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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y,. and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., were supposed to meet with President Donald Trump this week to prevent a government shutdown, but Trump cancelled the meeting Tuesday. File Photo by Annabelle Gordon/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 23 (UPI) — President Donald Trump canceled a planned meeting with Democratic congressional leaders to prevent a government shutdown Tuesday.

Trump planned to meet this week with the two as a Sept. 30 funding deadline to keep the government open nears. He was expected to meet with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on Thursday.

But Tuesday, he posted on Truth Social that he’d canceled the meeting because he didn’t like the list of Democrats’ demands, which he painted as “Radical Left Policies that nobody voted for– High Taxes, Open Borders, No Consequences for Violent Criminals, Men in Women’s Sports, Taxpayer funded ‘TRANSGENDER’ surgery, and much more.”

Earlier Tuesday, Jeffries and Schumer said in a statement they planned to use the meeting to “emphasize the importance of addressing rising costs, including the Republican healthcare crisis. It’s past time to meet and work to avoid a Republican-caused shutdown,” they said.

Republicans want a “clean” seven-week stopgap spending bill, while Democrats introduced a measure that would keep the government open for four weeks while attaching other demands, Politico reported.

In a post on X, Jeffries responded to the cancellation by saying, “Trump Always Chickens Out,” referring to the acronym TACO, which he coined. He added that “extremists want to shut down the government because they are unwilling to address the Republican healthcare crisis that is devastating America.”

One of the biggest sticking points is healthcare. Democrats are demanding any resolution include an extension of the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year.

Schumer said on X, “Happy New Year, Mr. President [referring to Rosh Hashanah]. When you’re finished ranting, we can sit down and discuss healthcare.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Tuesday that if a meeting happened, he would insist on attending.

“If there’s a meeting, I will certainly be there,” Johnson said. “But I’m not certain that the meeting is necessary.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., hold a press conference in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol on February 12. This week, the Democratic leaders are planning to meet with President Donald Trump to avert a government shutdown. File Photo by Annabelle Gordon/UPI . | License Photo

Sept. 22 (UPI) — President Donald Trump plans to meet this week with the two top Democratic leaders in Congress, as a Sept. 30 funding deadline to keep the government open nears, according to a source familiar with the planning.

Trump is expected to meet with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, both from New York, on Thursday after receiving a letter, the source told Roll Call, CBS and NBC News.

The president told reporters over the weekend he is not expecting any breakthroughs but will “continue to talk to the Democrats, but I think you could very well end up with a closed country for a period of time.”

“They want all this stuff. They don’t change. They haven’t learned from the biggest beating they’ve ever taken,” Trump said. “I’d love to meet with them, but I don’t think it’s going to have an impact.”

One of the biggest sticking points is healthcare. Democrats are demanding any resolution include an extension of the Affordable Care Act‘s enhanced tax credits, which are currently set to expire at the end of the year.

“I hope and pray that Trump will sit down with us and negotiate a bipartisan bill,” Schumer told CNN on Sunday.

On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the meeting is still under consideration.

“Discussions are ongoing with both Republican and Democratic members of Capitol Hill,” Leavitt said. “I don’t have any meetings or any scheduling updates for you today. But what I will share is … what this White House wants and what Republicans want, we want a clean funding extension to keep the government open.”

The Republican bill to keep the government running narrowly passed Friday in the House before lawmakers left Capitol Hill for a week. The short-term funding measure that would have kept the government open through Nov. 21, and boost security funding for lawmakers by $88 million, failed in the Senate.

A Democratic measure, prioritizing heath care at the expense of Trump policies while keeping the government open until Oct. 31, also failed.

“Tens of millions of Americans are on the brink of their healthcare costs increasing by thousands of dollars per year, risking bankruptcy for many families,” Schumer and Jeffries wrote to Trump.

“We do not understand why you prefer to shut down the government rather than protect the health care and quality of life of the American people.”