Schumer, Jeffries Request ‘Big 4’ Meeting Ahead of Government Funding Deadline

The two leaders said Congress should be focused on lowering prices.

The U.S. Capitol on July 21, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) have requested a meeting this week of the four major congressional leaders ahead of the Sept. 30 government funding deadline.

The other leaders are House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.).

“As leaders of the House and Senate, you have the responsibility to govern for all Americans and work on a bipartisan basis to avert a painful, unnecessary shutdown at the end of September,” Schumer and Jeffries wrote in an Aug. 4 letter to Thune and Johnson. “Yet it is clear that the Trump administration and many within your party are preparing to ‘go at it alone’ and continue to legislate on a solely Republican basis.”

Schumer and Jeffries accused Thune of working on a partisan basis in the passing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and said the Senate is a place that demonstrates that bipartisanship is possible.

Democrats have also criticized Republicans for the $9 billion rescissions bill that included cuts to foreign aid and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funded National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. The two outlets have been criticized by conservatives for having a liberal bias.

The two leaders said Congress should be focused on lowering prices. They said the GOP has “largely rejected bipartisanship, which has been devastating for American families who will now pay more for everything from health care, to groceries, to utility bills, to essential goods and services.”

“We request you swiftly convene a so-called Big Four meeting this week, for the four of us to discuss the government funding deadline and the health care crisis you have visited upon the American people,” they wrote, asking Johnson and Thune to respond promptly.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Thune’s office for comment.

Thune has yet to commit to a meeting with the three other congressional leaders and has told reporters that “all options are on the table when it comes to funding the government.”

“What I can tell you is we’re going to look for ways to keep the government funded, open, and operating,” he said.

Thune has said the ball is in the Democrats’ court when it comes to being cooperative on funding the government.

President Donald Trump has yet to sign any appropriations bills into law. The House has passed the defense and veterans funding bills, while the Senate has passed a $187 billion “minibus” bill to fund the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the legislative branch, and the Food and Drug Administration.

Congress is on recess until Sept. 2.