President Trump said Thursday that his administration plans to make more permanent cuts to ‘Democrat programs’ very soon.

“We will be making cuts that are permanent and we’re only going to cut Democrat programs, I hate to tell you,” Trump stated during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. “I guess that makes sense.”

The president said he has tasked Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought with identifying which programs to cut.

The Senate on Thursday rejected for the seventh time, the clean, House-passed continuing resolution to keep the government funded until 21 November, leaving no end in sight for the impasse on day nine of the shutdown.

The continuing resolution failed to pass the 60-vote threshold to advance.

With brutal honesty, Trump made clear to the White House press how he planned to deal with the Democrats’ continued recalcitrance.

“We’re only cutting Democrat programs,” he said. “We’ll be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren’t popular with Republicans. Frankly, that’s the way it works. They wanted this. So we’ll give them a little taste of their own medicine.”

Director Vought had previously stated in a memo that if Democrats forced a shutdown, the administration would use it as an opportunity to implement lasting reductions, including workforce cuts in programs not aligned with the president’s priorities.

Specific actions already taken include the cancellation of $8 billion in Biden-era energy projects in Democrat-led states such as California, Colorado, New Jersey, and New York, as well as halting $18 billion in funding for New York City infrastructure projects like the Hudson Tunnel and Second Avenue Subway.

Additionally, $2.1 billion in Chicago infrastructure funding was paused, with Vought citing concerns over “race-based contracting.”

Trump also blasted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for past remarks opposing government closures, accusing him of hypocrisy. The president claimed Democrats were facing a “rebellion” within their ranks to end the stalemate.

“But Chuck Schumer proclaimed this morning that every day gets better for them,” Trump said. “No, every day it’s actually getting worse for them. And they’re having a rebellion in the Democrat Party, because they want to stop.”

Democrats are trying to obstruct,” Trump complained. “They don’t want to have a good economy. I don’t think they want to have a good country. That’s why they try to stop our law enforcement from doing what we did in Washington D.C.”

The president said now Americans have “a great, safe, beautiful Capital.”