President Trump plans to meet with the leading congressional figures on Monday as a government shutdown looms, just before the Tuesday deadline. This development follows his earlier cancellation of talks with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Speaker Mike Johnson, along with Schumer and Jeffries, are slated to join Trump at the White House on Monday, as per three sources familiar with the agenda. Punchbowl News initially reported on this gathering. Schumer reached out to Thune on Friday, stressing the urgency of a meeting with Trump due to the impending shutdown, a source from Schumer’s office mentioned.
“President Trump has agreed to convene a meeting in the Oval Office once more,” announced Schumer and Jeffries in a joint statement. “Democrats remain open to discussions anywhere, anytime, with anyone to forge a bipartisan agreement that serves the American public. We are committed to preventing a government shutdown and resolving the healthcare crisis initiated by Republicans. The clock is ticking.”
The government’s funding is set to expire after September 30, risking a shutdown beginning Wednesday unless Congress intervenes. A bipartisan approach is necessary as passing any legislation requires at least 60 votes in the Senate, needing support from a minimum of seven Senate Democrats.
Earlier this month, the House passed a Republican-formulated “clean” continuing resolution to finance the government through November 21, but the Senate rejected it.
Democrats in Congress have urged Republicans to tackle issues related to expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies and to reconsider Medicaid cuts that were included in a major Republican bill passed earlier this year.
Republicans argue those are unrelated issues that should be addressed separately, and call some asks unreasonable.
Last week, Trump scheduled, but then canceled, a meeting with the two Democratic leaders to talk about the looming shutdown. The cancellation came after Johnson and Thune had talked to him about the GOP CR and Democratic requests, according to one leadership source.
Jeffries held daily news conferences last week criticizing Trump for nixing the meeting calling out, at one point, Trump’s Friday visit to the Ryder Cup on Long Island.
“He didn’t have the time to meet with Democratic leaders and fund the government and address the Republican health care crisis, but Donald Trump right now, as we speak, is at a golf event?” Jeffries said Friday.
Johnson canceled previously-scheduled voting days in the House on Sept. 29 and 30 as he aims to jam Senate Democrats into accepting the House-passed stopgap.
Updated at 8:30 p.m. EDT
