Calls for Trump to start shutdown talks

But the president shows little interest in brokering a deal between the parties.

- BY JOEY CAPPELLETTI AND SEUNG MIN KIM

WHITE HOUSE Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters at the White House on Thursday.

(ALEX BRANDON Associated Press)

President Trump is showing little urgency to broker a compromise that would end the government shutdown, even as Democrats insist no breakthrough is possible without his direct involvement.

Three weeks in, Congress is at a standstill. The House hasn't been in session for a month, and senators left Washington on Thursday frustrated by the lack of progress. Republican leaders are refusing to negotiate until a short-term funding bill to reopen the government is passed, and Democrats say they won't agree without guarantees on extending health insurance subsidies.

For now, Trump appears content to stay on the sidelines.

He spent the week celebrating an Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal he led, hosted a remembrance event for conservative activist Charlie Kirk and refocused attention on the Russia-Ukraine war. Meanwhile, his administration has been managing the shutdown in unconventional ways, continuing to pay the troops while laying off other federal employees.

Asked Thursday whether he was willing to deploy his dealmaking background on the shutdown, Trump seemed uninterested.

"Well, look, I mean, all we want to do is just extend. We don't want anything, we just want to extend, live with the deal they had," he said in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office. Later Thursday, he criticized Democratic healthcare demands as "crazy," adding, "We're just not going to do it."

Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that Democrats must first vote to reopen the government, "then we can have serious conversations about healthcare."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota echoed that approach before leaving for the weekend, saying Trump is "ready to weigh in and sit down with the Democrats or whomever, once the government opens up."