Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Monday said they will meet with President Donald Trump and congressional Republican leaders after the White House “reached out” to them.
“We’re glad the White House has reached out and asked for a second meeting,” Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement. “We hope the President will go into this meeting with an open mind, rather than deciding that an agreement can’t be reached beforehand.”
Schumer and Pelosi in November refused to attend a meeting with Trump and Republican lawmakers after Trump blasted them on Twitter and said he did not “see a deal” as a potential outcome.
The Democratic leaders on Monday said there “is a bipartisan path forward” on all the matters they hope to address in the meeting scheduled for Thursday. Chief among those issues is funding for the federal government, which runs out Friday at midnight.
“As negotiations with our Republican counterparts continue, we are hopeful the President will be open to an agreement to address the urgent needs of the American people and keep government open,” they said.