President Trump was planning to meet with Democratic leaders Tuesday to discuss a deal to prevent a government shutdown next month. But Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer canceled the meeting Tuesday morning after Trump attacked them on Twitter and said he didn’t expect to strike a deal.
Meeting with “Chuck and Nancy” today about keeping government open and working. Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don’t see a deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2017
“Given that the President doesn’t see a deal between Democrats and the White House, we believe the best path forward is to continue negotiating with our Republican counterparts in Congress instead,” Pelosi and Schumer said in a statement. “We don’t have any time to waste in addressing the issues that confront us, so we’re going to continue to negotiate with Republican leaders who may be interested in reaching a bipartisan agreement.”
Congress’s current budget agreement funds the government only through Dec. 8. If a new budget and spending plan is not passed by then, the government will shut down. Such a plan requires 60 votes in the Senate, meaning Republicans will need at least some Democratic support, and Democrats have for months hoped to use this leverage to muscle through a reinstatement of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Trump has shown a willingness to work with Democrats on this issue before, so Schumer and Pelosi were clearly hoping to strike some kind of compromise in their Tuesday meeting. But with Trump tipping his hand ahead of time, they’ve clearly reached the conclusion that the president’s not in a bargaining mood today, and the meeting would be a waste of time.
It’s worth pointing out that the looming shutdown deadline is an entirely self-inflicted headache for the Trump administration. Back in September, Trump unexpectedly sided with Democrats by throwing his support behind a short-term continuing resolution that would expire in December, rather than the longer-term one Republicans had requested. With Congress under heavy pressure to pass tax reform and avoid a shutdown both over the next few weeks, that decision may be coming back to bite him.
