President Trump was scheduled for a meeting with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday to discuss multiple issues, including immigration and tax reform, but after a morning tweet by Trump declaring that he didn’t see any deal coming with them, the Democrats canceled.
The conversation, which would have also included Republican leaders Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, would have covered how to reach a spending plan to avoid a government shutdown. If not averted, a shutdown could potentially start as soon as December 8.
“Meeting with ‘Chuck and Nancy’ today about keeping government open and working,” Trump wrote hours before the cancelation. “Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don’t see a deal!”
The two Democrats released a statement following their decision:
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Given that the President doesn’t see a deal between Democrats and the White House, we believe the best path forward is to continue negotiating with our Republican counterparts in Congress instead.  Rather than going to the White House for a show meeting that won’t result in an agreement, we’ve asked Leader McConnell and Speaker Ryan to meet this afternoon.  We don’t have any time to waste in addressing the issues that confront us, so we’re going to continue to negotiate with Republican leaders who may be interested in reaching a bipartisan agreement.
“If the President, who already said earlier this year that ‘our country needs a good shutdown,’ isn’t interested in addressing the difficult year end agenda, we’ll work with those Republicans who are, as we did in April.  We look forward to continuing to work in good faith, as we have been for the last month, with our Republican colleagues in Congress to do just that.
In September, Schumer and Pelosi struck a bipartisan deal with Trump after he signed a bill increasing the government’s debt limit in order to avoid a shutdown. In the meeting Trump reportedly agreed to sign a bill protecting DACA recipients — immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and were given temporary work visas by an Obama executive order — from deportation. In return, he expected some trade-off on border security.
Those who thought Trump would eventually be more cooperative can probably stop hoping now.
