Trump to meet with congressional leaders ahead of government shutdown deadline

President Donald Trump will meet with the top four leaders of Congress on Monday ahead of a Tuesday deadline for shutting down the government over lawmakers' failure to allocate federal funding.

This is a notable shift from Trump's announcement that canceled a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) earlier in the week.

Schumer, Jeffries, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) are set to meet with Trump at the White House on Monday, according to three sources familiar with the meeting.

Punchbowl News first reported the meeting.

Schumer called Thune on Friday and urged him to meet with Trump because the deadline for a government shutdown is rapidly approaching, an aide to the Senate Minority Leader said.

“President Trump has once again agreed to meet in the Oval Office,” Schumer and Jeffries said in a joint statement.

“As we have reiterated, Democrats will meet anywhere, anytime, with anyone to negotiate a bipartisan spending deal that meets the needs of the American people. We remain steadfast in our resolve to avoid a government shutdown and address the Republican health crisis. Time is running out.”

The federal budget runs out after September 30, triggering a government shutdown starting Wednesday unless Congress acts.

Any measure will need bipartisan support, as 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, requiring support from at least seven Democratic Senators.

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives,Republican-majority House passed a “clean” continuing resolution (CR) to continue funding the government through November 21, which the Senate quickly rejected. Democrats in both chambers of Congress have called on Republicans to address issues like the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, which expire at the end of the calendar year, or to repeal the Medicaid cuts enacted in the Republican mega-bill earlier this year. Republicans argue that these are unrelated issues that should be addressed separately, and they call some Democratic requests unreasonable. Jeffries held daily press conferences during the week, criticizing Trump for canceling the meeting, mentioning, at one point, Trump’s Friday visit to the Ryder Cup on Long Island. “He didn’t have time to meet with Democratic leaders, fund the government, and address the Republican health care crisis, but Donald Trump right now, as we speak, is he at a golf tournament?” Jeffries said Friday.

On Wednesday night, the White House threatened to use the potential government shutdown due to the short-term budget disruption to implement long-term staffing changes at federal agencies.

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent a memo to federal agencies urging them to prepare layoff plans in the event of a government shutdown, increasing pressure ahead of a Tuesday deadline for Congress to pass a federal budget bill.

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