Jeffries rules out handshake deal with GOP to avert shutdown
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries walks towards the U.S. House chamber on Sept. 18. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) drew a clear line in the sand Wednesday on what a deal to stop a government shutdown must look like, telling reporters he will not accept any type of unwritten agreement.
Why it matters: It's the latest stumbling block in the tense and largely fruitless cross-party posturing over the need to extend federal funding past September.
- Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) had initially secured a meeting with President Trump earlier this week, but it was cancelled at the urging of Republican congressional leaders.
- Funding is set to run out at midnight on Sept. 30, at which point most federal agencies will shut down without a spending agreement from Congress.
Driving the news: Jeffries said in a press gaggle on Capitol Hill he has a "positive and communicative relationship" with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), but that there is "no trust" between House Democrats and Republicans.
- "They consistently try to undermine bipartisan agreements that they themselves have reached," Jeffries continued.
- As such, he said, "any agreement related to protecting the health care of the American people has to be ironclad and in legislation."
Between the lines: Jeffries' comments demonstrate just how far apart the two parties are at this point.
- Democratic leaders have pushed for the extension of expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies and the restoration of Medicaid funding slashed in the Big, Beautiful Bill as part of a stopgap spending bill.
- Republicans, by contrast, have insisted on passing a "clean" measure without any tangential provisions.
- This is a gulf Senate Republicans need to bridge in order to get the necessary Democratic votes to bypass their chamber's 60-vote filibuster threshold.
What to watch: Jeffries is still pushing to sit down with Republicans, telling reporters Democrats are "ready to meet with anyone, any time, any place" in order to stop a shutdown.
- Jeffries said the last time he spoke with Johnson was last week, and that they only spoke "briefly" about the "logistics" around a vote to fund the government.
- The two House leaders "had no discussion of substance," Jeffries said.
- He added that he expects to have a conversation with Schumer "at some point later on" Wednesday, adding that they "have been in close contact with each other."
The bottom line: Republicans are not yet extending any offer for a handshake deal or spoken agreement to pass health care funds later on — let alone codifying those funds in legislation.
- There are talks about an agreement on ACA subsidies that kicks in after the government funding deadline, Axios' Peter Sullivan reported, but so far no deal has surfaced.
