Sept. 23 (UPI) — President Donald Trump canceled a planned meeting with Democratic congressional leaders to prevent a government shutdown Tuesday.
Trump planned to meet this week with the two as a Sept. 30 funding deadline to keep the government open nears. He was expected to meet with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on Thursday.
But Tuesday, he posted on Truth Social that he’d canceled the meeting because he didn’t like the list of Democrats’ demands, which he painted as “Radical Left Policies that nobody voted for– High Taxes, Open Borders, No Consequences for Violent Criminals, Men in Women’s Sports, Taxpayer funded ‘TRANSGENDER’ surgery, and much more.”
Earlier Tuesday, Jeffries and Schumer said in a statement they planned to use the meeting to “emphasize the importance of addressing rising costs, including the Republican healthcare crisis. It’s past time to meet and work to avoid a Republican-caused shutdown,” they said.
Republicans want a “clean” seven-week stopgap spending bill, while Democrats introduced a measure that would keep the government open for four weeks while attaching other demands, Politico reported.
In a post on X, Jeffries responded to the cancellation by saying, “Trump Always Chickens Out,” referring to the acronym TACO, which he coined. He added that “extremists want to shut down the government because they are unwilling to address the Republican healthcare crisis that is devastating America.”
One of the biggest sticking points is healthcare. Democrats are demanding any resolution include an extension of the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year.
Schumer said on X, “Happy New Year, Mr. President [referring to Rosh Hashanah]. When you’re finished ranting, we can sit down and discuss healthcare.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Tuesday that if a meeting happened, he would insist on attending.
“If there’s a meeting, I will certainly be there,” Johnson said. “But I’m not certain that the meeting is necessary.”