Washington — President Trump said Sunday that a government shutdown is likely unless top Democrats back down from their negotiating position.
“I just don’t know how we are going to solve this issue,” Mr. Trump said in a phone interview with CBS News.
Mr. Trump also expressed confidence that the American people will side with him if government funding expires in the coming days, and he believes Democrats will pay a political price for not working with him, on his terms, to further cut spending.
“They’re not interested in fraud, waste and abuse,” Mr. Trump said of the Democrats.
Mr. Trump will meet Monday with congressional leaders ahead of the Oct. 1 deadline for lawmakers to reach an agreement on a spending bill that would avert a shutdown.
A source close to Mr. Trump told CBS News that the president privately welcomes the prospect of a shutdown because it will enable him to wield executive power to slash some government programs and salaries.
Last week, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget sent a memo to federal agencies telling them to prepare layoff plans if there is a government shutdown.
The memo, obtained by CBS News, tells agencies to consider reduction-in-force notices — a federal term for layoffs — for employees in programs, projects or activities that have discretionary funding that stops on Oct. 1 or that don’t have any alternative sources of funding. It also goes further and says that employees should get RIF notices if they’re in programs or projects “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”
In the interview Sunday, Mr. Trump cast the Democrats’ current demands — which in recent weeks have focused on seeking to extend Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies — as ill-advised.
Instead, Mr. Trump said, if the Democrats want to discuss health care, they should work with him to prevent undocumented migrants from accessing public benefits.
“The Democrats, incredibly, want to keep their old policies of open borders and we’re not going to have it. We’re not going to allow it,” Mr. Trump said.
Any possible health-care negotiations, Mr. Trump added, must address immigration and border-related matters, otherwise, “It’s just not acceptable for us.”
Democrats have forcefully pushed back against Mr. Trump’s characterization of their positions on both government funding and on immigration. And they have repeatedly noted that people who are in the U.S. illegally are not eligible to receive Medicaid coverage.
“Donald Trump knows, or at least I think he knows, that current federal law prohibits using taxpayer dollars for undocumented immigrants in connection with their health care. And no one is trying to change or reverse that law,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told MSNBC on Saturday. “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.”
Mr. Trump is scheduled to meet Monday with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Jeffries.
The meeting comes after the president canceled an initial meeting last week, citing the Democrats’ “unserious and ridiculous” demands.
Earlier this month, the House approved a GOP-led continuing resolution to keep the government funded until Nov. 21. But Democrats put forward their own proposal that would keep the government funded until Oct. 31, along with implementing other priorities for the party, including their health-care request. In the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to advance most legislation, both the bill passed by the House House-passed bill to fund the government and the Democrats’ proposal fell short.
The Democrats’ proposal included a permanent extension of enhanced tax credits for Americans who purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, which Democrats have suggested is a red line for their support. The proposal would also roll back cuts to Medicaid in Mr. Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” and restore funding for public broadcasters that was rescinded earlier this year.
The Senate is returning to Washington on Monday after a weeklong recess, and will have little time to act to avert a shutdown. Echoing Mr. Trump, Thune told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that it’s “totally up to the Democrats” whether the government shuts down, saying “there is a bill sitting at the desk in the Senate right now” that the House passed that would keep the government open.
“This decision, in my judgment at this point in time, is up to a handful of Democrats,” Thune said. “We need eight Democrats to pass it through the Senate.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, told “Face the Nation” Sunday that “Democrats are united in pushing” on the health-care issue, adding that she’s glad the president has decided to meet with leaders in Congress.
“This is an opportunity for the country because of one big problem, and that is that the Republicans have created a health care crisis,” Klobuchar said. “My constituents, Americans, are standing on a cliff right now with these insurance premium increases that are upon them.”
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