FILE - In this June 20, 2017, file photo, the U.S. Capitol in Washington, at sunrise. There’ll be two new faces in the Senate and plenty of familiar but stubborn problems facing Congress in 2018, starting with a Jan. 19 deadline to reach a bipartisan budget pact and avert a partial government shutdown
FILE - In this June 20, 2017, file photo, the U.S. Capitol in Washington, at sunrise. There’ll be two new faces in the Senate and plenty of familiar but stubborn problems facing Congress in 2018, starting with a Jan. 19 deadline to reach a bipartisan budget pact and avert a partial government shutdown J. Scott Applewhite, File AP Photo
FILE - In this June 20, 2017, file photo, the U.S. Capitol in Washington, at sunrise. There’ll be two new faces in the Senate and plenty of familiar but stubborn problems facing Congress in 2018, starting with a Jan. 19 deadline to reach a bipartisan budget pact and avert a partial government shutdown J. Scott Applewhite, File AP Photo

Business

Familiar partisan clashes face lawmakers as Congress returns

By ALAN FRAM and ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press

January 03, 2018 03:24 AM

UPDATED 1 MINUTE AGO

WASHINGTON

Lawmakers will be returning to some familiar partisan clashes as Congress begins its 2018 session.

The year's first potential calamity is a government shutdown unless a bipartisan spending pact is reached by Jan. 19.

Top White House officials plan to meet at the Capitol on Wednesday to discuss the budget with the Republican and Democratic leaders of both chambers. Their goal is to find compromise on raising limits on defense and domestic spending that eluded lawmakers before they left Washington for the holidays.

Two new Democratic senators will also be arriving.

Alabama's Doug Jones narrowly upended Roy Moore in a special election last month to become the first Senate Democrat in a quarter-century from one of the nation's reddest states. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith will replace Democrat Al Franken.