‘We’re Heading To A Shutdown’: White House Meeting With Congressional Leaders Ends In Stalemate

WASHINGTON—Vice President JD Vance emerged from a White House meeting with congressional leadership with a grim message.

“I think we’re heading to a shutdown, because the Democrats won’t do the right thing,” Vance said. “I hope they change their mind, but we’re going to see.”

President Donald Trump and Vance met at the White House Monday afternoon with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). Their goal — to pass a continuing resolution that will keep the government open before October 1 — seems to remain out of grasp.

The seven-week extension will allow time for the appropriations process to take place and will fund the government until November 21. The House of Representatives passed the bill on Sept. 19 by a vote of 217-212. The Senate, however, failed to adopt the continuing resolution by a vote of 44-48. The Senate will need 60 votes in order to pass the resolution.

The leaders spoke with reporters outside the White House following the meeting, but did not indicate any sign of a deal as Republican leaders urged Senate Democrats to pass the continuing resolution which was previously passed by the House.

“We have disagreements about tax policy, but you don’t shut the government down. We have disagreements about healthcare policy, but you don’t shut the government down,” Vance said. “You don’t say the fact that you disagree about a particular tax provision is an excuse for shutting down the people’s government and all the essential services that come along with it.”

Vance said he believes the American people are “going to suffer because these guys won’t do the right thing.”

Schumer said Democrats presented proposals to the president during the meeting and said they shared with him “some of the consequences of what’s happening in health care,” such as “the closing of rural hospitals, the fact that so many clinics are closing.”

“If he will accept some of the things we asked, which we think the American people are for, on healthcare and on recessions, he can avoid a shutdown, but there are still large differences between us,” Schumer said.

Schumer cited “very large differences” between the parties and said the Republican bill has “not one iota of Democratic input.”

He said it is “up to the Republicans if they want to shut down or not.”

Republicans have reportedly called the continuing resolution “clean and straightforward.”

Johnson said Democrats “refuse to acknowledge the simple facts,” and called the continuing resolution a “commonsense thing to do — the right thing to do.”

The Speaker said Democrats previously issued a counterproposal that included $1.5 trillion in new spending “that is unrelated to the ongoing appropriations process.”

“If the Democrats make the decision to shut the government down, the consequences are on them and I think it’s absolutely tragic,” Johnson said.

During the press conference, Thune held up a copy of the continuing resolution, and said it is sitting at the Senate desk, and can be passed Monday night or Tuesday, if Democrats acquiesce.

“Right now, they are the only thing standing between the American people and the government shutting down,” Thune said.

Thune said that similar resolutions were passed 13 times when Democrats had the majority.

“To me, this is purely a hostage-taking exercise on part of the Democrats,” Thune said. “We’re willing to sit down and work with them on some of the issues they want to talk about, whether it’s the extension of premium tax credits, with reforms, we’re happy to have that conversation. But as of right now, this is a hijacking of the American people — and it’s the American people that are going to pay the price.”

On Sept. 20, Jeffries and Schumer wrote a letter to the president, shared on X, in which they insisted that Democrats will “not support a dirty spending bill that continues the Republican assault on healthcare.”

Jeffries claimed the bill includes “devastating Medicaid and Medicare cuts; skyrocketing premiums, co-pays, and deductibles; the refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits,” and more.

The government is set to shut down Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. if Congress does not approve a continuing resolution.