Hakeem Jeffries calls Trump ‘unhinged’ for canceling meeting on government funding

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said President Trump’s social media post Tuesday canceling a planned meeting with him and Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer to discuss funding the government was “unhinged.”

Mr. Trump had agreed to meet with Mr. Jeffries and Mr. Schumer, New York Democrats, in the Oval Office later this week to discuss keeping the government funded into the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, but he quickly reversed course.

The president announced on social media Tuesday that a meeting would not be productive unless Democrats drop their “unserious and ridiculous” demands.

“The statement that Donald Trump issued today was unhinged and it related to issues that have nothing to do with the spending bill that is before the Congress and the need to try to avoid a government shutdown – nothing to do with transgender issues or any of the other wild things from the standpoint of what actually is under discussion in the context of this meeting,” Mr. Jeffries said.

Mr. Trump’s social media post listed a litany of grievances with Democrats’ demands.

“They are threatening to shut down the Government of the United States unless they can have over $1 Trillion Dollars in new spending to continue free healthcare for Illegal Aliens (A monumental cost!), force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors, have dead people on the Medicaid roles, allow Illegal Alien Criminals to steal Billions of Dollars in American Taxpayer Benefits, try to force our Country to again open our Borders to Criminals and to the World, allow men to play in women’s sports, and essentially create Transgender operations for everybody,” he said.

Democrats are proposing to reverse Medicaid cuts Republicans enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill that would prevent illegal immigrants from receiving government-funded health care coverage and stop Medicaid dollars from paying for gender transition procedures.

However, they’ve not made any demands related to opening borders or allowing biological men to play in women’s sports.

In addition to repealing the Medicaid cuts, Democrats want to extend pandemic-era expansions of Obamacare premium subsidies and reverse Trump administration funding freezes on National Institutes of Health grants.

“Our top priority is to make sure that we cancel the cuts, lower the costs and save healthcare for the American people,” Mr. Jeffries said. “That’s eight words, not difficult for Donald Trump to process: Cancel the cuts, lower the cost, save healthcare.”

All but one House Democrat voted on Friday against a Republican stopgap bill to extend most current government funding levels and policies through Nov. 21. It passed the House but was rejected in the Senate, along with a counterproposal from Democrats that included their health care priorities.

Mr. Jeffries said Republicans cannot expect Democratic votes if they won’t even agree to a meeting and negotiate.

“We have to have a conversation with Donald Trump or Republican leaders in the Congress in order to try to find common ground in ways that can prevent a government shutdown if Republicans expect Democratic votes,” he said. “It’s clear at the moment that Republicans are just determined to shut the government down.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, reportedly were involved in convincing Mr. Trump not to meet with Democrats. Like Mr. Trump, they’ve both publicly slammed most of the Democrats’ demands as unrealistic and suggested there’s nothing to negotiate other than a “clean” extension of current government funding.

“The leader had stated his position on this publicly many, many times. The president certainly knows his position,” a Thune spokesperson told The Washington Times.

The Times also reached out to Mr. Johnson’s office for comment.

Mr. Jeffries said Republican leaders are afraid to debate Democrats on their health care policies.

“Donald Trump, House Republicans and Senate Republicans are running scared because they don’t want the American people to be faced with the reality of what they have done in the context of a White House meeting,” he said. “Republicans have done such damage to everyday Americans as a result of the health care crisis that it’s unconscionable, unacceptable and un-American.”

Congress is on recess this week for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The Senate is scheduled to return on Monday and is planning to hold another procedural vote on the GOP stopgap plan.

House GOP leaders canceled votes through the remainder of the month to put pressure on the Senate to take that plan as the only option for keeping the government open.

But Mr. Jeffries is still bringing his caucus back Monday, planning to hold a meeting in the Capitol that evening.

“Shame on the Republicans for skipping town, canceling votes, walking away from meetings and being unwilling to even be present in Washington, D.C., to vote to keep the government open,” Mr. Jeffries said.