The top four congressional leaders will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, a day before federal funding would expire if the two parties can’t agree on a short-term spending bill.

The discussions will be the first between Trump and congressional leaders ahead of the deadline to avoid a shutdown. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and his House counterpart, Hakeem Jeffries, were expected to meet with the president last week but it was canceled by the White House at the last minute.

Now they are meeting Monday at the White House with the president as well as Senate Republican leaders, including Majority Leader John Thune.

The bill at issue would only fund the government until mid-November and must pass before Oct. 1. Democrats are insisting it must include an extension of health-care subsidies and a restoration of budget cuts to health care implemented by Trump’s signature legislation that passed earlier this year. Republicans say negotiations for those issues can happen after averting a shutdown.

“We can have that conversation. But before we do, release the hostage. Set the American people free. Keep the government open, and then let’s have a conversation about those premium tax credits,” Thune said on NBC’s "Meet the Press" Sunday.

Republicans will need at least seven Democrats to back the short-term bill in the Senate, which has already passed the House. Trump has threatened mass firings of federal workers if the government shuts down.

“The bottom line is very simple: It’s up to them,” Schumer said on Meet the Press, referring to the Republicans. “We’ll see on Monday — are they serious about negotiating with us.”

Schumer dismissed the threat of mass firings as something the administration was going to do anyway. He noted a portion of the mass layoffs earlier this year were restored by the courts, or the administration itself backed off.

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia expressed his worry that his party could agree to the short-term deal only to see Republicans renege on their offer to negotiate on health care cuts.

“If we do a deal, please don’t, Mr. President, sign the deal, and then immediately the next day start to take away funds, rescinding agreements that you just made yesterday,” Kaine said on CBS’s "Face the Nation." “A deal should be a deal.”

Schumer and Jeffries said in a joint statement on Saturday that Democrats are committed to avoiding a shutdown.

“As we have repeatedly said, Democrats will meet anywhere, at any time and with anyone to negotiate a bipartisan spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people,” they said. “We are resolute in our determination to avoid a government shutdown and address the Republican health-care crisis. Time is running out.”

The White House previously said that Democrats must drop their demands for renewing health-care subsidies and ending Medicaid cuts before he would agree to sit down with them. He also predicted that a shutdown was likely.

“We don’t want to shut down the government, but if Democrats refuse to just pass this clean continuing resolution, that’s exactly what’s going to happen, and I think the Democrats are going to bear the responsibility for it,” Vice President JD Vance said on Fox News Sunday.

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(With assistance from Erik Wasson and María Paula Mijares Torres.)

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