US President Donald Trump will attend the 2025 Ryder Cup at the Black Course at Bethpage State Park Golf Course, held in Farmingdale, New York on September 26, 2025.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries tore President Donald Trump on Friday and left town to watch a golf game in New York in just four days to avoid the possibility of a federal shutdown.
“He doesn’t have time to meet Democrat leaders to fund the government and deal with the Republican healthcare crisis, but Donald Trump is now at golf events, as we speak,” Dn.Y.’s Jeffries said at a press conference on Capitol Hill.
Trump left Washington, D.C. on Friday morning for Beth Page on Long Island, watching a match at the Ryder Cup, the every other year men’s golf tournament. Trump returned to Washington in Air Force 1 on Friday afternoon.
Jeffries asked what would be considered an “off-ramp” for a deadlock between Republicans and Democrats.
“This is the off-ramp. Donald Trump, come back to Washington, DC,” Jeffries said.
“Why are you currently taking part in a golf event? Are the government four days away from closing? That’s outrageous.”
Jeffries and other Democrats argue that Republicans and Trump will be held liable if the federal government shuts down Wednesday due to a lack of a suspension funding package.
“It’s itself the only person Jeffries and Democrats can blame the government for shutting down,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement to CNBC.
“The Trump administration wants a simple, clean CR (continued resolution) to continue funding the government, the exact same proposal Democrats supported just six months ago, and 13 times under the Biden administration,” Jackson said.
“But radical Democrats are threatening to shut down the government if they can’t get a request list of nearly $1.5 trillion, including free medical care for illegal aliens,” she said. “The radical (Democrat) agenda was rejected by Americans at the ballot box a year ago. Now they are trying to shut down the government and take Americans hostage.”
Republicans who hold a narrow majority in the House and Senate want to pass what they call “clean” bills to temporarily expand their funds.
But Democrat leaders argue that the bill will include an extension of the Affordable Care Act Premium Tax Credit, which is set to expire at the end of the year. These credits reduce the costs of health insurance plans purchased in the Obamacare market.
Republicans call those demands irrational demands, and Democrats argue that they are in the way of government remaining open.
Democrats say Republicans are refusing to negotiate with them because they want to shut down the government.
The funding bill requires 60 votes to be adopted by the Senate. In other words, you cannot pass on party votes.
There are 53 Republican senators and 45 democratic senators. Two independent Senator Caucus and Democrats.
