Top Democrats ask for a meeting with Trump ahead of government shutdown

Top congressional Democrats are asking President Trump for a meeting before an impending government shutdown.

“We write to demand a meeting in connection with your decision to shut down the federal government,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York, wrote in a Saturday morning letter.

The pair say that GOP leaders have “repeatedly and publicly refused to engage in bipartisan negotiations to keep the government open.”

The House voted Friday to approve a short-term spending bill to fund the government though Nov. 21.

The spending bill failed in the Senate, as did a competing bill by Senate Democrats.

Congress must act by Sept. 30 to fund the government in order to avoid a shutdown.

Each party seems insistent that the other will “own” the effects of a government shutdown and shoulder the blame from the American public.

“Republicans will bear the responsibility for another painful government shutdown because of the refusal of GOP congressional leadership to even talk with Democrats,” Schumer and Jeffries said.

On Friday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he was open to meeting with top Democrats but added “there isn’t much to discuss” since Democrats announced they wouldn’t stand with Republicans on a short-term stopgap bill.

“If they choose to vote against this clean, completely nonpartisan [spending bill], then they will be choosing to shut the government down and they’ll own the consequences,” Johnson told reporters.