WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump abruptly canceled a scheduled meeting with Democratic congressional leaders later this week, increasing the chances of a government shutdown as he accuses the minority party of having “unserious and ridiculous demands.”
Trump agreed to a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., for Thursday earlier this week as the two top congressional Democrats amplify policy demands in exchange for their support to keep the government running. Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Tuesday morning he would no longer host the meeting — just hours after Jeffries and Schumer confirmed the conversation would happen.
“I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive,” Trump said in the social media post. “These Radical Left Views and Policies is what allowed me to win the Presidential Election, including all seven Swing States, and the Popular Vote, IN A HISTORIC LANDSLIDE. There are consequences to losing Elections but, based on their letter to me, the Democrats haven’t figured that out yet.”
The canceled meeting heightens the risk of a shutdown next week as Democrats and Republicans become more and more stubborn about bending the knee to the other side.
While House Republicans have already passed their version of a stopgap bill to extend current funding levels until mid-November, the proposal will require Democratic support in the Senate — something that has yet to materialize. Instead, Democrats are asking for more in return: to reverse health care cuts approved in Trump’s tax package this summer and to permanently extend Obamacare tax credits.
Without including those, Democrats say millions of Americans’ will be at risk of losing their health care coverage.
Republicans have called those demands a “nonstarter,” and have repeatedly accused their Democratic counterparts of wanting to shut the government down.
Trump pointed to those demands as a key reason he canceled this week’s meeting, claiming Democrats want to use government funds to ensure “free healthcare for Illegal Aliens,” gender transition procedures, open border policies, and “Transgender operations for everybody.”
Instead, the president said we would not begin negotiations with Democrats unless they agreed to drop those demands.
“I’ll be happy to meet with them if they agree to the Principles in this Letter,” Trump said. “They must do their job! Otherwise, it will just be another long and brutal slog through their radicalized quicksand. To the Leaders of the Democrat Party, the ball is in your court. I look forward to meeting with you when you become realistic about the things that our Country stands for. DO THE RIGHT THING!”
Democrats decried the canceled meeting on Tuesday, with Jeffries calling it another example of Trump backing out of key discussions.
“Trump Always Chickens Out,” Jeffries wrote in a post on X. “The extremists want to shut down the government because they are unwilling to address the Republican healthcare crisis that is devastating America.”
Meanwhile, it’s unclear whether Republican leaders in Congress are open to meeting with their Democratic counterparts instead. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters on Tuesday he would join any meeting between Democrats and the White House, but said such a discussion would likely be futile.
“Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have made just wild partisan demands that they’re trying to attach to a very simple, short-term, very clean CR,” Johnson said. “They’re trying to make a mockery of it.”
The deadline to pass a spending agreement is midnight on Oct. 1, after which funding will lapse for a slew of federal agencies. The Senate doesn’t return to Washington until Sept. 29, giving lawmakers less than 48 hours to negotiate.
At the same time, House leaders announced they wouldn’t return to Capitol Hill until Oct. 7 — pushing Senate Democrats into a corner to either accept their funding proposal or take the blame for a shutdown.
But House Democratic leaders are rejecting that premise, and Jeffries announced on Tuesday that he would bring Democratic lawmakers back to Washington on Monday evening for a caucus meeting to talk about shutdown plans. It’s not yet clear if they’ll coordinate with Senate Democrats.
“Democrats will be in town and prepared to get the job done,” Jeffries wrote in a letter to rank-and-file members. “Thank you for your unity of purpose during this perilous moment.”