President Donald Trump has canceled this week’s planned meeting with congressional Democratic leaders ahead of a potential federal government shutdown. Trump refuses to negotiate over Democratic demands to shore up health care funds as part of any deal to keep the government funded.
President Donald Trump has abruptly canceled this week’s planned meeting with congressional Democratic leaders, refusing to negotiate over their demands to shore up health care funds as part of a deal to prevent a potential looming federal government shutdown.
In a lengthy Tuesday social media post, Trump rejected the sit-down the White House had agreed to the day before. It would have been the first time the Republican president met with the Democratic Party’s leaders, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, since his return to the White House.
“I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive,” Trump wrote in the post.
The president complained the Democrats “are threatening to shut down the Government of the United States” unless the Republicans agree to more funding on health care for various groups of people he has criticized. Trump did not close the door on a future sit-down with the Democratic leaders, but he warned of a “long and brutal slog” ahead unless Democrats dropped their demands to salvage health care funds.
Earlier Tuesday, Schumer and Jeffries had issued a joint statement saying that after “weeks of Republican stonewalling” the president had agreed to meet in the Oval Office.
