Trump won’t even discuss protecting health care for millions.
by Alex Samuels
Daily Kos Staff
President Donald Trump has blown up talks to avoid a government shutdown—just days before funding runs out.
Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to keep the lights on. Without a deal, federal agencies will close and thousands of workers will be furloughed. Republicans have proposed a stopgap bill to maintain funding through Nov. 21 while they work on full-year spending bills. Democrats,
meanwhile, are using the looming deadline to push for health care protections—and they were supposed to press their case directly to Trump this week.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had requested a face-to-face meeting with the president to break the stalemate. By Tuesday morning, Trump had agreed. But just hours later, he changed his mind.
In a Tuesday morning Truth Social post, Trump said he was canceling the sit-down with the two New York Democrats, dismissing it as pointless.
“After reviewing the details of the unserious and ridiculous demands being made by the Minority Radical Left Democrats in return for their Votes to keep our thriving Country open, I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive,” Trump wrote.
He accused Democrats of “threatening to shut down the Government of the United States” unless Republicans agreed to more health care funding for groups he has repeatedly criticized. Trump has left the door open to talks “if they get serious about the future of our Nation.”
“We must keep the Government open, and legislate like true Patriots rather than hold American Citizens hostage, knowing that they want our now thriving Country closed,” Trump added. “Otherwise, it will just be another long and brutal slog through their radicalized quicksand.”
Democrats want to protect health care for millions. Their proposal would reverse Republican-backed Medicaid cuts enacted under the GOP’s tax and immigration bill and extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to expire on Dec. 30.
Republicans have flatly rejected rolling back the Medicaid cuts, calling it a nonstarter. And they’re accusing Democrats of using the threat of a shutdown to jam through their wish list.
Schumer blasted Trump’s about-face, saying the president “ran away from the negotiating table before he even got there.”
“While Americans face rising costs and a Republican health care crisis, Trump would rather throw a tantrum than do his job,” Schumer told NBC News. “Democrats are ready to work to avoid a shutdown—Trump and Republicans are holding America hostage. Donald Trump will own the shutdown.”
Schumer’s office did not immediately respond to Daily Kos’ request for comment.
Jeffries, meanwhile, was even sharper on X, calling Republicans “extremists” willing to close the government rather than “address the Republican health care crisis that is devastating America.”
He added, “Trump Always Chickens Out,” reviving a slogan Democrats have used since Trump’s erratic rollout of tariffs earlier this year.
Other Democrats piled on. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut put it bluntly: “This is delusional but you don’t have to read the whole thing,” he posted on social media. “Boils down to:
[Trump is] shutting down the government because he thinks he’s a king.”
The partisan showdown has already deadlocked Congress once. Last week, Senate Democrats blocked Republicans’ plan to extend current funding through Sept. 30 without touching health care. Republicans responded by blocking the Democrats’ counteroffer, which would have extended funding through only Oct. 31 but rolled back GOP health care cuts.
“The Republican bill is a clean, nonpartisan, short-term continuing resolution to fund the government to give us time to do the full appropriations process,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said last week. “And the Democrat bill is the exact opposite.”
With about a week left until the funding deadline, the two sides are locked in a staring contest. Without movement from Trump, Democrats say they won’t supply the votes Republicans need to hit 60 in the Senate—meaning the country is barreling toward its first shutdown since 2019.
Daily Kos Staff
President Donald Trump has blown up talks to avoid a government shutdown—just days before funding runs out.
Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to keep the lights on. Without a deal, federal agencies will close and thousands of workers will be furloughed. Republicans have proposed a stopgap bill to maintain funding through Nov. 21 while they work on full-year spending bills. Democrats,
meanwhile, are using the looming deadline to push for health care protections—and they were supposed to press their case directly to Trump this week.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had requested a face-to-face meeting with the president to break the stalemate. By Tuesday morning, Trump had agreed. But just hours later, he changed his mind.
In a Tuesday morning Truth Social post, Trump said he was canceling the sit-down with the two New York Democrats, dismissing it as pointless.
“After reviewing the details of the unserious and ridiculous demands being made by the Minority Radical Left Democrats in return for their Votes to keep our thriving Country open, I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive,” Trump wrote.
He accused Democrats of “threatening to shut down the Government of the United States” unless Republicans agreed to more health care funding for groups he has repeatedly criticized. Trump has left the door open to talks “if they get serious about the future of our Nation.”
“We must keep the Government open, and legislate like true Patriots rather than hold American Citizens hostage, knowing that they want our now thriving Country closed,” Trump added. “Otherwise, it will just be another long and brutal slog through their radicalized quicksand.”
Democrats want to protect health care for millions. Their proposal would reverse Republican-backed Medicaid cuts enacted under the GOP’s tax and immigration bill and extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to expire on Dec. 30.
Republicans have flatly rejected rolling back the Medicaid cuts, calling it a nonstarter. And they’re accusing Democrats of using the threat of a shutdown to jam through their wish list.
Schumer blasted Trump’s about-face, saying the president “ran away from the negotiating table before he even got there.”
“While Americans face rising costs and a Republican health care crisis, Trump would rather throw a tantrum than do his job,” Schumer told NBC News. “Democrats are ready to work to avoid a shutdown—Trump and Republicans are holding America hostage. Donald Trump will own the shutdown.”
Schumer’s office did not immediately respond to Daily Kos’ request for comment.
Jeffries, meanwhile, was even sharper on X, calling Republicans “extremists” willing to close the government rather than “address the Republican health care crisis that is devastating America.”
He added, “Trump Always Chickens Out,” reviving a slogan Democrats have used since Trump’s erratic rollout of tariffs earlier this year.
Other Democrats piled on. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut put it bluntly: “This is delusional but you don’t have to read the whole thing,” he posted on social media. “Boils down to:
[Trump is] shutting down the government because he thinks he’s a king.”
The partisan showdown has already deadlocked Congress once. Last week, Senate Democrats blocked Republicans’ plan to extend current funding through Sept. 30 without touching health care. Republicans responded by blocking the Democrats’ counteroffer, which would have extended funding through only Oct. 31 but rolled back GOP health care cuts.
“The Republican bill is a clean, nonpartisan, short-term continuing resolution to fund the government to give us time to do the full appropriations process,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said last week. “And the Democrat bill is the exact opposite.”
With about a week left until the funding deadline, the two sides are locked in a staring contest. Without movement from Trump, Democrats say they won’t supply the votes Republicans need to hit 60 in the Senate—meaning the country is barreling toward its first shutdown since 2019.
