OMB Mulvaney Claims Obama Used Gov't Shutdown As Weapons Against Voters

"I've been through some of these before," he said. "The Democrats are opposing a bill that they don't oppose! ... They don't oppose anything in the bill, but they are opposing the bill."Show more

"I just want to let everybody know," he said about the potential government shutdown: "We do not want this, we do not want a shutdown, but if Mr. Schumer insists on it, he is in a position to force this on the American people."

He assures citizens that the process will be "different" than it was under Obama because President Obama "weaponized" the shutdowns for political purposes.

"The only conclusion I can draw is they did it for political purposes. So it will look different this time around," he said about the impending shutdown of 2018.

The White House Budget Director continued: "From an OMB perspective because we are involved in managing a lapse or a shutdown, we want to make folks understand that it will look very different than it did under the previous administration. One of the things I've learned since I've been in this office is, there is no other way to describe it, but the Obama administration weaponized the shutdown of 2013. What they did not tell you is they did not encourage agencies to use carry-forward funds, funds that they were sitting on. Nor did they encourage agencies to use transfer authority. They could have made a shutdown in 2013 much less impactful, but they chose to make it worse. The only conclusion I can draw is they did it for political purposes. So it will look different this time around."