House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) late Sunday accused Republicans of walking away from government funding talks ahead of a looming shutdown deadline.
“The top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, Rosa De Lauro, remains ready, willing and able to talk with our Republican colleagues, but there has been zero outreach from the Trump administration and House Republicans have walked away from the negotiating table,” Jeffries said in a statement.
Lawmakers face a March 14 deadline to fund the government, but efforts have so far been unsuccessful as Democrats and Republicans argue over who is to blame.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he wants to pass a clean continuing resolution to fund the government through September, an idea that was endorsed by President Trump.
Johnson said earlier Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Democrats “to this point shown no interest in finding a reasonable solution for that.”
“Democrats have to help negotiate this,” Johnson added.
However, Jeffries accused the GOP of being unwilling to work with Democrats, who may have the power to shut down the government in protest if they are joined by at least four conservative budget hawks.
Last week, House Republicans advanced their budget proposal, with a 217-211 vote along party lines. Republicans can only afford to lose one GOP vote and adopt the measure.
Jeffries argued that the budget resolution vote made it clear that there will be no support from Democrats on legislation that won’t protect Americans’ quality of life, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
“Unfortunately, it appears that Republicans, who control the House, the Senate and the presidency, are once again determined to shut the government down and hurt everyday Americans,” he said.
