President Donald Trump suggested in a Twitter post on Tuesday that the US federal government could shut down since he is unlikely to make a deal with Democratic leaders in Congress on spending by the December 8 deadline, Sputnik reported.
"Meeting with 'Chuck and Nancy' today about keeping government open and working," Trump said, referring to Senator Chuck Schumer and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leaders of Congress. "Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don’t see a deal!"
In response the two lawmakers announced that they will no longer attend a meeting with Trump and republican leaders at the White House, which was slated for Thursday afternoon.
"Given that the President doesn’t see a deal between Democrats and the White House, we believe the best path forward is to continue negotiating with our Republican counterparts in Congress instead," they said. "Rather than going to the White House for a show meeting that won’t result in an agreement, we’ve asked Leader McConnell and Speaker Ryan to meet this afternoon."
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives must pass a spending bill by Dec. 8 to keep the government running, but Democrats have threatened to block a spending bill in order to push their immigration policies.
DACA, the controversial Obama-era program, which protected from deportation undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US illegally as children, has been a complicating issue, as Trump vowed to phase out the program, whereas Democrats pressure GOP members to preserve it.
Another topic on the table is the tax reform bill that has already passed the House of Representatives and is up for a vote in the Senate later this week.
A spending bill consists of a number of different appropriations bills that must be passed every year in order to fund the government and avert its shutdown.