Schumer, Jeffries Make Move To End Shutdown By Contacting Trump

Democratic leaders in Congress are attempting to cast themselves as willing negotiators following Tuesday’s elections — despite having repeatedly voted to continue the federal government shutdown.

On Wednesday morning, Democratic House and Senate leaders sent a brief letter to President Donald J. Trump demanding that he convene “bipartisan” talks to reopen the government.

“We write to demand a bipartisan meeting of legislative leaders to end the GOP shutdown and decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis,” the letter reads. “Democrats stand ready to meet with you anytime, anyplace.”

However, Senate Democrats have already voted 14 times against a Republican spending bill to reopen the government. The so-called “healthcare crisis” referenced in the letter stems from the expiration of Obamacare subsidy extensions — subsidies Democrats created without GOP support during President Obama’s first term and later expanded during the COVID era.

Despite Democrats’ public messaging, negotiations to end the shutdown are ongoing. According to Axios, lawmakers are considering a “three-legged” agreement that would include:

1. A Senate vote on Affordable Care Act tax credits
2. A short-term continuing resolution (CR) to allow more time for full-year budget talks
3. A separate funding measure for military construction, the legislative branch, and agriculture programs

“I think we’re getting close to an off-ramp here,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD). Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) similarly claimed that congressional leaders “seem more optimistic.”

But the major sticking point remains the length of the continuing resolution.

Before Democrats forced the shutdown, the House had already passed a bill funding the government through November 21. Any newly brokered Senate deal would require the House to reconvene to extend that deadline again.

Republicans favor pushing the next funding deadline into January to avoid the infamous “Christmas omnibus” scenario — a last-minute, trillion-dollar spending package historically rushed through before lawmakers leave Washington for the holidays.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) made that point clear:

“I am not a fan of extending it to December, because, let’s be frank, a lot of people around here have PTSD about Christmas omnibus spending bills. We don’t want to do that. It gets too close, and we don’t want to have that risk. We’re not doing that. Too many people have concerns.”

House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) echoed Johnson’s position: pushing the deadline into January prevents leadership from using the holiday calendar to coerce a massive spending bill.

“In both chambers, both parties, there’s a dread of what’s called the Christmas omnibus, where we put you right up to the edge of Christmas, and they don’t let you go home to your family until you pass a God awful omnibus bill. We don’t want to do that to our members,” Cole told Fox News.

For now, both sides are publicly expressing confidence — but Democrats’ sudden call for “bipartisanship” comes only after political momentum shifted in blue regions, not during the weeks of shutdown votes they themselves prolonged.