No Democrats will attend a lunch on Tuesday with President Trump designed to reach an agreement to end the government shutdown and fund a border wall, the White House said.
Trump had invited several moderate House Democrats to the White House in an effort to undermine Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has refused to grant Trump his demand for $5.7 billion in wall funding. But the group turned down the invitation.
“Today, the president offered both Democrats and Republicans the chance to meet for lunch at the White House. Unfortunately, no Democrats will attend,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
A group of nine House Republicans will meet with the president, but Sanders said “it’s time for the Democrats to come to the table and make a deal.”
Two of the GOP lawmakers, Reps. Rodney Davis (Ill.) and John Katko (N.Y.) have voted for Democratic bills to reopen government agencies.
The development is the latest sign that no end remains in sight for the partial shutdown, which on Tuesday entered its record-setting 25th day.
It also signals that Pelosi has retained her grip over the Democratic caucus in the wall fight, despite the White House’s effort to divide the party.
At least two moderate House Democrats said they explicitly declined the White House invitation.
Reps. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) and Lou Correa (D-Calif.), two of the co-chairs of the Blue Dog Coalition, confirmed to The Hill they will not attend the 12:30 lunch meeting.
Murphy said she has a scheduling conflict, but both Blue Dog Democrats said they believe the Senate should take up House-passed funding bills to reopen the government and send them to the president.
“The congressman is declining the invitation,” said Correa spokesman Andrew Scibetta. “Congressman Correa welcomes the opportunity to talk with the president about border security, as soon as the government is reopened.”
In a statement, Murphy said: “I have attended meetings with the president at the White House before, but a scheduling conflict prevented me from accepting this invitation.
"However, I continue to believe the Senate should pass and the president should sign the bills reopening government that the House already passed. As a former national security specialist at the Pentagon, I look forward to having a meaningful, bipartisan discussion about the best way to secure our country.”
Pelosi has been trying to project Democratic unity in the shutdown fight but did not dissuade fellow Democrats from going to the White House.
In a private meeting Monday night, Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told fellow leaders they were fine with rank-and-file members meeting with Trump, according to a source in the meeting.
Pelosi joked to Hoyer: “They can see what we’ve been dealing with. And they’ll want to make a citizen’s arrest.”
Democrats believe they have the upper hand in the shutdown fight, with recent polls showing most of the country blames Trump for the impasse.
But the president has refused to back down from his position that billions in wall funding must be part of spending bills to reopen the government.
Hoyer on Tuesday suggested Trump's attempt to sidestep Democratic leaders by inviting Blue Dogs to the meeting was an act of desperation on the part of the president.
“Is anybody surprised that the president’s trying to get votes wherever he can get votes?" Hoyer said during a press briefing in the Capitol. "We are totally united — totally. You will see that on the floor on these [spending] votes. We want the government open, Mr. President.”
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