Leading Democrats are demanding a sit-down with United States President Donald Trump to avoid a looming government shutdown when the current budget year ends at the end of this month.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and his counterpart in Congress, Hakeem Jeffries, addressed a joint letter to Trump on Saturday, accusing him of wanting a shutdown so he could “gut the healthcare of the American people”.

“We do not understand why you prefer to shut down the government rather than protect the healthcare and quality of life of the American people,” said Schumer and Jeffries in their letter, published on the latter’s website.

The Republican-dominated Congress had approved a short-term funding bill that would have kept funding flowing to the federal government until November, but it

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