Trump to meet Schumer and Jeffries on govt funding as shutdown deadline nears
US President Donald Trump to meet Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer to discuss government funding.
Republican US President Donald Trump will meet top Democratic congressional leaders - Representative Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Chuck Schumer - on Thursday to discuss government funding amid a looming shutdown ahead of a September 30 funding deadline, a source familiar with the talks told Reuters on Monday.
On Saturday, Schumer and Jeffries urged Trump to meet with them to prevent a government shutdown as funding nears its end. In a letter to Trump, they pointed out that Republican congressional leaders had continuously and openly declined to participate in bipartisan talks to maintain government operations, reportedly following Trump's direction.
Healthcare is at the centre of the fight over funding, with Democrats seeking more money for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act and the restoration of funding cut from the Medicaid healthcare programme for lower-income Americans.
Republicans currently hold 53 seats in the Senate compared with the 47 held by Democrats, and have a 219-213 majority in the House. The Senate on Friday rejected a short-term funding bill and then left town for a week-long break, increasing the odds of a shutdown.
The Friday effort fell short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster in the Senate.
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In recent years, Congress has faced significant challenges in passing spending legislation, largely due to escalating partisan divisions. This has led to repeated warnings of a government shutdown, which would result in government employees going without pay and a range of public services being disrupted.
The annual funding debate, however, only pertains to about 25% of the federal budget, which totals $7 trillion. The rest of the budget includes mandatory spending on programmes like Social Security and Medicare, as well as servicing the nation's enormous $37.5 trillion debt.
(With inputs from Reuters)