Democratic leaders in US Congress demand talks with Trump to avert shutdown

To prevent a looming government shutdown when the current fiscal year wraps up at the end of the month, leading Democrats are requesting a meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Senate Democrats’ Chuck Schumer and their congressional counterpart Hakeem Jeffries both wrote to Trump on Saturday, accusing him of wanting a shutdown to “gut the American people’s healthcare.”

In a letter published on the latter’s website, Schumer and Jeffries wrote, “We do not understand why you prefer to shut down the government rather than to preserve the health and quality of life of the American people.”

A short-term funding bill that would have kept funding flowing to the federal government until November was approved by the Republican-dominated Congress on Friday before lawmakers left town for a week-long break.

Trump claimed on Friday that the government would still handle the military and Social Security payments in response to funding that was scheduled to run out on September 30.

Republicans will bear responsibility for another agonizing government shutdown, according to Schumer and Jeffries, who criticized the GOP leadership’s continued refusal to even speak with Democrats.

According to them, the president was “obliged to meet with us directly.”

Go-to-hell mode

Democrats are pushing for permanent, accelerated Obamacare subsidies that the Congressional Budget Office estimates will cost $ 350 billion over ten years. Additionally, they want to reverse earlier this year’s Medicaid cuts.

According to Schumer and Jeffries, tens of millions of Americans could experience a yearly increase in healthcare costs that would not be a result of their desired reforms and face a real bankruptcy risk.

They stated that “we are willing to work toward a bipartisan spending agreement that improves the lives of American families and addresses the Republican healthcare crisis.”

The letter outlined the Trump administration’s assault on healthcare, including the elimination of Medicare and Medicaid cuts, the repeal of Obamacare subsidies, “skyrocketing premiums,” “attacks on medical research,” “suppression of vaccine availability,” and the closure of hospitals, nursing homes, and neighborhood clinics.