President Donald Trump canceled a meeting with top congressional Democrats on Tuesday due to “unserious and ridiculous demands” as the government funding deadline approaches.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., were scheduled to meet with Trump on Thursday to discuss a path forward to avoid a partial government shutdown before the September 30 deadline.
The Senate is still away from Washington, D.C., this week to observe Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and is expected to return on September 29. Meanwhile, the House is expected to adjourn until the deadline.
But Trump canceled the meeting in a lengthy post on his social media platform, Truth Social, where he blasted the duo for pushing “radical Left policies that nobody voted for.”
“I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive,” he stated.
The now-canceled meeting with Trump followed a letter from Schumer and Jeffries sent over the weekend in which the top congressional Democrats laid the possibility of a shutdown at the feet of Trump and Republicans.
They argued that the Trump-backed short-term extension was “dirty,” implying that it included partisan policy riders or spending, and criticized it for continuing “the Republican assault on healthcare,” ignoring expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies and potentially leading to the closure of hospitals and other healthcare facilities across the country.
“With the September 30th deadline fast approaching, Republicans will bear responsibility for another painful government shutdown because of the refusal of GOP congressional leadership to even talk with Democrats,” the two authors wrote at the time.
However, Trump claimed that their bill would allow the nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts in his “big, beautiful bill” to be repealed, and he also chastised the Democratic continuing resolution (CR) for eliminating his megabill’s $50 billion rural hospital funding.
“We must keep the Government open, and legislate like true Patriots rather than hold American Citizens hostage, knowing that they want our now thriving Country closed,” according to him.
“I’ll be happy to meet with them if they agree to the Principles in this Letter,” Mr. Trump said. “They must do their jobs! Otherwise, it will be another arduous and brutal journey through their radicalized quicksand. The ball is now in your court, Democratic Party leaders. I look forward to meeting with you once you have become realistic about the values that our country stands for. “Do the right thing!”
Jeffries objected to Trump’s remarks during a press conference in Brooklyn, New York on Tuesday.
“The statement that Donald Trump issued today was unhinged, and it related to issues that have nothing to do with the spending bill that is before the Congress, and the need to try to avoid a government shutdown,” said Mr. Trump.
The House Democratic leader has called his caucus back to Washington on Monday for an evening meeting to discuss the potential government shutdown.
It appears to be a political move to show Democrats in the capital at a time when House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has opted to send lawmakers home to their districts in an attempt to force the Senate to pass his chamber’s budget bill.
Schumer also criticized Trump’s decision, warning that “Donald Trump will own the shutdown.”
“Trump is running away from the negotiating table before he even gets there,” Schumer complained. “While Americans face rising costs and a Republican healthcare crisis, Trump would rather throw a tantrum than do his job.”
Schumer and Jeffries last month demanded a meeting with Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to reach an agreement, noting that Thune will need Democratic support in the Senate.
However, that meeting has yet to take place — though Thune has disputed Schumer’s characterization, arguing that if the Democratic leader wants to talk, it is up to him to make it happen.
“After weeks of Republican stonewalling in Congress, President Trump has agreed to meet this week in the Oval Office,” they said in a joint statement. “During the meeting, we will stress the importance of addressing rising costs, including the Republican healthcare crisis. It’s past time to meet and collaborate to avoid a Republican-caused shutdown.”
The last time Schumer went to negotiate with Trump at the White House ahead of a deadline in 2018, the government shut down for 35 days, the longest partial shutdown in history. At the time, Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., were at odds with Trump over funding for a southern border wall.
Prior to the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt argued that if the government shut down, it “would be the fault of the Democrats.”
“We want a clean funding extension to keep the government open, that’s all we’re advocating for,” it was reported.
However, the House Republicans’ bill is relatively “clean,” with the exception of tens of millions of dollars in spending to increase security measures for lawmakers following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Congressional Democrats’ counter-proposal, which also failed last week, included more funding for member security while also attempting to repeal the healthcare portion of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” recoup billions of dollars in canceled funding for NPR and PBS, and permanently extend the expiring ACA credit.
Thune stated last week that CRs “aren’t places to load big health policy changes in.”
“I think that we are open to the conversation about what we do with the ObamaCare premium tax credit,” says Thune. “Is that something in which members, Republican senators, and I think, for that matter, Republican House members, have an interest, as well.”
“But this is not the place to do that,” he added. “This is the place to fund the government, to allow our appropriations process to continue that issue.”
