Trump seeking spending solution

WASHINGTON» President Donald Trump and top congressional leaders are set to meet Thursday to discuss enacting a yearend spending agreement in hopes of averting a government shutdown.

With a spending deadline set for Dec. 8, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Monday that they accepted Trump’s invitation to meet at the White House with top Republican leaders the night before government funding dries up.

The meeting date puts significant pressure on GOP leaders to shore up support in their own ranks before a vote on a plan to keep the government operating two more weeks as talks continue.

“We’re glad the White House has reached out and asked for a second meeting. 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 said in a statement.

During the weekend, Republican leaders unveiled a two-week stopgap spending plan that would keep the government open through Dec. 22, but it is unclear whether there’s enough support among House Republicans to pass the spending plan on a party-line vote. Democrats are pressuring Republicans to resolve the legal status of “dreamers,” or the children of young immigrants, after Trump announced plans in September to end an Obama-era program that grants many of them temporary legal status. Coming up with a new plan is a big sticking point for Democrats in this year’s spending talks.

The White House reached out to Democrats on Sunday, asking for a meeting that will include Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. — a face-toface encounter that was supposed to happen last week but was abruptly canceled after Trump tweeted his doubts about reaching a bipartisan deal to keep the government open and settle disputes on complex policy issues including immigration and health care.