Michael Hernandez
28 November 2017•Update: 29 November 2017
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that a government shutdown is likely -- ahead of a major deadline for lawmakers to negotiate a year-end spending deal.
"Meeting with 'Chuck [Schumer] and Nancy [Pelosi]' today about keeping government open and working," he wrote on Twitter, referring to the ranking House and Senate Democrats. "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!"
Democrats have been seeking to have former President Barack Obama-era protections for young undocumented migrants known as "Dreamers" enshrined in law as part of any deal that must be struck by Dec. 8.
Following Trump's pronouncement, Pelosi and Schumer declared they would not attend the Tuesday afternoon White House meeting "given that the President doesn’t see a deal between Democrats and the White House".
“If the President, who already said earlier this year that ‘our country needs a good shutdown,’ isn’t interested in addressing the difficult year end agenda, we’ll work with those Republicans who are, as we did in April," the Democratic leaders said in a joint statement.
The last government shutdown in 2013 cost the U.S. billions of dollars each day throughout its two-week duration, sending shockwaves through the economy.
The White House said Monday it does not want the immigration plan sought by Democrats to be included in any spending bill after Trump announced he was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in September.
"We hope that the Democrats aren't going to put our service members abroad at risk by trying to hold the government hostage over partisan politics, and attaching that," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee-Sanders told reporters.
On Tuesday, Sanders called the Democratic decision to not attend the White House meeting "disappointing", but said Trump's invitation still stands.
House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell urged their Democratic counterparts to take the president up on his offer.
"If Democrats want to reach an agreement, they will be there," they said.
Compounding the difficulties faced by lawmakers seeking to avert a shutdown are efforts to include a removal on military spending caps and extensions of federal payments for critical health care subsidies Trump scrapped in October.
Those issues and others could be included in an omnibus spending bill.
Trump has yet to lay claim to a single major legislative victory as his first year in office nears a close, and his long-promised tax reform bill is facing considerable difficulties while lawmakers try to get a version through the Senate as Republicans seek a vote by the end of the week.
