


President Trump will meet with the four top congressional leaders at the White House on Monday, the day before a deadline to avert a government shutdown, the lawmakers said.
Congress faces a Tuesday deadline to fund the government, which will require lawmakers to agree on a spending measure that can win at least 60 votes in the Senate. But Republicans control only 53 seats and need support from Democrats, who have been demanding that G.O.P. leaders and Mr. Trump negotiate with them.
But even as leaders of both parties agreed to a meeting, it was unclear whether Mr. Trump intended to reach a bipartisan compromise or if he was summoning Democrats to press them to accept Republicans’ funding proposal.
In an interview on CNN, Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sunday that the president was “always open to discussion.” But when pressed on whether Mr. Trump intended to negotiate a deal, Mr. Johnson sidestepped the question and accused Democrats of holding government funds hostage for “partisan demands.”
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Monday’s meeting was “only a first step” and emphasized the need for a bipartisan agreement to keep the government funded.
“If the president at this meeting is going to rant, and just yell at Democrats, and talk about all his alleged grievances, and say this, that, and the other thing, we won’t get anything done,” he said. “But my hope is it’ll be a serious negotiation”