactly like - Bernie Sanders, one of my favorite. "What they are saying" - by the way, this was of me, back in 2013, of the group that was trying to figure out a way to force a debate on Obamacare repeal: "What they are saying to the American people tonight is: Maybe we have lost the presidential election. Maybe we have lost seats in the Senate and the House..." - this is Sanders talking in 2013 - "...It doesn't matter. We can now bring the government to a shutdown, throw some 800,000 hardworking Americans out on the street. We're going to get our way no matter what."
This is exactly what they accused the Republicans of doing back in 2013. There is absolutely no reason to have to insert a DACA discussion, an immigration discussion into the funding bill today.
Q You alluded the shutdown looking differently.
DIRECTOR MULVANEY: Yes.
Q Can you expand upon that, please? How will this look differently?
DIRECTOR MULVANEY: Sure, a couple different things. And again, OMB is responsible for, sort of, managing the lapse, managing the shutdown. The military will still go to work. They will not get paid. The border will still be patrolled. They will not get paid. Folks will still be fighting the fires out West. They will not get paid. The parks will be open. People won't get paid. You can see the whole list.
There will be a bunch of different things - when you see, compared to 2013 - but don't lose sight of the fact that we're asking the military to work without pay. We're asking firefighters to work without pay. It's still harming the people -
Q But what's different?
DIRECTOR MULVANEY: What's different? It's different. Parks will be open this time, and they weren't before. Let's go down the list. The parks will be open. The way it works is that the parks are open, but the - especially if the services are provided by third parties, but things like the trash won't get picked up. Fannie and Freddie will be open. The Post Office will be open. The TSA will be open.
But again, all of these people will be working for nothing, which is simply not fair. We are going to manage the shutdown differently. We are not going to weaponize it. We're not going to try and hurt people, especially people who happen to work for this federal government. But we still need Congress to appropriate the funds.
Look, that's all the time we had set. We're supposed to go - at 11:30 a.m. We'll be doing this again. So, anyway, thanks very much.
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