Top Democratic leaders will meet Wednesday afternoon to plot shutdown strategy

Democratic leaders are set to meet Wednesday afternoon to privately coordinate their strategy as Congress barrels toward a September funding cliff.

“We look forward to our conversation with Leader [Chuck] Schumer and Democratic leaders in the Senate later on this afternoon, as we enter into a more intense phase around the spending showdown in advance of the end of the fiscal year,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Wednesday.

Jeffries and Democratic leaders are making pains to ensure they’re on the same page after facing a backlash in March when Senate Democrats voted to advance a GOP-backed funding bill that House Democrats almost universally opposed.

Both Schumer and Jeffries expressed dismay Wednesday with Republicans’ posture ahead of the shutdown deadline. But neither made specific threats or commitments.

Jeffries sidestepped questions on whether Democrats would support a “clean” stopgap funding patch that would kick the funding deadline forward a few months, potentially allowing leaders to work out a longer-term deal.

The New York Democrat told reporters that a GOP-written stopgap akin to the one House Democrats opposed in March “is not the type of policy that actually meets the needs of the American people.” But when asked specifically about a short continuing resolution along the lines of what appropriators and some GOP leaders have suggested passing ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline, Jeffries did not answer directly.

“We will not support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to rip health care away from the American people,” he responded.

Schumer, meanwhile, told reporters that “what the Republicans have proposed is not good enough to meet the needs of the American people — and not good enough to get our votes.”

Schumer didn’t specify which GOP proposal he meant. The White House is pushing for funding through Jan. 31 while Senate GOP leaders are floating a funding patch into November. He instead offered a broad warning that what Republicans have talked about so far won’t win them over.

“Democrats have always said we need to meet the needs of the American people, particularly when it comes to costs and health care costs,” Schumer said, calling on Majority Leader John Thune to “sit down with us and negotiate a bipartisan bill that meets these needs.”

Schumer also didn’t specify whether a funding bill this month had to include an agreement on soon-to-expire health insurance subsidies. Asked if he was saying Democrats would oppose a “clean” CR, Schumer instead responded: “The bill they proposed can’t get our votes.”

Thune has recently floated the possibility of a “clean” funding bill punting the deadline to November, buying time for a larger deal later this year. Jeffries and Speaker Mike Johnson have also discussed the possibility of a short stopgap bill, though Democrats have stressed the need for bipartisan negotiations — and are facing pressure from their base to put up a fight against the GOP.