WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump plans to meet with the leading four congressional figures at the White House on Monday as the deadline for a potential government shutdown approaches, according to one White House official and four congressional officials who spoke with NBC News.
The meeting is expected to include Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
Punchbowl first reported the news.
This development follows Trump’s sudden cancellation of a scheduled meeting with Democratic leaders on Thursday, a move encouraged by Johnson and Thune. At the time, Trump labeled Democratic demands as “unserious and ridiculous.”
Since that incident, Jeffries and Schumer have been publicly exchanging criticisms with Trump regarding the looming government shutdown and Democratic calls to include health care policies in the temporary funding bill.
Tensions heightened when the White House Office of Management and Budget instructed agencies to prepare layoff plans in anticipation of a shutdown.
With government funding due to expire on Sept. 30, the livelihoods of millions of federal employees are at risk. To avoid a shutdown, Congress must approve or extend a spending bill by that date.
Jeffries insisted earlier Saturday that the OMB memo won’t prompt Democrats to cede their demands.
“Understand that the Trump administration has already been engaging in mass firings all throughout the year,” he said on MSNBC. “And so a government shutdown has nothing to do with what they’ve already shown they are willing to do, which is why we just have to continue to hold the line and make it clear our position: cancel the cuts, lower the cost, save health care.”
Senate Democrats are also planning to hold a conference call on Sunday afternoon ahead of the chamber’s return to D.C.
Republicans have insisted that they won’t make concessions to pass a short-term funding bill for seven weeks, and that any negotiations can occur during the appropriations process.
