White House director of legislative affairs Marc Short took Democratic lawmakers to task Saturday for shutting the government down on Friday.

“Senate Democrats are basically conducting a two-year-old temper tantrum in front of the American people,” an exasperated Short declared. Senate Democrats blocked the passage of a continuing resolution late Friday which would have kept the government funded for another month, ostensibly in a bid to preserve Obama-era protections for illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

Marc Short says “Senate Democrats are basically conducting a two-year-old temper tantrum in front of the American people” — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) January 20, 2018

Short however said defiantly that any negotiations over the future of the DACA program would have to continue only after Democratic lawmakers relent and the government is fully funded. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced a new measure on funding the government for just a three-week period, which Short said was the only concession the White House is giving on the negotiation.

The three-week funding measure is expected to be voted on in the coming days

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders previously blasted Senate Democrats and minority leader Chuck Schumer in a Saturday statement saying, “we will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands. This is the behavior of obstructionist losers, not legislators.”

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