President Donald Trump said he would be open to talking to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — if they first agree to reopen the government.
Trump made the comments at the White House on Tuesday during a Diwali celebration as the government shutdown entered its 21st day.
“I would like to meet with both of them, but I set one little caveat,” Trump told reporters. “They have to let the country open. The people want to go back to work. They want to be served. They want to, they need the services of some people, and a lot of people need the money, the payroll, so I'll do it as soon as they open up the country.”
Senate Democrats so far have blocked a so-called continuing resolution, a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open while the Senate and House negotiate the spending bills for the fiscal year.
While the CR keeps spending at current levels, Democrats say they want to include an extension of the Covid-era enhanced subsidies for the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces. Many states’ marketplaces will begin to notify customers about premium increases come next month.
But Republicans have argued that they cannot negotiate in good faith while the government is shut down and talks are nearly nonexistent. On Tuesday, the president invited Senate Republicans to the White House for a luncheon on the patio.
During a rambling and incoherent speech, he touted how Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, who he likened to Darth Vader from Star Wars, was cutting “all the things that they wanted,” in reference to projects in Democratic-leaning states.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune agreed when asked about whether there could be any negotiations.
The Independent asked why he, Schumer, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Jeffries and Schumer can’t meet with the president.
“That can happen as soon as we reopen the government,” Thune said.
Johnson for his part has kept the House out of session ever since he passed a continuing resolution last month with only one Democratic member of Congress voting for it and little Democratic input.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also expressed frustration after the luncheon when asked why senators could not meet in a room as in the days of yore and work out a deal.
“We do have good people that are doing exactly that, but I think it's well recognized that it's not just the House that has to figure this out,” she told The Independent. “That the administration is going to have to sign off on it so that the House will ultimately sign off on it.”
Dealmaking has become essentially nonexistent throughout the shutdown, with neither side being willing to give in an inch. Many Republicans have long opposed the Affordable Care Act ever since Barack Obama signed the legislation in 2010 with no Republican support.
Democrats scoffed at Trump’s proposal.
“This guy, you know, he claims he knows the art of the deal,” Sen Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), who represents a state Trump won, told The Independent. “He doesn't know anything about that, obviously, from his behavior.”
But Baldwin said that Trump might want to find a deal on health care tax credits.
“He wants to solve this, he's just being obstinate,” she said. “He owns this shutdown.”
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