Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, left, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries update reporters following their meeting with President Donald Trump and Republican leaders on the government funding crisis, at the Capitol in Washington, Sept. 29, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
"Hakeem and I reached out to the president today and urged him to sit down and negotiate with us to resolve the healthcare crisis, address it and end the Trump shutdown," Schumer said. "He should sit — the things get worse every day for the American people. He should sit down with us, negotiate in a serious way before he goes away."
Congressional Democrats, particularly Schumer and his Democratic caucus, have remained steadfast in their demands for an extension to expiring Obamacare subsidies. Though Senate Republicans have been open to holding a vote on the matter after the government reopens, Democrats want an ironclad guarantee that the subsidies will be extended well before their expiration at the end of this year.
Should Trump relent to their request, it would mark the first meeting among the trio since Schumer, Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., met in the Oval Office a day before the shutdown began.
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President Donald Trump listens as Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaks during a lunch with Republican senators on the Rose Garden patio at the White House in Washington, Oct. 21, 2025. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
Speaking to reporters afterward, Thune reiterated that Senate Republicans were united in their war of attrition strategy to continue putting the same bill on the floor again and again. He noted that Trump would likely agree to meet with Schumer and Jeffries, but only after Senate Democrats unlocked the votes needed to reopen the government.
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"We have negotiated. I don't know what there is to negotiate. This is about opening up the government," Thune said. "We have offered them several off-ramps. Now, the Democrats want something that's totally untenable. I mean, they want $1.5 trillion in new spending. They want free healthcare for people who are noncitizens in this country. That is just a flat nonstarter. It doesn't pass the Senate. It won't pass the House. It won't be signed into law by the president."
Fox News Digital reached out to Jeffries’ and the White House for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/schumer-requests-meeting-trump-any-time-any-place-democrat-stalemate-drags