HARDBALL: Trump Gives Democrats Deadline For When Permanent Government Firings Will Begin.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the majority of his caucus again rejected a continuing resolution Monday, extending the government shutdown. Trump, who’s administration previously teased mass firings as a result of the shutdown, told reporters Tuesday that such could happen if the government shutdown continues for four to five days.

“How many permanent jobs are you talking about eliminating?” a reporter asked Trump.

“I’ll be able to tell you that in four or five days. If this keeps going on, it’ll be substantial, and a lot of those jobs will never come back,” Trump responded. “You’re going to have a lot closer to a balanced budget.”

Exit quote: “We have a lot, I’m not going to tell you, but we’ll be announcing it pretty soon. But we have a lot of things that we’re going to eliminate and permanently eliminate.”