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Things were going smoothly as a bipartisan group of lawmakers worked together to avoid a government shutdown — and then President Trump tweeted.
Top Democrats dropped out of a planned White House sit-down with Trump on Tuesday after he insulted party leaders and tweeted that he “didn’t see a deal” hours before their scheduled sitdown, raising fears that the federal government is speeding toward the proverbial fiscal cliff.
“The staffs were making great progress until the President stepped in. We were very close on a number of issues,” said Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who along with top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California was supposed to meet with Trump and their Republican counterparts at the White House.
Congress has until Dec. 8 to pass a new spending bill to avert a shutdown.
“Meeting with ‘Chuck and Nancy’ today about keeping government open and working,” the President tweeted early Tuesday. “Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don’t see a deal!”
Schumer and Pelosi later issued a statement saying they’d skip the “photo op.”
Trump came up with one anyway — appearing in the White House’s Roosevelt room with an empty chair on either side of him for Schumer and Pelosi, telling reporters the pair is “all talk.”
“We have a lot of differences,” he said, as House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell flanked the empty seats. “They’re weak on crime. They’re weak on illegal immigration. They’ve been weak on military in terms of spending.”
Trump said he “would absolutely blame the Democrats” if there is a government shutdown next week, even though Republicans control both houses of Congress and the presidency.
Pelosi shot back that Trump’s empty chairs prove he’s “more interested in stunts than in addressing the needs of the American people. Poor Ryan and McConnell relegated to props. Sad!”
The Democrats said they were willing to work with their counterparts across the aisle, but that negotiating with Trump would be a waste of time.
“When the President stays out of it we seem to do much better, the four leaders,” Schumer said. “That’s how we did it the last time the government funding expired.”
But Republicans stood by the President, blasting Dems for avoiding the meeting.
“We have big deadlines. We have a military in need of our support, and that work needs to happen now, I think it is very regrettable that our Democratic colleagues and leadership chose to not participate,” Ryan said.
McConnell later admonished Pelosi and Schumer for refusing to meet with the President, saying he would never have done such a thing — despite having actually done so with Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama.
“I think the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate need to understand the way the government works,” McConnell said after meeting with Trump. “That the administration needs to be a part of the ultimate negotiation.”
Trump’s hit on Schumer and Pelosi comes as Republicans are struggling to wrangle votes for a sweeping tax reform bill.
Trump struck a deal with the pair in September on the debt limit to avoid a government shutdown and help hurricane victims which angered many of his fellow GOPers.
He agreed on the short-term debt ceiling increase that funded the government for three months, setting up the deadline a week from Friday.
Tuesday’s meeting was meant to lay the groundwork for an agreement to keep the government running and set a path for a year-end spending package to give both the Pentagon and domestic agencies relief from a budget freeze.
A host of other issues also weigh heavy on budget and tax talks, including legislative protection for young immigrants known as “Dreamers,” money for the children’s health program that serves more than 8 million low-income children and hurricane relief funds.
Republicans, meanwhile, were attempting to persuade their peers to support their tax reform package after meeting with Trump for a lunch on Capitol Hill.
“It was very special, that meeting. I wish they could have been inside that room. The camaraderie, it was a lovefest,” Trump said.
The Senate Budget Committee approved the package by a 12-to-11 vote Tuesday afternoon, as several Republicans said they were more hopeful that the bill will pass. The budget committee added a provision that would allow oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) won support to amend the bill to allow homeowners to deduct at least a portion of their local property taxes on their federal tax returns.
Several New York House GOP members planned on joining members of the American Federation of Teachers on Wednesday to voice their opposition to the bill, proving that the contentious legislation has drawn together a myriad of foes.
Trump took to twitter Tuesday night to take another poke at Democrats.
“After North Korea missile launch, it’s more important than ever to fund our gov’t & military! Dems shouldn’t hold troop funding hostage for amnesty & illegal immigration. I ran on stopping illegal immigration and won big. They can’t now threaten a shutdown to get their demands.”