Trump says meeting Democrats to avert shutdown unlikely to help

Erik Wasson, Bloomberg News on Sep 20, 2025

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Democratic congressional leaders demanded a meeting with Donald Trump ahead of a possible government shutdown, drawing a noncommittal response from the president.

“I’d love to meet with them, but I don’t think it’s going to have any impact,” Trump told reporters outside the White House on Saturday.

After Senate Republicans and Democrats blocked rival stopgap measures on Friday, Trump predicted a shutdown was likely, while adding that “we’ll continue to talk to the Democrats.”

On Saturday, he suggested he sees little room for Democrats to make demands after their 2024 election defeat. “They want all this stuff, they haven’t changed, they haven’t learned from the biggest beating they’ve ever taken, just about,” he said. “I’d love to meet with them if they want to meet.”

The Senate, which can take several days to pass legislation, left town for a break lasting until Sept. 29. The House plans a longer recess extending until Oct. 7.

“Notwithstanding the fact that the partisan Republican spending bill has been defeated, the GOP majorities in the House and Senate have skipped town and abdicated their responsibility to fund the government,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York, wrote in a letter to Trump.

Democrats are demanding a boost to health care spending while Republicans refuse to go along and instead back a simple bill to keep the lights on through Nov. 21.

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(With assistance from Jennifer A. Dlouhy.)