Government Shutdown: Schumer and Jeffries Urge GOP Leaders to Negotiate Funding Deal

With the Sept. 30 fiscal deadline closing in, Democratic leaders want a “Big Four” meeting next week to keep the government open and avoid a government shutdown.

What happened—and why it matters now

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries sent a joint letter urging Republican leadership to meet immediately after Congress returns, proposing a “Big Four” (or “four corners”) session to hash out a path that averts a government shutdown. Reporting indicates they addressed Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, pressing for clarity on spending levels and a realistic timetable for a stopgap and full-year bills. PoliticoNOTUS

The urgency stems from a tight calendar: the fiscal year ends on September 30, 2025—the date by which Congress must pass appropriations or a continuing resolution to prevent a government shutdown and lapsed authority for key programs. Budget trackers list a cluster of expiring policies that intensify the stakes, from TANF authorization to health-care extenders and flood insurance. CRFB

What “four corners” means

In budget showdowns, leaders often compress talks into a top-level huddle of the House Speaker and Minority Leader plus the Senate Majority and Minority Leaders—the “four corners” or “Big Four.” The format can unstick impasses by trading across issues and aligning the chambers on terms that members can realistically pass. Thompson Coburn LLP

Why a deal is so hard this time

Republicans control both chambers and the White House but have not unified behind a single strategy, with factions split between a short-term patch (continuing resolution), a yearlong extension at current levels with targeted cuts, or attaching policy riders that Democrats view as poison pills. Axios and Politico describe added friction over health-care provisions and how to treat Affordable Care Act subsidies, with Democrats saying they’re ready to negotiate but want transparency and urgency to avoid a preventable government shutdown. AxiosPolitico

The political calculus

Neither party wants to own a government shutdown heading into an election year narrative cycle, but brinkmanship can be tempting when factions believe the other side will be blamed. History provides a caution: the 2018–2019 partial shutdown lasted 35 days, the longest on record, and produced broad public frustration as paychecks were missed and services delayed. The Congressional Research Service and CBO both document the timeline and costs, including delayed output and back pay without the work performed—politically painful outcomes that leaders on both sides say they want to avoid now. Congress.govCongressional Budget Office

Policy stakes beyond the topline

Shutting down on September 30 would freeze or delay a wide range of functions. Beyond basic federal pay and contracting, looming deadlines intersect with other fights—foreign aid disbursement battles, disaster response, and health-care “extenders.” Separate legal skirmishes over the timing of outlays and the power to withhold congressionally appropriated funds are already in the headlines, underscoring how fast fiscal disputes can spill into the courts while Congress argues over a stopgap. Politico

What a realistic path looks like

Given the calendar, the fastest route is a clean continuing resolution into late fall, buying time to finalize full-year appropriations. That approach typically requires:

agreement on a short, specific duration;
guardrails limiting policy riders; and
a public commitment from leaders to keep negotiating rather than lurching from cliff to cliff.

Democrats say they’ll engage but want to avoid manufactured crises; Republicans want leverage to set spending near their targets. The “four corners” meeting Schumer and Jeffries propose is designed to exchange those guarantees at the top, then instruct appropriators. Without such a framework, floor time will be chewed up by messaging votes while a government shutdown clock keeps ticking. Politico

The mechanics: what gets negotiated

Duration of the CR. Short (2–4 weeks) to force progress, or longer (to December/January) to reduce recurring drama.
Anomalies. Limited exceptions to keep specific programs from grinding to a halt.
Policy riders. The flashpoint. Leaders may agree to keep the CR “clean,” deferring policy fights to the full-year bills.
Topline guardrails. Even in a short patch, leaders sometimes codify targets to guide appropriators toward a final omnibus or minibus package.

Schumer and Jeffries’ letter frames these as urgent decisions that can’t slip into late September if a government shutdown is to be avoided. Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries

Hardliners and the vote math

The biggest near-term variable is whether House and Senate hardliners tolerate a clean patch. Small blocs have sunk previous deals and can force leaders to rely on cross-party votes—politically risky in primary season. That’s why top-level buy-in matters: when all four corners validate the trade, members have cover to vote “yes” and explain they prevented a government shutdown while reserving bigger fights for later. Thompson Coburn LLP

What happens to the economy if talks fail

A brief government shutdown is disruptive; a protracted one compounds damage: delayed pay for federal workers and contractors, slower permitting and small-business loans, paused data releases that markets rely on, and reduced consumer spending around federal hubs. The 2018–2019 episode offers a benchmark for lost output and catch-up costs—money that taxpayers ultimately pay for with no added services. That’s why some members who dislike short-term patches still swallow a CR as the lesser evil. Congressional Budget Office

Bottom line

Schumer and Jeffries want leadership in the room now to lock in a narrow plan: a short, clean patch paired with a schedule for full-year bills. Republicans are weighing how much leverage to assert through riders and cuts. With the September 30 deadline in sight, the choice is binary: negotiate a glide path or risk a government shutdown that hurts workers, contractors, and the broader economy—and hands voters a fresh reminder of Washington’s dysfunction. Politico

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Schumer, Jeffries Call on Gop Leaders to Meet to Avoid