Trump, Congressional Leaders Fail to Reach Deal to Avoid Shutdown

 Both sides remain deadlocked as a government closure looms.

Congressional leaders failed to reach an agreement on a stopgap spending resolution that would avert a government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) met with President Donald Trump on the afternoon of Sept. 29 but remained deadlocked as Democrats continued to demand significant additional spending on health care in exchange for their votes.

“We have very large differences on healthcare,” Schumer told reporters on emerging from the White House conference. “[Trump] can avoid a shutdown, but there are still large differences between us.”

Jeffries said, “Democrats are fighting to protect the health care of the American people, and we are not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of everyday Americans. Period. Full stop.”

Republicans, meanwhile, have said a seven-week, continuing spending resolution should not be used as a substitute for the appropriations process, which involves agreement in both houses of Congress on a dozen individual spending bills.

Vice President JD Vance rejected Democrats’ use of healthcare policy disagreements as leverage in shutdown talks.

“We think that’s preposterous,” Vance said.

The vice president said that Republicans were willing to work to find a solution to health care issues, but not now. “You don’t shut the government down,” Vance said.

This is a breaking story and will be updated with additional details.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/trump-congressional-leaders-fail-to-reach-deal-to-avoid-shutdown-5921925?ea_src=frontpage&ea_med=section-1