Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., told Newsmax that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s, D-N.Y., request for a meeting with President Donald Trump over spending legislation is the wrong move.
Biggs told “Newsline” on Monday, “I don’t encourage the president to meet with him.”
Instead, said Biggs, Schumer should talk with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
“What should happen is Chuck Schumer should go meet with John Thune, who’s the leader of the Republicans and the Senate,” he said.
He said if Schumer wants a compromise of any sort, it has to start with Thune. But he implied that it won’t happen.
“Right now, it is Schumer who is threatening to shut the government down because he’s not getting his way,” Biggs said.
Congress faces a funding deadline on Sept. 30; without a continuing resolution or full-year appropriations, the government would shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET on Oct. 1. The House passed a short-term funding bill, but the Senate rejected both the House measure and a Democrat alternative, leaving talks stalled. Key sticking points include health-care provisions and added security funding.
Trump has said he wants a “clean” stopgap bill, and Schumer has indicated he might be able to support that.
In the meantime, Biggs said Democrats are upset over a small reduction in spending, and they should be happy it wasn’t a lot more.
“All the Republicans voted on the continuing resolution, which by the way continues Schumer’s spending levels from post-COVID with only a modest reduction of maybe $20, $25 billion,” Biggs said.
The problem, said Biggs, is that Schumer wants it all. “And he doesn’t want to take that. That’s the problem that he has. He doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
Biggs said Schumer needs to understand the system. “I think he should be meeting with the majority leader, Thune, and not going in and troubling President Trump over this.”
Schumer posted about his frustration on Sunday, saying, “With Trump, the American people’s costs are going up, his tariffs, their electric bills, the decimation of health care. The American people want change, but the Republican bill is the status quo. And Trump is ready to shut down the government over it.”
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