TRANSCRIPT: Leader Schumer Joins PBS NewsHour To Discuss Trump Refusing To Engage In Bipartisan Negotiations To Avoid A Government Shutdown

Washington, D.C. - Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today joined PBS NewsHour to discuss the urgent need for bipartisan negotiations as Donald Trump and the Republicans refuse to engage in government spending discussions days ahead of the deadline, leading the country closer to a shutdown.

Geoff Bennett: Senator Schumer joins us now from New York. It's good to see you, sir. So why do you think President Trump canceled this meeting just a day after you announced it? And is there a path forward absent direct negotiation with him?

Leader Schumer: Well, we hope there's a path forward to avoid this Trump shutdown. We've been trying for a long time to sit down first with the Republican leaders, Speaker Johnson and John Thune, and they wouldn't sit down with us, and we wondered why. And then it came out clearly two weeks ago. Trump said we don't need the Democrats. We can do it on our own. Now, obviously, he doesn't know his math. You need 60 votes in the Senate. There are only 53 Republicans. So, of course, he should be sitting down. And that's what, you know, he is derelict in his duty as president. He should be sitting down with us. He said he would. Jeffries and I requested that we sit down together. They called us up and said Thursday, 3 o'clock, and then yesterday he canceled it, and he said yes. He said our proposals were ridiculous and radical. Well, they're not radical at all. To prevent the average American who was on ACA's healthcare bill from going up $5,000 a year is not radical. To try to keep so many rural hospitals, which are in danger of closing, is not radical. These are things the American people are totally on our side. The so-called BBB, "Big, Beautiful Bill," which is a "Big, Ugly Bill, Americans don't like it. 68% of Americans don't like it. Just about every Democrat, two-thirds, up to two-thirds or three-quarters of Independents, depending on which poll you look at, and even a third of Republicans. So, of course, he should sit down with us. And let me say one more thing on this, Geoff. He's derelict. When I was majority leader for the four years, we never had a shutdown because I sat down with the Republican leader and we came to an agreement. This president is just, he's not up to being president if he can't sit down and negotiate with the two Democratic leaders.

Bennett: So if Republicans refuse to agree to restore cuts to healthcare and Medicaid funding, would Democrats be willing to let a shutdown happen?

Schumer: Look, I hope it doesn't come to that. You know, we're on our front foot in three ways with the American people on this. First, the Republicans control the presidency, the Senate, and the House. So the average American is going to say they're in charge. They've got to get this done. Second, when the American people hear that they won't even negotiate with us, they're appalled. And the data we've shown shows that when people are asked if Republicans won't even sit down and negotiate with Democrats, 59% blame Trump for the shutdown, and only 31% blame Democrats. But finally, and most importantly, we're trying to get things done that the American people want us to get done. And so I hope it won't come to that. I hope Trump will come to his senses. I hope other Republicans will quietly or otherwise whisper to him that this is not, it's just not, it's not what a president should do. It's not how the government should function.

Bennett: In March of 2025, you joined several Democrats in voting to avoid a shutdown. And you said on this program at the time that as bad as that spending bill was, this is a quote, "a shutdown would be 15, 20 times worse." What's different this time around?

Schumer: Three things are different. One, we've seen how bad, and the American people have seen how bad Trump's policies are. They are just, people are saying that Trump is not doing anything he wants. They're angry with Trump because of higher costs. Some of it's the tariff. Some of it's what he did with electric rates. But a lot of it is due to healthcare. So that's a lot different than it was then. Second, they have shown that they're willing to go around the law if we don't stop them from that. And they've had these rescissions, they've had these impoundments, and they've just illegally in certain ways not funded the government, and that's even without a shutdown. And third, we Democrats are united now. We are totally united in saying we want to sit down, we want to negotiate. We're not going to get everything we want. They're not going to get everything they want. But to help deal with the chaos in healthcare caused by this big, so-called beautiful bill.

Bennett: And to what degree are you feeling pressure from Democrats who say that elected leaders should hold firm and fight?

Schumer: Look, the bottom line is the majority of the overwhelming majority of Democrats, both House and Senate, are united on the fact that healthcare is a mess and we have to fix it. And my caucus, and I believe the House caucus, is just appalled that the Republicans won't even sit down and negotiate with us. So it's not pressure from one group or another. It's sort of a universal feeling that what they're doing is totally, totally derelict. And if there is a shutdown, it's going to be a Trump shutdown on their shoulders. Who doesn't sit down and try to talk and work this out? Only people who don't really know how to be a president. We'll sit down anywhere with them, Geoff. We'll go to a golf course and sit down with them. We'll do anything to try and get something. We'll go anywhere, rather, to try and sit down and come up with an agreement. We're going to fight for healthcare, of course, in that. But they're just totally derelict, Trump is, in his responsibilities. If the American people know it, and they will know that if, God forbid, there's a shutdown, it's a Trump shutdown, because he won't even talk to us.

Bennett: If a shutdown occurs, what direct consequences should the American public expect?

Schumer: Well, look, that'll be, again, we hope we can avoid a shutdown. We hope that better heads will prevail. But we will fight tooth and nail if they try to use the shutdown to hurt the American people. But that's why we want to avoid it. And that's what we're doing everything we can to avoid it right now. And hopefully Trump in the next few days will come to his senses.

Bennett: You know, one of the questions I've had for you, and I'll use this occasion to ask it, you know, Democrats are outraged by what they see as President Trump's abuse of power. But has the way he's wielded power made you rethink how Democrats should govern if you regain the White House, given the tools, the expanded executive authority, and the approach that he will have left behind.

Schumer: Well, look, he's done so much damage. Every day it's something else. I mean, what they're trying to do, what Brendan Carr is trying to do, and thank God Jimmy Kimmel is back on the air, is just so un-American. I mean, the First Amendment, for instance, is the core of things. And what Trump has tried to do is just make the government shut down any opposition to him in so many different ways. And I think we Democrats, should we get back power, and the chances are increasing that we will because there's such negativity towards Trump and because people know we're fighting for them, we will have to undo a lot of the bad things that Trump did.

Bennett: But is there any thought about what a Democratic inverse would be to all that Trump has done and likely will do in the remaining three years?

Schumer: Well, we're going to have so if when we get back in power, even in 2026, and as I said, the odds are looking better and better that we can retake the House and retake the Senate, there are going to be so many different things to do. And we will figure out the best way to get each one done.

Bennett: Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, we hope you'll join us back on this program as we get closer to October 1st. Thanks for your time, sir.

Schumer: Thank you for having me, Geoff. Appreciate it very much.

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