Jeffries: Trump marching country toward government shutdown

WASHINGTON — Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told the Associated Press on Friday that President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are marching the country toward a possible government shutdown over their refusal to meet with Democrats and strike a deal to save health care funding from cuts. He said he remained hopeful Congress could avoid a lapse in federal funding next week, ahead of the Oct. 1 deadline.

But with Republicans canceling next week’s House voting session and Trump canceling his planned meeting with Democratic leaders this week, Jeffries said the onus is on Trump to show presidential leadership. Jeffries described the president and his party as chaos agents, saying that in moments when stable, presidential leadership is required, Trump has not provided it.

This shutdown scenario would be more difficult than past standoffs. The White House budget office this week ordered federal agencies to prepare for mass firing rather than temporary furloughs if the government closes. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have said a shutdown could be avoided if Democrats drop their demands. Before leaving town, House Republicans approved legislation to fund the government into November, but the measure failed in the Senate, and a Democrat alternative that included the enhanced subsidies for ACA exchanges put in place during the COVID-19 crisis also failed. Jeffries said he hopes a resolution can be reached in the coming days.

Jeffries, who is in line to become House speaker if Democrats regain the majority in next year’s midterm elections, has become the party’s chief messenger in this high-stakes funding fight. Democrats are confronting restive voters who want the party to stand up to the Trump administration and protect health care funding. Trump has not always named Jeffries by name, but Jeffries has repeatedly called out the president in recent comments. At the Capitol earlier this week, Jeffries urged Trump to return to Washington and address the looming shutdown as the deadline approached.

On the policy edge, Republicans have argued that Democratic demands to reverse Medicaid cuts tied to the party’s tax cuts and spending bill are nonstarters, and they say talks on ACA subsidies should wait until year-end when those subsidies expire. Jeffries countered that House Democrats are united and that delaying health care funding would hurt millions of Americans who rely on the enhanced ACA subsidies to help pay premiums. The parties remain at an impasse as Oct. 1 approaches.

Johnson has framed the standoff as a test of basic governance, saying that a deal could be reached if the government remains open and health care funding is preserved. He recounted conversations with Trump, saying he encouraged the president not to meet with Democratic leaders until the government is funded. The veteran lawmaker warned that the current path could lead to a political cliff for Democrats and Republicans alike, but he maintained that the path to a deal was still within reach if basic governing responsibilities took precedence over partisan posturing.

The debt of the current crisis echoes past episodes. The United States has endured shutdowns before, most notably during the 2018-19 winter when the government was closed for 35 days, and in 2013 when a standoff over Obamacare-related provisions led to a shutdown of more than two weeks. Jeffries said that, in those cases, Republicans eventually recognized that their position was unsustainable, and he warned that a similar realization could emerge this time if Republicans persist in trying to gut health care funding for everyday Americans.