Dems: Trump Should Join Shutdown Talks 10/17 06:10

   President Donald Trump is showing little urgency to broker a compromise that 
would end the government shutdown, even as Democrats insist no breakthrough is 
possible without his direct involvement.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is showing little urgency to 
broker a compromise that would end the government shutdown, even as Democrats 
insist no breakthrough is possible without his direct involvement.

   Three weeks in, Congress is at a standstill. The House hasn't been in 
session for a month, and senators left Washington on Thursday frustrated by the 
lack of progress. Republican leaders are refusing to negotiate until a 
short-term funding bill to reopen the government is passed, while Democrats say 
they won't agree without guarantees on extending health insurance subsidies.

   For now, Trump appears content to stay on the sidelines.

   He spent the week celebrating an Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal he led, hosted 
a remembrance event for conservative activist Charlie Kirk and refocused 
attention on the Russia-Ukraine war. Meanwhile, his administration has been 
managing the shutdown in unconventional ways, continuing to pay the troops 
while laying off other federal employees.

   Asked Thursday whether he was willing to deploy his dealmaking background on 
the shutdown, Trump seemed uninterested.

   "Well, look, I mean, all we want to do is just extend. We don't want 
anything, we just want to extend, live with the deal they had," he said in an 
exchange with reporters in the Oval Office. Later Thursday, he criticized 
Democratic health care demands as "crazy," adding, "We're just not going to do 
it."

   Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that Democrats must first vote 
to reopen the government, "then we can have serious conversations about health 
care."

   Senate Majority Leader John Thune echoed that approach before leaving for 
the weekend, saying Trump is "ready to weigh in and sit down with the Democrats 
or whomever, once the government opens up."

   Still, frustration is starting to surface even within Trump's own party, 
where lawmakers acknowledge little happens in Congress without his direction.

   Leaving the Capitol on Thursday, GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski said, "We're not 
making much headway this week." For things to progress, Murkowski acknowledged 
Trump may need to get more involved: "I think he's an important part of it."

   "I think there are some folks in his administration that are kind of liking 
the fact that Congress really has no role right now," she added. "I don't like 
that. I don't like that at all."

   Trump has not been slowed by the shutdown

   While Congress has been paralyzed by the shutdown, Trump has moved rapidly 
to enact his vision of the federal government.

   He has called budget chief Russ Vought the "grim reaper," and Vought has 
taken the opportunity to withhold billions of dollars for infrastructure 
projects and lay off thousands of federal workers, signaling that workforce 
reductions could become even more drastic.

   At the same time, the administration has acted unilaterally to fund Trump's 
priorities, including paying the military this week, easing pressure on what 
could have been one of the main deadlines to end the shutdown.

   Some of these moves, particularly the layoffs and funding shifts, have been 
criticized as illegal and are facing court challenges. A federal judge on 
Wednesday temporarily blocked the administration from firing workers during the 
shutdown, ruling that the cuts appeared politically motivated and were carried 
out without sufficient justification.

   And with Congress focused on the funding fight, lawmakers have had little 
time to debate other issues.

   In the House, Johnson has said the House won't return until Democrats 
approve the funding bill and has refused to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita 
Grijalva. Democrats say the move is to prevent her from becoming the 218th 
signature on a discharge petition aimed at forcing a vote on releasing 
documents related to the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

   So far, the shutdown has shown little impact on public opinion.

   An AP-NORC poll released Thursday found that 3 in 10 U.S. adults have a 
"somewhat" or "very" favorable view of the Democratic Party, similar to an 
AP-NORC poll from September. Four in 10 have a "somewhat" or "very" favorable 
view of the Republican Party, largely unchanged from last month.

   Democrats want Trump at the table. Republicans would rather he stay out

   Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem 
Jeffries have said Republicans have shown little seriousness in negotiating an 
end to the shutdown.

   "Leader Thune has not come to me with any proposal at this point," Schumer 
said Thursday.

   Frustrated with congressional leaders, Democrats are increasingly looking to 
Trump.

   At a CNN town hall Wednesday night featuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 
and Sen. Bernie Sanders, both repeatedly called for the president's involvement 
when asked why negotiations had stalled.

   "President Trump is not talking. That is the problem," Sanders said.

   Ocasio-Cortez added that Trump should more regularly "be having 
congressional leaders in the White House."

   Democrats' focus on Trump reflects both his leadership style -- which allows 
little to happen in Congress without his approval -- and the reality that any 
funding bill needs the president's signature to become law.

   This time, however, Republican leaders who control the House and Senate are 
resisting any push for Trump to intervene.

   "You can't negotiate when somebody's got a hostage," said South Dakota Sen. 
Mike Rounds, who added that Trump getting involved would allow Democrats to try 
the same tactic in future legislative fights.

   Trump has largely followed that guidance. After previously saying he would 
be open to negotiating with Democrats on health insurance subsidies, he walked 
it back after Republican leaders suggested he misspoke.

   And that's unlikely to change for now. Trump has no plans to personally 
intervene to broker a deal with Democrats, according to a senior White House 
official granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. The official added 
that the only stopgap funding bill that Democrats can expect is the one already 
on the table.

   "The President is happy to have a conversation about health care policy, but 
he will not do so while the Democrats are holding the American people hostage," 
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Thursday.

   A product of the Congress Trump has molded

   In his second term, Trump has taken a top-down approach, leaving little in 
Congress to move without his approval.

   "What's obvious to me is that Mike Johnson and John Thune don't do much 
without Donald Trump telling them what to do," said Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly 
of Arizona.

   His hold is particularly strong in the GOP-led House, where Speaker Mike 
Johnson effectivelyowes his job to Trump, and relies on his influence to power 
through difficult legislative fights.

   When Republicans have withheld votes on Trump's priorities in Congress, he's 
called them on the phone or summoned them to his office to directly sway them. 
When that doesn't work, he has vowed to unseat them in the next election. It's 
led many Democrats to believe the only path to an agreement runs through the 
White House and not through the speaker's office.

   Democrats also want assurances from the White House that they won't 
backtrack on an agreement. The White House earlier this year cut out the 
legislative branch entirely with a $4.9 billion cut to foreign aid in August 
through a legally dubious process known as a "pocket rescission." And before he 
even took office late last year, Trump and ally Elon Musk blew up a bipartisan 
funding agreement that both parties had negotiated.

   "I think we need to see ink on paper. I think we need to see legislation. I 
think we need to see votes," said Ocasio-Cortez. "I don't accept pinky 
promises. That's not the business that I'm in."

   Both parties also see little reason to fold under public pressure, believing 
they are winning the messaging battle.

   "Everybody thinks they're winning," Murkowski said. "Nobody is winning when 
everybody's losing. And that's what's happening right now. The American public 
is losing."