Government shutdown draws closer as congressional leaders head to the
White House
[September 29, 2025]
By STEPHEN GROVES and MARY CLARE JALONICK
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic and Republican congressional leaders are
heading to the White House for a meeting with President Donald Trump on
Monday in a late effort to avoid a government shutdown, but both sides
have shown hardly any willingness to budge from their entrenched
positions.
If government funding legislation is not passed by Congress and signed
by Trump on Tuesday night, many government offices across the nation
will be temporarily shuttered and non-exempt federal employees will be
furloughed, adding to the strain on workers and the nation's economy.
Republicans are daring Democrats to vote against legislation that would
keep government funding mostly at current levels, but Democrats so far
have held firm. They are using one of their few points of leverage to
demand that Congress take up legislation to extend health care benefits.
“The meeting is a first step, but only a first step. We need a serious
negotiation,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in an
interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Trump has shown little interest in entertaining Democrats' demands on
health care, even as he agreed to hold a sit-down meeting Monday
afternoon with Schumer, along with Senate Majority Leader John Thune,
House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The Republican president has said repeatedly that he fully expects the
government to enter a shutdown this week.
“If it has to shut down, it’ll have to shut down,” Trump said Friday.
“But they’re the ones that are shutting down government.”
The Trump administration has tried to pressure Democratic lawmakers into
backing away from their demands, warning that federal employees could be
permanently laid off in the midst of a funding lapse.
“Chuck Schumer said a few months ago that a government shutdown would be
chaotic, harmful and painful. He’s right, and that's why we shouldn't do
it,” Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said Sunday on “Meet the Press.”
Still, Democrats argued that Trump's agreement to hold a meeting shows
that he is feeling the pressure to negotiate. They say that because
Republicans control the White House and Congress, Americans will mostly
blame them for any shutdown.
But 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. 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.
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., left, and Senate
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speak to reporters at the
Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. The Democratic
leaders are lashing out at a short-term spending GOP bill to avoid a
partial government shutdown at the end of the month, warning
Republicans they will not support a measure that doesn't address
their concerns on the soaring cost of health insurance coverage for
millions of Americans. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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.
This time, Schumer appears resolute.
“We’re hearing from the American people that they need help on
health care and as for these massive layoffs, guess what? Simple
one-sentence answer: They’re doing it anyway,” he said.
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.
Some Republicans are open to extending the tax credits, but want
changes. Thune said Sunday that the program is “desperately in need
of reform” and Republicans want to address “waste, fraud and abuse.”
He has pressed Democrats to vote for the funding bill and take up
the debate on tax credits at a later date.
It remains to be seen whether the White House meeting will help or
hurt the chances for a resolution. Negotiations between Trump and
Democratic congressional leaders have rarely gone well, and Trump
has had little contact with the opposing party during his second
term.
The most recent negotiation in August between Schumer and the
president to speed the pace of Senate confirmation votes for
administration officials ended with Trump telling Schumer to “go to
hell” in a social media post.
Trump also abruptly canceled a meeting that was planned with
congressional leaders last week, calling Democrats' demands
“unserious and ridiculous.”
Schumer argued that the White House coming back to reschedule a
meeting for Monday showed that “they felt the heat.”
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