Schumer, Jeffries request meeting with Trump ahead of potential government shutdown

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., have sent a letter to President Donald Trump requesting a meeting to discuss a path forward to keep the government open past the September 30th government funding deadline.

“With the September 30th deadline fast approaching, Republicans will bear responsibility for another painful government shutdown because of the refusal of GOP congressional leadership to even talk with Democrats,” Schumer and Jeffries wrote in the letter. “As a result, it is now your obligation to meet with us directly to reach an agreement to keep the government open and address the Republican healthcare crisis.”

Senate and House lawmakers left town yesterday after the Senate rejected a clean stopgap funding measure that had already passed in the House and that would keep the government open through November 21st. The resolution needs 60 votes to pass the Senate and on Friday, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., was the only Senate Democrat who voted in favor.

That measure would give appropriators more time to finish the 12 full-year government funding bills for all government agencies.

A competing measure proposed by Senate Democrats also failed to advance on the Senate floor with members voting along party lines.