WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday abruptly canceled a planned meeting with top congressional Democrats one week before a potential government shutdown.
In a long social media post, Trump wrote that after “reviewing the details of the unserious and ridiculous demands” that Democrats are making, “I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive.”
He unloaded on Democrats and said any meeting with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., would be conditioned on their changing their posture.
“I look forward to meeting with them if they get serious about the future of our Nation,” he wrote on Truth Social, while inveighing against Democratic calls to repeal portions of his sweeping domestic agenda law, including cuts and changes to Medicaid.
His comments online came a few hours after Jeffries and Schumer issued a joint statement about the meeting, which had been planned for Thursday.
Congress is in the midst of a standoff as government funding is set to expire on Sept. 30. The Republican-controlled House passed a short-term bill to keep the government open through Nov. 21, but the Senate — which requires 60 votes to pass a bill — rejected both the GOP and Democratic proposals.
Jeffries slammed Trump for canceling the meeting.
“Trump Always Chickens Out,” he wrote on X. “Donald Trump just cancelled a high stakes meeting in the Oval Office with myself and Leader Schumer. The extremists want to shut down the government because they are unwilling to address the Republican healthcare crisis that is devastating America.”
Schumer also responded to Trump’s move.
“Trump is running away from the negotiating table before he even gets there,” he said in a statement. “While Americans face rising costs and a Republican healthcare crisis, Trump would rather throw a tantrum than do his job. Democrats are ready to work to avoid a shutdown — Trump and Republicans are holding America hostage. Donald Trump will own the shutdown.”
Democrats have demanded an extension of Obamacare funding in order to prevent insurance premium increases next year.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., spoke to Trump on Monday night by phone and urged him to call off the meeting with Jeffries and Schumer, two sources familiar with the conversation said.
The Republican leaders stressed that Democrats already put out their demands for the continuing resolution, and Trump not need meet with them.
The sources noted that Trump may still decide to hold a meeting with the two Democrats, but that Thune and Johnson would likely be involved in some way.
Thune’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the call and deferred to the White House on details of a potential meeting. Johnson’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
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