It's Sunday, September 21st, Congress only has 10 days to pass a bill to avoid a shutdown of the federal government, but neither the House nor the Senate plan to be in session at all this coming week.

Funding for the federal government runs out at midnight on September 30th,

but lawmakers left town on Friday. The Senate's not expected to be back on Capitol Hill until

September the 29th. The House doesn't plan to return until October 7th, the week after the

shutdown could start. Those plans could change, but as things stand, Democrat and Republicans are

locked in. There's no realistic path forward right now, and on top of that, Donald Trump doesn't want Republicans to

work with Democrats at all. When asked to address Democrats' demands in order to fund the government,

the president said during an interview earlier this month, quote, don't even bother dealing

with them. We will get it through because the Republicans are sticking

together for the first time in a long time, end quote. Something's got to give because Republicans

can't get this spending resolution through the Senate on their own, where 60 votes are needed to pass

it through. Yesterday, the two top Democrats on the Hill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer

and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, appealed directly to Donald Trump asking him to meet with them.

In a letter sent to the White House, they wrote, quote, Republicans will bear responsibility for another painful government shutdown because of the refusal of GOP congressional leadership to even talk with Democrats.

As a result, it is now your obligation to meet with us directly to reach an agreement to keep

the government open, end quote.

But the White House doesn't appear to be open to that idea.

When asked for a comment, the White House told NBC News, quote, Democrats walked away from a bipartisan

negotiation on the continuing resolution.

This letter shows desperation, end quote. Except there haven't really been any talks for Democrats

to walk away from because they haven't been included in the process at all. Last night, the

Reverend Al Sharpton asked Hakeem Jeffreys if he's heard directly from the White House yet.

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