If the two parties fail to reach an agreement on the short-term spending bill, federal funds will expire on Monday, when four congressional leaders will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House.
This meeting will be the first between Trump and congressional leaders before the deadline to avoid a government shutdown. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakim Jeffreys were originally scheduled to meet with the president last week, but the White House cancelled the meeting at the last minute.
They will meet with the president and Senate Republican leaders, including Majority Leader John Thun, at the White House on Monday.
This bill can only provide funds for the government until mid-November and must be passed before October 1st. The Democratic Party insists that the bill must include an extension of medical subsidies and restore the medical budget cuts implemented in the landmark bill passed by Trump earlier this year. The Republicans said that negotiations on these issues could take place after avoiding a government shutdown.
We can have such a conversation. “But before that, release the hostages first, set the American people free, keep the government running, and then discuss the issue of premium tax credits,” Thun said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
The Republicans need at least seven Democratic lawmakers in the Senate to support this short-term bill, which has already been passed in the House of Representatives. Trump threatened that if the government shut down, he would lay off a large number of federal workers.
“The bottom line is simple: it depends on them,” Schumer said when talking about Republicans on the “Meet the Media” program. “We’ll know on Monday whether they are seriously considering negotiating with us.” ”
Schumer was dismissive of the threat of large-scale layoffs, saying the government would do so no matter what. He pointed out that some of the large-scale layoffs earlier this year have been resumed by the courts or the government itself has made concessions.
Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Caine said he was concerned that the Republicans might agree to the short-term deal but go against the proposal to negotiate cuts to health care.
“If we reach an agreement, Mr. President, please don’t sign the agreement and then withdraw the funds immediately the next day and revoke the agreement you just reached yesterday,” Kane said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” An agreement should just be an agreement.
Schumer and Jeffries said in a joint statement on Saturday that the Democratic Party is committed to avoiding a government shutdown.
They said: “As we have repeatedly emphasized, Democrats are willing to meet with anyone anytime and anywhere to negotiate a bipartisan spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people.” We are determined to resolutely avoid a government shutdown and address the healthcare crisis of the Republican Party. Time is running out.”
The White House had previously stated that it would only agree to sit down and negotiate with the Democrats if they gave up their demands for extending Medicaid and stopping cuts to Medicaid. He also predicted that the possibility of a government shutdown was quite high.
Vice President JD Vance said on Fox News on Sunday: “We don’t want to shut down the government, but this will happen if the Democrats refuse to pass this clean resolution to continue operating, and I think the Democrats will be held responsible for this.”
