With the deadline just a day away, the odds of another government shutdown are very high. Congressional Democrats are insisting on measures to keep health care coverage costs from soaring, and Republicans refuse to budge, claiming that they’d consider related measures later this year (after insurers file their rates and the open enrollment period begins).
Democratic leaders, eager to reach a bipartisan compromise, recently asked for a face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump, in the hopes of negotiating a deal with a president who likes to pretend that he’s a world-class dealmaker. A week ago, Trump agreed to the meeting. One day later, he changed his mind.
Four days after that, the increasingly erratic president changed his mind yet again. NBC News reported:
President Donald Trump will meet with the top four congressional leaders at the White House on Monday as the clock draws nearer to a potential government shutdown, one White House and four congressional officials told NBC News. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., along with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., are expected to attend.
Schumer and Jeffries originally wanted to negotiate directly with Trump, without GOP leaders in attendance. Now, there will apparently be five people at the table, not three.
“President Trump has once again agreed to a meeting in the Oval Office,” the New York Democrats said in a joint statement issued Saturday. “As we have repeatedly said, Democrats will meet anywhere, at any time and with anyone to negotiate a bipartisan spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people. We are resolute in our determination to avoid a government shutdown and address the Republican healthcare crisis. Time is running out.”
There is little reason for optimism. House Republican leaders left town a couple of weeks ago and don’t plan to return until after the Tuesday night deadline, and Senate Republican leaders also decided not to be on Capitol Hill last week, despite the work that obviously needs to be done.
As for the president, Trump continues to tell the public about Democratic demands in delusional ways, describing policy goals that Democrats are not seeking and have never requested. As recently as Friday, the president told reporters that Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill are “crazy” because, as part of the shutdown talks, “they want to have transgender for everybody.”
To the extent that reality still has any meaning, neither Schumer nor Jeffries have made any requests related to transgender policy. Relatedly, I haven’t the foggiest idea what “transgender for everybody” is supposed to mean. As for the practical implications of a shutdown that’s starting to look increasingly inevitable, the White House budget office, led by Russell Vought, signaled plans last week to go beyond the traditional furloughing of some government employees during shutdowns, vowing instead to pursue mass layoffs. Roll Call reported soon after, “Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought’s new partial government shutdown guidance implies the executive branch will use a hatchet in some areas and go easy elsewhere — with Democratic priorities likely first on the chopping block.” Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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