Congressional leaders leave White House meeting without deal to avoid government shutdown

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A government shutdown fast approaching, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders left a White House meeting with President Donald Trump Monday afternoon showing no sign of compromising from their entrenched positions in order to avoid a lapse in funding.

If government funding legislation isn't passed by Congress and signed by Trump on Tuesday night, many government offices across the nation will be temporarily shuttered and nonexempt federal employees will be furloughed, adding to the strain on workers and the nation's economy.

But lawmakers were locked in an impasse Monday. Democrats are using one of their few points of leverage to demand legislation to extend health care benefits. But Republicans are refusing to compromise and daring Democrats to vote against legislation that would keep government funding mostly at current levels.

“There are still large differences between us,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said as he left the White House.

Vice President JD Vance told reporters after the meeting, “I think we’re headed into a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing.”

Trump has shown little interest in entertaining Democrats' demands on health care, even as he agreed to hold a sit-down meeting Monday with Schumer, along with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.

It was Trump’s first meeting with the “big four” leaders in Congress since retaking the White House for his second term, yet the Republican president said repeatedly heading into the meeting that he fully expects the government to enter a shutdown this week.

As he headed into the meeting, Trump made it clear he had no intention to negotiate on Democrats’ current terms.

“They’re going to have to do some things because their ideas are not very good ones,” he said.

Still, Schumer said after the meeting that they had “had candid, frank discussions” with Trump about health care and suggested that the president was more open to their proposals than the Republican leaders who were also in the meeting. Vance also said that Trump found several points of agreement on policy ideas.

Schumer said the president “was really listening to us," adding, “It’s in his hands.”

Democrats are pushing for an extension to Affordable Care Act tax credits that have subsidized health insurance for millions of people since the COVID-19 pandemic. The credits, which are designed to expand coverage for low- and middle-income people, are set to expire at the end of the year.

“Democrats are fighting to protect the health care of the American people,” said Jeffries, a New York Democrat. “We are not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of everyday Americans.”

Some Republicans are open to extending the tax credits but want changes. But Thune, a South Dakota Republican, has pressed Democrats to vote for the funding bill and take up the debate on tax credits later.

“We’re willing to sit down and work with them on some of the issues they want to talk about,” he told reporters at the White House, adding, “But as of right now, this is a hijacking of the American people, and it's the American people who are going to pay the price.”

To hold on to their negotiating leverage, Senate Democrats will likely have to vote against a bill to temporarily extend government funding on Tuesday, just hours before a shutdown — an uncomfortable position for a party that has long denounced shutdowns as pointless and destructive.

The bill has already passed the Republican-controlled House and would keep the government funded for seven more weeks while Congress works on annual spending legislation.

Any legislation to fund the government will need support from at least 60 senators in the 100-member Senate. That means that at least eight Democrats would have to vote for the short-term funding bill, because Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is expected to vote against it.

During the last potential government shutdown in March, Schumer and nine other Democrats voted to break a filibuster and allow a Republican-led funding bill to advance to a final vote. The New York Democrat faced fierce backlash from many in his own party for that decision, with some even calling for him to step down as Democratic leader.

Senate Democrats have begun to discuss some possible next steps if the government does shut down — potentially a proposal for a one- or two-week stopgap if Republicans will work with them on a health care fix, according to several people familiar with the private talks who requested anonymity to discuss them. But there is no consensus in the caucus about how to proceed, or guarantees that Republicans and Trump would negotiate.

Federal agencies were sending out contingency plans if funding lapses at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. They included details on what offices would stay open and which employees would be furloughed.

The Trump administration is using the process to potentially layoff more federal employees. The plans heap more pressure Democratic lawmakers to back away from their demands.

Russ Vought, Trump's budget director, told reporters at the White House that a shutdown would be managed “appropriately, but it is something that can all be avoided” if Senate Democrats accepted the House-passed bill.

Before joining the administration, Vought had advised hardline conservatives in Congress to use the prospect of a shutdown to negotiate for policy concessions. But on Monday, he berated Democrats for engaging in a similar ploy.

“This is hostage taking. It is not something that we are going to accept,” he said.

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Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim, Lisa Mascaro, Kevin Freking and Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed.