U.S. President Donald Trump walks with Marine One in the background, as he departs for New York City to attend the 80th United Nations General Assembly, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., September 22, 2025.
Al Drago | Reuters
President Donald Trump on Tuesday appeared to cancel a planned meeting this week with the two top Democrats in Congress, just days before the federal government is set to shut down.
Trump had been scheduled to meet with Senate and House Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries sometime this week — an event that both Democrats had confirmed as recently as Tuesday morning.
But Trump, in a Truth Social post, seemed to scrap those plans.
“After reviewing the details of the unserious and ridiculous demands being made by the Minority Radical Left Democrats in return for their Votes to keep our thriving Country open, I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive,” Trump wrote.
Jeffries in an X post later Tuesday morning wrote, “Trump Always Chickens Out.”
“Donald Trump just cancelled a high stakes meeting in the Oval Office with myself and Leader Schumer. The extremists want to shut down the government because they are unwilling to address the Republican healthcare crisis that is devastating America,” the Democratic leader wrote.
Schumer and Jeffries, who are both from New York, had sought the meeting with Trump in order to negotiate the terms of a stopgap bill that needs to pass before Sept. 30 to avoid a shutdown.
In a letter requesting the talks, they asserted that the blame for a shutdown would fall squarely on the president.
Democrats are demanding that any such legislation include an extension of the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced tax credits.
Schumer and Jeffries, in a statement issued around the same time as Trump’s post Tuesday morning, said they planned to “emphasize the importance of addressing rising costs, including the Republican healthcare crisis” during their meeting with the president.
But Trump in his own post Tuesday slammed Democrats’ demands, accusing them of seeking to fund an array of “Radical Left Views and Policies” related to health care, immigration and crime.
“The Democrats in Congress seem to have totally lost their way,” Trump wrote.
“I look forward to meeting with them if they get serious about the future of our Nation. We must keep the Government open, and legislate like true Patriots rather than hold American Citizens hostage, knowing that they want our now thriving Country closed.”
“I’ll be happy to meet with them if they agree to the Principles in this Letter,” the president wrote. “To the Leaders of the Democrat Party, the ball is in your court.”
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