Round two: Schumer and Pelosi again agree to talks with Trump to avoid shutdown

Eliza Collins | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have decided to give President Trump another chance at negotiations to avoid a government shutdown.

One week after pulling out of a meeting with the president after he tweeted he didn't see himself striking a deal with Democrats, the pair of Democratic leaders said they'd go to the White House Thursday to meet with the president and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

“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 Monday afternoon.

More: With time running out, Congress scrambles to avoid a government shutdown

The government runs out of money Friday at midnight. But Republican leaders in the House have introduced a short-term resolution that would keep the government funded at current levels for two weeks in order to allow for negotiations on a spending bill for 2018. It is not clear whether that short-term bill has the votes to pass without Democratic support.

Schumer, D-N.Y., and Pelosi, D-Calif., are insisting there is a "bipartisan path" to long-term funding legislation that provides more money for both military and non-defense programs, funds the Children's Health Insurance Program and provides aid for natural disasters.

They also said that a funding deal must include protections for the nearly 800,000 undocumented children who came to the U.S. — but they allowed that such protections should included "tough border security measures," a Trump priority.

An Obama-era executive order had provided temporary deportation protection to these immigrants, but Trump has declared he is ending that program. He gave Congress six months to work out immigration legislation. Democrats and a growing group of Republicans are calling on Congress to address the protections Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival recipients before year-end. But Republican leaders see no need to rush and would like more time to negotiate a solution.

Any funding legislation in the Senate will require 60 votes and therefore bipartisan support since Republicans only hold 52 seats.

Conservatives have balked at the idea of putting a spending deadline up against the holidays. Many hardliners feel their priorities lose out when lawmakers make concessions to Democrats in order to get home for Christmas.

Monday night, House Republican leadership got a scare when a group of hardline Freedom Caucus members held out their votes for an unrelated procedural vote on the tax bill because they were unhappy with the two week funding bill introduced. After tense discussions with GOP leadership, enough Republicans ultimately voted "yes" for the procedural vote for it to pass. But their stunt Monday reminded leadership that negotiations aren't close to done.