Government shutdown nears

NPR  - President Trump canceled a Thursday meeting with Democratic leaders to discuss a possible government funding deal. This move increases the chances of a government shutdown on Oct. 1. Top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries says that the Democrats' position isn’t complicated. They want to “cancel the cuts, lower the costs, save health care." The president posted on social media that the Democrats’ demands about attaching health care provisions to a funding bill were “unserious” and a meeting wouldn’t be productive.

It seems unlikely that a government shutdown can be avoided at this point, NPR’s Deirdre Walsh tells Up First. Congress can sometimes work fast when confronted with a deadline, but there have been no talks so far to help in this process. Republicans say Democrats need to back a seven-week funding bill without other policy demands. Some Republicans believe that Congress should implement a form of health care subsidies, but say that it doesn’t need to be connected to the current must-pass funding bill.