Alexandar Sullivan:
In a dramatic reversal, President Donald Trump will meet with top congressional leaders at the White House on Monday afternoon in a last-ditch bid to avert a looming government shutdown. The president’s decision comes just days after he canceled a planned meeting with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, accusing them of making “unserious and ridiculous demands” over spending legislation.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump’s fellow Republican, confirmed on Sunday that the meeting would bring together the top four leaders—Schumer, Jeffries, Johnson himself, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune—for a bipartisan discussion in the Oval Office. “The president wants to try to convince them to follow common sense and do what’s right by the American people,” Johnson said on CNN.
The talks come as Congress faces a midnight Tuesday deadline to approve either a full-year spending bill or a temporary stopgap measure to keep the government open. Without an agreement, nonessential federal programs could shut down as early as Wednesday morning, with hundreds of thousands of workers facing furloughs or layoffs.
Democrats have insisted on extending Affordable Care Act tax credits and rolling back proposed Medicaid cuts in exchange for their support. “If we don’t extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, more than 20 million Americans are going to experience dramatically increased premiums,” Jeffries warned on CNN. Republicans, meanwhile, accuse Democrats of holding the government “hostage” to push their agenda.
According to CBS News, Trump privately expressed skepticism that the meeting would succeed but believes a shutdown could allow him to wield executive power to eliminate “waste, fraud and abuse.” The White House’s Office of Management and Budget has already directed federal agencies to prepare layoff plans.
The high-stakes meeting underscores how divided Washington remains as the shutdown clock ticks down.
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