House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said that he is "prepared to meet" with President Donald Trump to discuss "several issues" ahead of the Sept. 30 funding deadline.
"I am prepared to meet with President Trump upon his return from Russia," Jeffries wrote in a post on X Wednesday afternoon. "There are several issues to discuss, including the Republican failure to lower the high cost of living and their devastating cuts to healthcare. Let's get at it."
Earlier Wednesday, Trump said he would be willing to meet with Democrat leadership in the House and Senate, despite his belief that it would not go well.
"I will, I guess, but it's almost a waste of time to meet, because they never approve anything," Trump told reporters at the Kennedy Center. "They don't want to meet about anything. They're stuck."
The president continued by saying that "more than half" of the Democrats in Congress "are sane, but they are led by insane people."
"We will meet, but nothing's going to come out of the meeting," he said. "So, we're going to meet with them, of course. I'd like to meet with them. We're going to tell them all these good things, and they're going to tell us no, and then we're going to go out and we're going to vote it in by the Republicans."
"Because I don't believe that anybody is capable of making a deal with these people," Trump added. "They have gone crazy."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also responded to the president's comments on X Wednesday afternoon.
"President Trump calls it a 'waste of time' to meet — I call it a waste of leadership for Trump to have no plan to lower costs for hardworking Americans, or stop cuts to health care, veterans, and Social Security," Schumer wrote.
Federal lawmakers are currently away from Washington, D.C., in their home districts, but the deadline to avert a partial government shutdown on Sept. 30 will be fast-approaching when they return to Capitol Hill after Labor Day.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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