File photo: US President Donald Trump (Picture credit: AP)
US President Donald Trump said Sunday that a government shutdown is “a possibility” unless top Democrats change their negotiating stance, placing the onus on them to reach a deal before the October 1 funding deadline.“I just don’t know how we are going to solve this issue,” Trump said in a phone interview with CBS News. He expressed confidence that Americans will side with him if government funding expires, and said Democrats will pay a political price for resisting his spending cuts. “They’re not interested in fraud, waste and abuse,” he added.
Trump scheduled a Monday meeting with congressional leaders, including Senate majority leader John Thune, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, House speaker Mike Johnson, and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, as a last-chance effort to avoid a shutdown, as per CNN. A source close to Trump cited by CBS News said that the president privately welcomes the prospect of a shutdown, seeing it as an opportunity to wield executive authority to slash government programs and salaries.Last week, the White House Office of Management and Budget issued a memo to federal agencies instructing them to prepare layoff plans if a shutdown occurs. The guidance suggests permanent reductions for employees in programs inconsistent with Trump’s priorities. The stalemate centers on Democrats’ push to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies and reverse recent Medicaid cuts. Trump has repeatedly linked any potential health-care talks to immigration issues, saying, “The Democrats, incredibly, want to keep their old policies of open borders and we’re not going to have it”. Senate majority leader Thune echoed Trump, asserting on NBC’s Meet the Press that “it’s totally up to the Democrats” to prevent a shutdown.Democrats countered, emphasising that undocumented immigrants are already barred from receiving federal health benefits and that Republicans are causing a health-care crisis for Americans. House minority leader Jeffries said, “What we are doing is fighting to protect the healthcare of everyday Americans in the midst of this Republican-caused crisis that is devastating hospitals and nursing homes and community-based health clinics”, as quoted by CBS News.As both sides prepare for Monday’s White House talks, neither appears willing to compromise, setting the stage for a high-stakes showdown over government funding.
