Trump Agrees to Last-Minute Meeting With Schumer, Jeffries on Shutdown Showdown
President Donald Trump has agreed to a high-stakes sit-down Monday with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, as Washington scrambles to avoid a government shutdown set to hit at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) will also join the meeting, which comes after days of tense standoffs and partisan brinkmanship.
“Democrats will meet anywhere, at any time and with anyone to negotiate a bipartisan spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people,” Jeffries and Schumer said in a joint statement Sunday. “We are resolute in our determination to avoid a government shutdown and address the Republican healthcare crisis. Time is running out.”
The president had abruptly canceled a previously planned meeting with the minority leaders last week after consulting with Johnson and Thune, signaling at the time he saw little reason to negotiate. But pressure mounted after Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought circulated a memo Wednesday ordering federal agencies to prepare reduction-in-force plans, not just furloughs — a major escalation that suggested permanent layoffs if a shutdown begins.
Schumer, alarmed by the approaching deadline, reached out directly to Thune on Friday to push for a face-to-face meeting at the White House.
The GOP-led House already passed a “clean” stopgap bill earlier this month that would extend funding through Nov. 21, but Senate Democrats blocked it, leaning on the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold. Their demands center on healthcare policy, including reversing Medicaid reforms passed in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” (now renamed the Working Families Tax Cut Act) and extending enhanced Obamacare subsidies.
Some Republicans have signaled willingness to discuss extending subsidies if paired with reforms, but both Johnson and Thune have insisted such negotiations should be separated from keeping the government open.
“The deal is not ready to be done,” Thune told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “The government is going to close on Tuesday night at midnight. Let’s keep the government open. Let’s go to work on that issue. These were enhancements, and it’s a program, as I said, that is fraught with waste, fraud, and abuse. It’s a program in desperate need of reform.”
Johnson has likewise argued the ACA subsidies should be dealt with later this year, closer to their actual expiration date.
The Monday meeting could be a lifeline for Schumer and Jeffries, who are under increasing fire from their base. Schumer, in particular, faced a wave of criticism in March after declining to block a GOP-backed stopgap measure, with progressives openly talking about recruiting a primary challenger when he runs for reelection in 2028.
The House is currently in recess, and Johnson has made clear he has no intention of summoning lawmakers back to Washington before the deadline — a strategic move to put the squeeze on Senate Democrats to end their blockade of the House-passed resolution.
If Congress cannot strike a deal, the government will lapse into a partial shutdown beginning Tuesday night, threatening federal paychecks, law enforcement operations, and military readiness just as both parties are maneuvering for political advantage.