Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that they will not meet with President Donald Trump following his disparaging tweet.
The president was scheduled to meet Tuesday with the two Democrats as well as with House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ahead of a looming government shutdown.
“Meeting with ‘Chuck and Nancy’ today about keeping government open and working. Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes,” Trump tweeted. “I don’t see a deal!”
“Given that the President doesn’t see a deal between Democrats and the White House, we believe the best path forward is to continue negotiating with our Republican counterparts in Congress instead,” Pelosi and Schumer said in a statement. “Rather than going to the White House for a show meeting that won’t result in an agreement, we’ve asked Leader McConnell and Speaker Ryan to meet this afternoon.”
Ryan and McConnell subsequently put a joint statement. “There is a meeting at the White House this afternoon, and if Democrats want to reach an agreement, they will be there,” the two Republican lawmakers said.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders likewise responded in a statement that said the scheduled meeting will go forward.
“The President’s invitation to the Democrat leaders still stands and he encourages them to put aside their pettiness, stop the political grandstanding, show up and get to work. These issues are too important,” Sanders said.
Schumer tweeted a serious of comments — all in Spanish — explaining his reason for backing out of the meeting.
Dado que el Presidente no ve un acuerdo entre los demócratas y la casa blanca, creemos que el mejor plan es seguir negociando con nuestros colegas republicanos en el Congreso.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 28, 2017
En lugar de ir a la Casa Blanca para un espectáculo que no resultará en un acuerdo, le hemos pedido a los líderes McConnell y Ryan que se reúnan con nosotros esta tarde.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 28, 2017
No tenemos tiempo que perder para lidiar con los problemas que confrontan a nuestro país, así que vamos a continuar negociando con los líderes republicanos que estén interesados en llegar a un acuerdo bipartidista.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 28, 2017
Si el Presidente, quien ya dijo este año que ‘nuestro país necesita un buen cierre de gobierno,’ no está interesado en trabajar en la difícil agenda de fin de año, trabajaremos con aquellos republicanos que si están interesados, de la misma manera que lo hicimos en abril.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 28, 2017
Esperamos poder seguir trabajando de buena fe, como lo hemos hecho durante este último mes, con nuestros colegas republicanos en el Congreso para hacer exactamente eso.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 28, 2017
Updated with comments from McConnell, Ryan and Sanders