Democratic leaders in the US Congress have requested a meeting with US President Donald Trump to agree on measures to prevent a federal government shutdown.
“We are writing to you to request a meeting regarding your decision to shut down the government due to Republicans' desire to continue depriving Americans of funding“, reads a letter to Trump signed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Democratic lawmakers have accused Republicans of “refusing to participate in bipartisan consultations“ on securing government funding. They assured them of their willingness to discuss the issue.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) previously said that Democrats were trying to “cause a government shutdown“. He noted that “a shutdown by Democrats would be catastrophic for the country“. According to Johnson, Democrats are making impossible demands to pass the government funding bill, including significant funding for health care.
On September 19, Trump threatened to shut down the federal government if Republicans and Democrats in Congress did not reach a consensus on the bill by October 1. The same day, the Senate rejected two bills to continue funding the federal government.
The Republican-led bill passed in the lower house received the support of 48 lawmakers, while the Democratic-led bill received the support of 47. Thus, the Senate failed to pass the bill that would have prevented a possible government shutdown on October 1. According to American media, this dramatically increases the likelihood of a government shutdown, as Congress is in recess next week.
In March, Trump signed a law to continue funding the federal government until the end of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30. This averted a government shutdown that was expected to begin on March 15, which would have shut down several government agencies and programs and temporarily halted the pay of hundreds of thousands of government employees, many of whom would have been laid off.
Since 1977, such funding has been cut more than 20 times due to disagreements between the administration and Congress. The longest shutdown lasted 35 days - from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019 - during Trump's first term.