The last-minute convening of leaders at the White House ended without a compromise from either side.
Trump and Democrats fail to reach deal ahead of shutdown deadline
President Donald Trump and Democrats failed to reach deal as the government shutdown deadline nears.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and Democrats emerged from a private White House meeting on Sept. 29 without an agreement to keep the federal government open, setting up the prospects of a wide-scale shutdown in major services beginning in about 30 hours.
After sitting down at the White House, the president and the four top congressional leaders failed to strike a deal. If funding expires at midnight on Oct. 1 – which appeared likely absent any unexpected breakthrough – a shutdown will start at 12:01 a.m.
“There was a frank and direct discussion with the president of the United States and Republican leaders,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters after the meeting with the president. But he added that “significant and meaningful differences remain.”
The leaders of the two parties are standing their ground, with Republicans pushing a stopgap solution that would extend current funding levels until Nov. 21 and Democrats fighting for changes, mostly related to health care access and subsidies, as part of any deal.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican who attended the meeting with Trump, told reporters at the White House that if the government does close, it will be Democrats’ fault. Trump listened to their arguments, he said. “They just wouldn’t acknowledge the simple facts.”
A partial closure will dramatically reduce staffing at many federal agencies (the Education Department, for example, is set to furlough 95% of its employees), while workers deemed “essential” in areas like military and law enforcement will remain on the job. Furloughed employees typically receive backpay, but the White House has said it will fire federal workers in mass, if Democrats force a shutdown.
For weeks, Democrats have been urging Republicans to address a list of requests in exchange for their votes to keep the government open. Namely, the party has united around demands to reverse recent Medicaid cuts recently passed by congressional Republicans and Trump and to extend enhanced health insurance subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year. Unless action is taken, millions of Americans are expected to lose their insurance.
“We laid out to the president some of the consequences of what’s happening with health care,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the meeting. “And by his face, and by the way he looked, I think he heard about them for the first time.”
Republicans have said Democrats’ should not negotiate over health care in a government funding bill. Vice President JD Vance said Democrats had some ideas that “I actually thought were reasonable” and could be part of a future conversation. But he said the White House would not negotiate under the threat of a government shutdown.
“I think we’re headed to a shutdown, because the Democrats won’t do the right thing,” Vance told reporters following the meeting. “I hope they change their mind, but we’re going to see.”
Complicating matters further, the House of Representatives isn’t likely to be in session again until after a shutdown ostensibly begins. That leaves the Senate in charge of steering the country away from a closure by winning Democratic support for the short-term funding bill that has already failed.
Schumer said that Trump is ultimately the decision maker and a shutdown could be avoided if he agrees to some of Democrats’ requests.
Russell Vought, the director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, cast it as “hostage-taking,” however, and said Democrats’ proposal was not something that the White House would accept.
Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.
This article has been updated with additional information.
