President Donald Trump canceled a planned meeting with top congressional Democrats this week as the deadline to keep the government funded quickly approaches.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., were set to meet with Trump on Thursday. But Trump said he saw no point in talking with them given what he called their “unserious and ridiculous demands,” Fox News reported.
Lawmakers are out of Washington for Rosh Hashanah. The Senate is scheduled to return Sept. 29, while the House is not expected back until after the Sept. 30 funding deadline passes.
Trump announced the cancellation in a lengthy Truth Social post, blasting Schumer and Jeffries for promoting “radical Left policies that nobody voted for.”
“I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive,” Trump said.
The decision came days after Schumer and Jeffries sent Trump a letter blaming him and Republicans for risking a shutdown. They attacked the GOP-backed short-term extension as a “dirty” bill loaded with partisan policy riders. They warned it would undermine Affordable Care Act subsidies, threaten hospitals and extend “the Republican assault on healthcare.”
“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,” they wrote.
Trump countered that the Democrats’ measure would repeal Medicaid reforms in what he has described as his “big, beautiful bill.” He also argued it would eliminate the law’s $50 billion rural hospital fund.
“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,” Trump wrote.
“I’ll be happy to meet with them if they agree to the Principles in this Letter,” he added. “Otherwise, it will just be another long and brutal slog through their radicalized quicksand.”
Jeffries fired back Tuesday during a press conference in Brooklyn.
“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,” he said.
Jeffries also called House Democrats back to Washington for a Monday evening caucus meeting. The move was designed to contrast with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who sent House Republicans back to their districts while urging the Senate to act.
Schumer likewise criticized Trump and warned that “Donald Trump will own the shutdown.”
“Trump is running away from the negotiating table before he even gets there,” Schumer said. “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 requested a bipartisan leadership meeting with Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., but it has not happened. Thune has said Democrats are free to initiate talks but insisted stopgap spending bills are not the place for sweeping health policy changes.
“After weeks of Republican stonewalling in Congress, President Trump has agreed to meet this week in the Oval Office,” Schumer and Jeffries said in a statement before Trump canceled. “In the meeting, we will emphasize the importance of addressing rising costs, including the Republican healthcare crisis. It’s past time to meet and work to avoid a Republican-caused shutdown.”
The standoff evoked memories of the 2018 shutdown, when talks between Trump, Schumer and then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi collapsed over funding for a border wall. That fight produced the longest partial shutdown in U.S. history at 35 days.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that if the government closes this time, Democrats will be to blame.
“We want a clean funding extension to keep the government open, that’s all we’re advocating for,” she said.
