Congressional leaders and White House officials appear nowhere closer to a bipartisan deal to fund the government, raising the chances that lawmakers may need to pass another stopgap spending bill to avoid a shutdown in just over two weeks.
The “Big Four” congressional leaders huddled in the Capitol Wednesday afternoon with Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney
John (Mick) Michael MulvaneyConsumers need a hero, not a hack, to head the CFPB Overnight Regulation: Feds push to clarify regs on bump stocks | Interior wants Trump to shrink two more monuments | Navajo Nation sues over monument rollback | FCC won't delay net neutrality vote | Senate panel approves bill easing Dodd-Frank rules Overnight Cybersecurity: Mueller probe cost .7M in early months | Senate confirms Homeland Security nominee | Consumer agency limits data collection | Arrest in Andromeda botnet investigation MORE and White House legislative affairs director Marc Short to discuss the outlines of a package to fund the government through September.
Time is running short, as lawmakers are seeking to prevent automatic across-the-board spending cuts, known as sequestration, from taking effect later this month.
But shortly after the meeting, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellGOP strategist donates to Alabama Democrat McConnell names Senate GOP tax conferees Brent Budowsky: A plea to Alabama voters MORE (R-Ky.) seemed to dismiss one of Democrats’ top priorities in the budget deal: parity between defense and non-defense spending hikes.
“There is no reason why funding for our national security and our service members should be limited by an arbitrary political formula that bears no relationship to actual need,” McConnell tweeted.
Already there is chatter that another short-term continuing resolution (CR) may be needed to buy more time for more negotiations. Congress passed a stopgap spending bill before the holidays that will keep the government’s lights on until Jan. 19.
“Another short term CR is not a complete surprise to me,” Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows
Mark Randall MeadowsTrump rips Dems a day ahead of key White House meeting Overnight Health Care: 3.6M signed up for ObamaCare in first month | Ryan pledges 'entitlement reform' next year | Dems push for more money to fight opioids Overnight Finance: Trump says shutdown 'could happen' | Ryan, conservatives inch closer to spending deal | Senate approves motion to go to tax conference | Ryan promises 'entitlement reform' in 2018 MORE (R-N.C.) told The Hill on Wednesday. “Continuing to do a short-term extension that funds the military [spending] anomalies would not be a nonstarter.”
In addition to a boost for non-defense programs, Democrats also outlined their desire Wednesday for an agreement on protections for young immigrants, disaster aid and a spate of health care issues, according to a Democratic leadership aide.
“We had a positive and productive meeting and all parties have agreed to continue discussing a path forward to quickly resolve all of the issues ahead of us,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro PelosiMcConnell names Senate GOP tax conferees Abortion-rights group endorses Nadler in race to replace Conyers on Judiciary Trump rips Dems a day ahead of key White House meeting MORE (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer
Charles (Chuck) Ellis SchumerAmerica isn't ready to let Sessions off his leash Schumer celebrates New York Giants firing head coach: ‘About time’ GOP should reject the left's pessimism and the deficit trigger MORE (D-N.Y.) said in a joint statement.
And Republicans said they want a two-year budget agreement that "funds our troops and provides for our national security."
"We’ve been clear about these budget priorities from the beginning and hope that further discussions will lead to an agreement soon," McConnell, Speaker Paul Ryan
Paul Davis RyanMcConnell names Senate GOP tax conferees House Republican: 'I worry about both sides' of the aisle on DACA Overnight Health Care: 3.6M signed up for ObamaCare in first month | Ryan pledges 'entitlement reform' next year | Dems push for more money to fight opioids MORE (R-Wis.) and the White House said in a joint statement.
A deal on top-line spending numbers is needed so that appropriators can begin crafting a massive, trillion-dollar omnibus bill to fund the government through September.
GOP and Democratic leaders, as well as the White House, have been negotiating behind closed doors for weeks, trying to lock down a two-year budget agreement that would cover the rest of the 2018 fiscal year as well as fiscal 2019. But so far, a deal has remained elusive.
Emerging from the meeting Wednesday in Ryan’s office, a reticent Pelosi disclosed almost nothing about the discussion. The Democratic leader said she’s hopeful the sides are closer to a deal that would prevent the need for yet another short-term spending patch.
“It’s all in the works,” she said.
Pelosi also said she pressed the Republicans to include a fix in the omnibus package for immigrants who have benefitted from Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program President Trump
Donald John TrumpHouse Democrat slams Donald Trump Jr. for ‘serious case of amnesia’ after testimony Skier Lindsey Vonn: I don’t want to represent Trump at Olympics Poll: 4 in 10 Republicans think senior Trump advisers had improper dealings with Russia MORE is ending.
But that idea is opposed by the Republican leaders, who say they want to address the immigration issue closer to the March 5 sunset date for DACA that Trump set in September.
A Democratic leadership aide said after the meeting that the policymakers agreed to continue talks on a package combining the core spending bill with a DACA fix, health care funding and a new round of disaster aid.
Yet a joint statement from the Republicans pushed back against the notion that GOP leaders are ready to accept an immigration component.
“It … remains important that members of Congress do not hold funding for our troops hostage for immigration policy,” the GOP statement warned.
Pelosi and Schumer have both taken some heat from liberals on and off of Capitol Hill for not pressing harder to include their priorities — most notably a DACA fix — on the three CRs Congress has passed since September.
In a letter to House Democrats Tuesday, Pelosi sought to assure the Caucus that she and Schumer would be taking a harder line on the omnibus, singling out protections for Dreamers as well as new funding for veterans, health research, threatened pensions, disaster relief and a popular state-based children’s health care program.