House Democrats rallied in the Capitol on Monday evening in an 11th-hour strategy session with two distinct goals: To unify the party amid the partisan budget standoff and to compel GOP leaders back to the negotiating table on legislation to prevent a government shutdown.

Huddled behind closed doors in the basement of the Capitol, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and his leadership team used the rare recess gathering to mobilize the party’s opposition to the Republicans’ spending plan, which excludes health care provisions the Democrats are demanding as a condition of their support.

“What this is all about is what the Republicans have done to health care in this nation,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. “They have created a crisis, and an immediate crisis in some respects. And it is going to result in higher costs for the American people at a time when the cost of living and affordability preys on the minds of every single family.”

The effort appears destined to fail — at least in its objective to yank Republicans into new talks before a shutdown.

House Republican leaders have........

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