President Trump said Wednesday that he would meet with Democratic congressional leaders to discuss government funding ahead of the end-of-September deadline, even though he believes “nothing is going to come out of the meeting.” 

“I will, I guess. But it’s almost a waste of time to meet because they never approve anything,” Mr. Trump said. 

The comment drew pushback from Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, who can lead Senate Democrats in a filibuster of any government funding bill they don’t like.

“I call it a waste of leadership for Trump to have no plan to lower costs for hardworking Americans, or stop cuts to health care, veterans, and Social Security,” the New York Democrat said on social media.

The party leader’s remarks underscore the challenges ahead as Congress and the White House need to come up with a plan to keep the government funded beyond Sept. 30.

Mr. Trump said he’s willing to meet with Democrats, but “they’re afraid to approve anything” he wants, so there’s no room for compromise. 

“We’re going to tell them all these good things, and they’re going to tell us no,” he said. “And then we’re going to go out and we’re going to vote it in by the Republicans. Because I don’t believe that anybody is capable of making a deal with these people. They have gone crazy.”

Republicans control the House and Senate but cannot fund the government without Democratic votes. Because of the Senate filibuster, it will take at least seven Democrats joining with Republicans to pass legislation in the upper chamber.

Democrats have said they want a bipartisan, bicameral deal to fund the government but are skeptical that the Trump administration can be trusted to follow through. They cited the administration’s efforts to freeze and cut funds Congress previously approved.

Mr. Trump also said Wednesday that he plans to ask Congress for a “relatively small amount of money” to aid in his effort to clean up the nation’s capital as he promises to “make Washington beautiful.”

“We’re going to redo roads,” he said. “We’re going to redo the medians, the pavers and the medians all throughout the city. We’re going to take all the graffiti off. We’re going to have to remove the tents and the people that are living in our parks. We’re going to be redoing the parks, the grasses and all.”

The president expressed skepticism that Democrats would approve the funding request, saying they’ve “got the yips” like in golf.

“The Democrats are afraid to do anything because they don’t want to be criticized. But fighting crime is a good thing,” he said.

Mr. Trump said Democrats are calling him a dictator for exerting federal control over law enforcement in Washington and calling in the National Guard to assist the District of Columbia police.

“The place is going to hell. We’ve got to stop it,” he said. “So instead of saying he’s a dictator, they should say we’re going to join him and make Washington safe.”

He said Republicans would approve the funding request on their own if needed. To do that, they would have to structure it as mandatory spending so they can use the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process. Annual discretionary spending, to which an adjustment would typically be made, is subject to the Senate filibuster and thus requires Democratic cooperation to pass.

Mr. Trump also said he would push Congress to enact a long-term extension of the 30-day authority he used to take federal control of the District, but that too would be subject to a Democratic filibuster.

“We think the Democrats will not do anything to stop crime, but we think the Republicans will do it almost unanimously,” he said. “So we’re going to need a crime bill that we’re going to be putting in, and it’s going to pertain initially to DC.”

Mr. Schumer said in an interview on The Parnas Perspective that there’s “no f—-ing way” Democrats will approve an extension of the federal takeover.

“We’ll fight him tooth and nail,” he said. “Not only are we not going to approve it, but there’s some Republicans that don’t like it either.”

Mr. Trump said he could use executive authority for national emergencies to go around Congress, like he did to secure the border.

“We’re going to do this very quickly, but we’re going to want extensions,” he said. “I don’t want to call a national emergency. If I have to, I will.”

• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.