(WASHINGTON) — As the clock ticks down towards a government shutdown, 150 House Democrats rallied on the House steps Tuesday morning ahead of a midnight government funding deadline, presenting unity as each political party attempts to shift and place blame for a lapse in government funding.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries fired up Democrats, addressing a deepfake video generated by artificial intelligence shared Monday night by President Donald Trump, which disparaged Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“Mr. President, allow me to reintroduce myself,” Jeffries said, quoting the opening lyrics from Jay-Z’s “Public Service Announcement” and receiving a loud round of applause from the caucus. “I’m the House Democratic Leader. Our caucus is 217 members strong. We serve in a separate and coequal branch of government. We don’t work for you. We work for the American people.”
In the post on his social media platform, Trump shared the video that presented Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Jeffries during their remarks at the White House after meeting with Trump and Republican leaders, but dubbed Schumer saying disparaging things about his party.
The video also showed Jeffries wearing a sombrero, prompting Jeffries to call it “bigoted.”
“Mr. President, the next time you have something to say about me, don’t cop out through a racist and fake AI video. When I’m back in the Oval Office, say it to my face!” Jeffries boomed.
Jeffries reiterated that Democrats are “ready” to find a bipartisan path to avert a shutdown and he sharply criticized House Republicans for canceling votes this week.
“Shame on them for being on vacation all across the country and across the world on the eve of a government shutdown,” he said. “They’re on vacation because they’d rather shut the government down than protect the health care of the American people. That’s unfathomable, that’s unacceptable, that’s unconscionable, and that’s un-American. Do your job.”
Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar blamed Republicans if the government shuts down.
“This is a shutdown they will own, and the American people are paying attention,” he said.
Trump appeared open to more discussions Tuesday. Asked while returning from a speech to generals and admirals with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth if he would talk to Democrats before the deadline, Trump replied, “Yes.”
Democrats insist that any deal includes restoring $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts passed into law this summer on top of a permanent extension of the Obamacare subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, saving health insurance for 3.8 million people at a cost of $350 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
While House Republicans passed a stopgap measure to keep the government open through Nov. 21, the measure stalled in the Senate, where Thune will need at least seven Democrats to vote for it to pass.
Republicans crafted a “clean” seven-week funding bill in order to create more time for congressional appropriators to work through regular order: 12 separate full-year funding bills. Congress has not passed all 12 appropriations bills through regular order since 1997, and the task has been completed only four times since 1977 when current budget rules took effect.
Thune is expected to force the Senate to vote repeatedly on the House’s clean seven-week funding bill. His goal is to force Democrats to cast repeated votes against funding the government.
Jeffries and Schumer met Monday afternoon at the White House with Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Vice President JD Vance and others but left without a deal.
Johnson posted Tuesday morning that Schumer and Democrats are “planning to SHUT DOWN the government — simply to oppose President Trump and appease their far-left base.”
On the White House driveway after the meeting, the Democrats and Republicans blamed each other for not reaching an agreement to keep the government funded.
Schumer told reporters in the White House driveway that “large differences” remain — particularly on health care.
A few minutes later, Vice President JD Vance joined Republicans in saying a shutdown was increasingly likely.
“I think we’re headed to a shutdown because Democrats won’t do the right thing,” Vance said.
Monday’s meeting was the first bicameral, bipartisan congressional leadership face-to-face meeting of Trump’s second term — and came after a meeting scheduled for last week was nixed by the president after he said he reviewed the Democratic proposal and judged that a meeting would not be productive.
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