White House press secretary Sarah Sanders urged Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to follow his own 2013 advice by refusing to “hold millions of people hostage” in 2017 — by threatening a government shutdown over a temporary funding deal, due by Friday midnight.

Federal offices will have to close after Friday at midnight if Congress doesn’t approve yet another temporary spending deal. But as the deadline looms, Democrats are demanding the measure include amnesty for illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

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Schumer, a New York Democrat, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned the government shutdown would happen if they don’t get their way.

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“Look, we’re going to continue working with Democrats and Republicans,” Sarah Sanders said Tuesday during an interview on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” morning program.

“Our goal is to make sure we get this done without shutting the government down. We’re still optimistic that that could happen, and we hope that Democrats won’t hold our country hostage over some of their specific proposals,” Sanders said.

Sanders pointed to Schumer’s September 2013 comments when the Democratic-led Senate and Republican-led House were on the brink of a federal shutdown.

“I’m worried,” Schumer said that year, as the New York Observer reported. “These things sometimes get resolved at the last minute, but right now I’m worried because we have a small group of fanatics who seem to have a stranglehold on the Republican Party.”

“The basic line is: No matter how strongly one feels about an issue, you shouldn’t hold millions of people hostage,” Schumer added. “That’s what the other side is doing. That’s wrong, and we can’t give in to that.”

Related: Democrats Threaten to Shut Down the Government if No DACA Amnesty

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Sanders dubbed the no-hostages recommendation as “The Schumer Rule.”

“It’s something he talked about extensively since he was debating this the last time around,” Sanders said. “And hopefully he’ll adhere to some of his own advice, not hold our budget, and certainly not hold our military and defense spending hostage over some pieces of legislation that we hope to work with them on at the first of the year.”

PoliZette writer Kathryn Blackhurst can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter here.