President Donald Trump walks to Air Force One at Morristown Airport on Sept. 14, 2025, in New Jersey. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
But Trump nixed the meeting in a lengthy post on his social media platform Truth Social, where he blasted the duo for pushing "radical Left policies that nobody voted for."
"I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive," Trump said.
The now canceled meeting with Trump came on the heels of a letter from Schumer and Jeffries sent over that weekend where the top congressional Democrats laid the possibility of a shutdown on his and Republicans’ feet.
They argued that the Trump-backed short-term extension was "dirty," which would mean it had partisan policy riders or spending attached to it, and panned it for continuing "the Republican assault on healthcare," ignoring expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies, and possibly leading to the closure of hospitals and other healthcare facilities across the country.
"With the September 30th deadline fast approaching, Republicans will bear responsibility for another painful government shutdown because of the refusal of GOP congressional leadership to even talk with Democrats," they wrote at the time.
But Trump argued that their bill would allow for the nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts in his "big, beautiful bill" to be repealed, and also blasted the Democratic continuing resolution (CR) for ending his megabill's $50 billion rural hospital fund.
TRUMP-APPROVED PLAN TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN SCUTTLED BY SENATE
Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune speaks as Senate Majority Whip Sen. John Barrasso listens during a news briefing after the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon at the Capitol on July 22, 2025. (Getty Images/Alex Wong)
However, the House Republicans’ bill is relatively "clean," save for tens of millions in spending for increasing security measures for lawmakers in the wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Congressional Democrats’ counter-proposal, which also failed last week, included more funding for member security, but also sought to repeal the healthcare portion of Trump’s "big, beautiful bill," claw back billions of canceled funding for NPR and PBS, and permanently extend the expiring ACA credits.
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Thune noted last week that CRs "aren't places to load big health policy changes in."
"I think that we are open to the conversation about what we do with the ObamaCare premium tax credit," Thune said. "Is that something in which members, Republican senators, and I think, for that matter, Republican House members, have an interest, as well."
"But this isn't the place to do that," he continued. "This is the place to fund the government, to allow our appropriations process to continue that issue."
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/schumer-jeffries-meet-trump-white-house-shutdown-deadline-looms