Walz: Democrats' CR votes 'muddied the water'

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said on Tuesday that votes by Senate Democrats in support of a stopgap Republican measure to fund the government "muddied the water" on possible government shutdown ramifications.

"I understood that the argument was, 'If we did a shutdown, if we fought Trump that way, it would cause pain to people,'" Walz, who ran on the 2024 Democratic ticket with former Vice President Kamala Harris, told Semafor ahead of a Wisconsin town hall, referring to President Trump.

"The pain is already here," he added.

"What I would say, if there would have been more communication with all of us: That pain is already in the states, and it’s not going to get any better. And I think the issue is, it muddied the water on who’s to blame for this, and it’s clearly Donald Trump."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who joined nine other Democrats in voting to advance the GOP measure, has faced calls to resign over his support for it.

“Look, I don’t want to question Sen. Schumer. He’s an expert at this. He’s been there a long time. He also, I think, has great compassion for what would happen with the shutdown,” Walz said.

Walz during the Q&A also criticized Trump.

“I will try and cooperate with anybody, but I’m not going to compromise on core values, whether it’s human rights or other things. The first time, with Trump, I tried to cultivate a relationship to a certain degree. He even praised me a few times,” Walz said.

“My idea was to keep my head down, not draw a contrast to Minnesota, and do the best we could. That’s not going to work this time with this guy. It’s not going to work for anybody. It’s certainly not going to work for Minnesota. So I said, 'I’ll follow the law, but if he issues unlawful orders, we’re not going to do it,' ” he added. 

The Trump administration has promised to pull federal funding from states whose leaders refuse to comply with directives regarding immigration and other orders. 

Walz recently has slammed Trump for his approach to international tariffs, his efforts to dismantle the Department of Education and mass firings through the Department of Government Efficiency. 

“We have to make sure that Americans know it’s not just that Donald Trump is bad, but we’re offering them something better, and I think that’s what we need to work on,” Walz said of Democrats during an interview with MSNBC last week, adding that the party should capitalize on outrage over Trump and Elon Musk's attempts to restructure the government.