Trump to meet with Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries to discuss looming government shutdown
President Donald Trump has agreed to sit down with top Democratic leaders this week, just days before a critical September 30 deadline to pass funding legislation and avoid a government shutdown.
White House officials and sources close to the talks confirmed to The Washington Post that Trump will meet with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Punchbowl News broke the story first, and multiple reports point to the meeting happening on Thursday.
This comes after Schumer and Jeffries sent a pointed letter to Trump on Saturday, demanding a direct chat. They wrote it one day after nearly every Senate Democrat voted down a short-term funding bill, or continuing resolution, that would have kept federal government operations running at current levels until November 21.
In the letter, the Democratic leaders blasted Republican congressional heads—saying they followed Trump’s lead—for repeatedly dodging bipartisan negotiations to prevent a shutdown. They accused Republicans of pushing to “gut the healthcare of the American people” and insisted it’s now up to Trump to step in and talk things out directly.
“We write to demand a meeting in connection with your decision to shut down the federal government because of the Republican desire to continue to gut the healthcare of the American people,” Schumer and Jeffries stated.
A White House official fired back at the letter, telling The Post that Democrats “walked away from a bipartisan negotiation on the [continuing resolution].” The official called the Democrats’ move a sign of “desperation.”
With the clock ticking toward the funding deadline, this Trump-Democrats meeting could be key to breaking the impasse and keeping the government funded without disruptions to services like Social Security, national parks, and more. Lawmakers from both sides continue to push for a deal amid heated debates over spending and priorities.
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