Trump cancels White House meeting as funding deadline looms

President Donald Trump abruptly canceled a planned White House meeting with congressional Democratic leaders on Tuesday, leaving Capitol Hill racing toward a potential government shutdown when current funding expires at the end of the month. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had demanded the session this week to press Republicans to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies and reverse recent Medicaid cuts as part of any short-term funding deal, but the president said a sitdown would not be productive.

Schumer and Jeffries sent a joint letter to the president over the weekend saying, "It is now your obligation to meet with us directly" to keep the government open and address what they called a Republican health care crisis. House Republicans approved a stopgap continuing resolution late last week to fund the government through Nov. 21, but the measure failed in the Senate after Democrats refused to back a clean extension without concessions on health care. Earlier reports had said a meeting between Trump, Schumer and Jeffries was scheduled for Thursday, but the president wrote on social media that he had decided "no meeting with...