The top congressional Democrats contacted President Donald Trump on Tuesday to request a meeting as the shutdown drags into a fourth week.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in comments to reporters after a closed-door caucus lunch that he and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries “reached out to the president today and urged him to sit down and negotiate with us to resolve the health care crisis, address it and end the government shutdown.”
Schumer added that he and Jeffries told the White House they were willing to meet “any time, any place” before Trump leaves the country Friday for a weeklong trip to Asian countries.
The two leaders met with Trump at the White House a day before the shutdown started Oct. 1 but emerged without an agreement. Since then, Democratic leaders have clamored for Trump to directly engage on negotiations to end the shutdown, including an agreement on soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Republicans believe Trump is ready to come to the table to talk about the latter, but only after Democrats agree to reopen the government.
Trump met with Senate Republicans on Tuesday to tout their unity in the funding fight. Republicans will force a 12th vote later Tuesday on a House-passed funding bill, which is expected to fail.
