Democrats are renewing pressure on Republicans to discuss a looming end-of-September deadline to fund the government just days before lawmakers return to Washington from their extended summer recess.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote Thursday to Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson, asking them to convene a “Big Four” leaders’ meeting next week. It’s their second request for such a meeting.
It is “imperative that we immediately meet upon our return to Congress next week to discuss the need to avert a painful, unnecessary lapse in government funding and to address the healthcare crisis Republicans have triggered in America,” Schumer and Jeffries wrote.
The Democrats first wrote to their Republican counterparts requesting a meeting on Aug. 4. Now, Congress is just weeks away from the Sept. 30 shutdown deadline, and the leaders are nowhere close to an agreement.
Republicans don’t yet have a plan for how to handle the deadline that unifies their party.
Senate GOP leaders, backed by members of the Appropriations Committee and other allies, have floated a short-term spending patch that would give them more time to try to reach a sweeping spending deal with Democrats and the White House. But some conservatives in the House and Senate are already talking about a full-year extension of current spending levels, likely sweetened with targeted spending cuts or other policy priorities — which they believe could get support from inside the administration.
Neither Johnson nor Thune will turn immediately to the funding fight once Congress returns next week. The House will take up a full-year Energy and Water appropriations bill, and the Senate will start debate on a sweeping defense policy bill. Both chambers are currently set to be out of Washington the week of Sept. 22, though that recess could be at least partially canceled.
Democrats tipped their hand on how they see the battle lines shaping up for the fall funding fight, pushing for details on whether the White House intends to send over a second “rescissions” request to claw back previously approved funding and whether Republicans plan to advance legislation dealing with health care.
There’s bipartisan interest in negotiating a health care package before the end of the year, with talks in the Senate already underway. Democrats and some Republicans want to extend soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act tax credits as part of any larger agreement, but they will have to overcome conservative pushback in both chambers.
Democrats are also under pressure from their base, and their own members, to get concrete policy wins in exchange for helping fund the government. Schumer has been convening closed-door caucus meetings for months to discuss potential strategies. While some Democrats want a health care deal attached to a September government funding bill, there’s skepticism it could be done by then, and Republicans view the end of the year as the true deadline.
“Democrats stand ready to work together to lower healthcare costs for the American people, while responsibly completing the appropriations process,” Schumer and Jeffries wrote. “It is past time you reveal your plans to meet the needs of the American people.”
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