With a possible federal government shutdown looming as the September 30 funding deadline approaches, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) is stepping up his demands for more than a trillion dollars in extra spending.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) continue to hold out for a “clean” continuing resolution (CR) that would provide stopgap funding to keep the government operating into early next year.

On Friday, Senate Democrats blocked a House-passed CR to keep the government running for seven more weeks.

Speaker Johnson told Fox News that the House and Senate conference committee needs just a few more weeks to work out the differences on a longer-term appropriations bill to fund government operations.

Johnson said that a “clean” short-term CR was worked out to accomplish this but that Sen. Schumer is promising to block that bill unless he receives what Johnson called “a partisan wishlist that is filled with poison pills and demands.”

According to Johnson, the more objectionable parts of Schumer’s demands include a return of free healthcare for illegal aliens, $500 million to prop up NPR and a spending hike of more than $1.4 trillion.

In response to Schumer’s counteroffer to what should be a simple 7-week stopgap funding measure, Johnson says, “We can’t do that. We’re not going to do that.”

Earlier this month, Schumer released a Dear Colleague letter in which he accused Republicans of “threatening to go-at-it-alone” by not negotiating with Democrats over the demands for additional funding.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) called Schumer’s letter “the biggest ransom note in American history” and denounced the demands for more than $1.5 trillion in additional spending as a “Schumer shakedown.”

Lawmakers are out of town this week but will return on the eve of the deadline, raising questions about avoiding the possibility a government shutdown.