Congressional leaders failed to reach an agreement on a stopgap spending resolution yesterday, with the prospect of a government shutdown just one day away.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) met with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance yesterday afternoon but remained deadlocked.
“We have very large differences on health care,” Schumer said afterward.
Jeffries said, “We are not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of everyday Americans. Period. Full stop.”
Both appeared to refer to the health care provisions of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act, which cut $1 trillion in spending over 10 years, mostly through Medicaid and other health initiatives.
The crux of the disagreement is that Republicans want to extend current spending levels for the next seven weeks while Congress continues to work on the 12 appropriations bills required to fund the federal government next year.
Democrats, meanwhile, are insisting that new spending agreements be added to the short-term spending bill, aimed at solving what they call a Republican health care crisis.
Schumer said he made some proposals to Republicans but did not name them.
To pass a continuing resolution, Republicans, who hold 53 seats in the Senate, need at least seven votes from Democratic or Independent senators.
“We are willing to sit down and work with them on some of the issues they want to talk about,” Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said.
Vought specifically mentioned the extension of enhanced premium tax credits for about 20 million people insured through the Affordable Care Act. That’s been a huge interest among Democrats.
Thune said, “This is a simple, seven-week funding resolution to allow us to do a normal appropriations process,” on “Meet the Press” Sunday.
Congress has not agreed on the 12 appropriations bills since 1997.
Meanwhile, both sides are blaming the other in advance in case of a shutdown.
“It’s up to the Republicans whether they want to shut down or not,” Schumer said.
“I think we’re headed into a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing,” Vance said.
Without congressional action, spending authority for the federal government will end at midnight tonight.
—Lawrence Wilson
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