With less than a week until government funding runs out, battle lines are hardening — and President Donald Trump won’t meet with congressional Democratic leaders after all.
The president backed out of a meeting tentatively planned for Thursday after a top Republican panned the talks. “They’re trying to make a mockery of [Republicans’ spending bill], and I don’t think it should be given any real regard,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters at the Capitol.
Minutes later, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that “no meeting with [Democrats] could possibly be productive” due to their “unserious and ridiculous demands.”
The course-reversal comes after Trump cut first-term side deals with Democratic leaders that left GOP lawmakers seething. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who says any funding proposal should address health care costs, slammed Trump’s pivot as “holding America hostage.”