House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Monday that President Donald Trump has not “allowed” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Republicans to negotiate about the government shutdown, which is in its 13th day.
“Speaker Mike Johnson and I have not met because Donald Trump has not given him permission to meet,” Jeffries told MSNBC. “We know that until Donald Trump allows them to meet, they will continue to hide as it relates to sitting down and negotiating a bipartisan deal.”
Earlier on Monday, Johnson had talked about shutdown on the way to becoming The longest shutdown in US history, surpassing the 2018-2019 shutdown that lasted 35 days until Democrats accepted a GOP-backed stopgap bill to reopen the government. The bill has failed to advance in the Senate seven times.
“Republicans are eager to return to the real negotiating table to complete the full year’s appropriations and work on all the other matters before us, but we will not negotiate in a smoke-filled room, and we will not negotiate as hostages,” Johnson said at a news conference on Capitol Hill.
Johnson placed the House in an extended recess during the shutdown, canceling weeks of scheduled votes in an effort to pressure Democrats to pass the stopgap funding measure.
Democrats have said they will not cave to the GOP in seeking to extend subsidies through the Affordable Care Act, which is set to expire at the end of the year. Republicans, meanwhile, have said such a policy is not included in the short-term funding bill.
Jeffries told MSNBC’s Katy Tur that Democrats are willing to talk to find a solution.
“So we’ve made it clear from the beginning that we will sit down with anyone, anytime, anywhere, to find a bipartisan path toward reopening the government,” he said, but he added that the solution does not include passing a continuing resolution to fund the government now and talking about health care later.
“Well, there’s certainly no reason to trust Republicans, especially as it relates to the health care issue and the Affordable Care Act,” Jefferies said.
