Donald Trump, US Congress leaders to meet, try to avert government shutdown

Washington: President Donald Trump was due to meet with congressional leaders on Monday in a last-ditch effort to head off a government shutdown that could disrupt a wide range of services as soon as Wednesday.

It was unclear whether the afternoon White House meeting will yield an agreement to extend government funding beyond a Tuesday midnight (0400 GMT Wednesday) deadline. Democrats say any agreement to extend government funding must also preserve expiring health benefits. Trump's Republicans insist health and government funding must be dealt with as separate issues.

If Congress does not act, thousands of federal government workers could be furloughed, from NASA to the national parks, and a wide range of services would be disrupted. Federal courts might have to close and grants for small businesses could be delayed.

Budget standoffs have become relatively routine in Washington over the past 15 years and are often resolved at the last minute. But Trump's willingness to override or ignore spending laws passed by Congress has injected a new dimension of uncertainty into the debate this time.

Trump has refused to spend billions of dollars approved by Congress and is threatening to extend his purge of the federal workforce if Congress allows the government to shut down. Only a handful of agencies have so far published plans detailing how they would proceed in the event of a shutdown.

At issue is $1.7 trillion in "discretionary" spending that funds agency operations, which amounts to roughly one-quarter of the government's total $7 trillion budget. Much of the remainder goes to health and retirement programs and interest payments on the growing $37.5 trillion debt. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill on September 19 to keep government agencies funded through November 21. That measure failed in the Senate, where at least seven Democratic votes are needed for passage.

Chronic shutdowns

There have been 14 partial government shutdowns since 1981, most lasting just a few days. The most recent was also the longest, lasting 35 days in 2018 and 2019 due to a dispute over immigration during Trump's first term. This time healthcare is at issue. Roughly 24 million Americans who get coverage through the Affordable Care Act will see their costs rise if Congress does not extend temporary tax breaks that are due to expire at the end of this year.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Congress needs to make those tax breaks permanent right now, because higher health insurance premiums are being finalized and the new signup period starts November 1.

"We believe that simply accepting the Republican plan to continue to assault and gut health care is unacceptable," Jeffries said at a Monday press conference.

Senate Republican Leader John Thune has left the door open to eventually dealing with the healthcare problem, but says Congress must first pass a temporary spending bill.

“Major decisions should not be made in haste," Thune said on an op-ed published in the Washington Post on Monday. "They certainly shouldn't be made because one party is threatening to shut down the government if it doesn't get its way."

Some Democratic aides in Congress have suggested lawmakers could back a short funding bill if Republicans agreed to vote within the next several weeks on the Affordable Care Act tax credit extension.

On Friday, Jeffries dismissed that idea, saying Republicans cannot be trusted. Democrats desperately want to energize their voting base ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, when control of Congress will be at stake. Lawmakers from the party's center as well as its left have lined up behind the effort to boost healthcare spending. But Democratic aides have privately expressed concerns that a shutdown could create a public backlash if Democrats do not effectively argue their case and instead come off sounding as just being opposed to whatever Trump wants - a stance Republicans like Thune have derided as "Trump Derangement Syndrome."