President Donald Trump doubled the amount of money he claims Senate Democrats are demanding in exchange for releasing holds on his nominees.
Trump complained Saturday night that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called on him to release $1 billion in federal funding for foreign aid and the National Institutes of Health that had been frozen by the administration, which he rejected.
Late on Sunday night, that amount doubled.
"Democrats, lead by Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, are slow walking my Nominees, more than 150 of them," Trump posted on Truth Social at 11:18 p.m. EST. "They wanted us to pay, originally, two billion dollars for approvals. The Dems are CRAZED LUNATICS!!!"
Schumer was reportedly negotiating with GOP leadership to release $5 billion for the National Institutes of Health and up to $2 billion in foreign aid – all of which had been previously approved by Congress – in exchange for floor votes on the nominees, but Trump wants the process fast-tracked.
About 140 nominees are still waiting for a vote, including about 30 ambassadors, but they'll have to wait until the Senate returns from recess on Sept. 2. Schumer blames the president for the delay on his nominees.
"We were serious about trying to make some progress," Schumer said Saturday. "But ultimately, Trump wouldn't agree. He took his ball, he went home — leaving Democrats and Republicans alike wondering, "What the hell happened?"
Schumer declined to say whether he'd asked the White House to unfreeze some aid for Palestinians in Gaza.
"Obviously, we'd all like to help Gaza, but the bottom line is, we were getting close on a whole lot of issues, and Donald Trump just pulled the rug out from under people," he added, "and even before that, when it looked like we were getting close, a day before, he again called in and screwed it all up."