Congress barrels toward spending deadline with no deal in sight

Republican leaders gathered here for their annual retreat acknowledged Thursday, Feb. 1, that yet another short-term spending bill will be needed to keep the government open, the fifth such stopgap measure this fiscal year.

"Obviously we're probably going to need a short-term CR," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the No. 3 Senate Republican, referring to a "continuing resolution" that would extend existing spending levels. Addressing reporters at the Greenbrier, the resort where Republicans have gathered, Thune insisted that a broader spending deal was in reach to set budget levels for the remainder of the current fiscal year and the next one.

But he acknowledged little progress has been made since the three-day partial government shutdown last month, which was precipitated by Senate Democrats' demands for protections for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as kids.

"I think we're always a little bit closer," Thune said. "I'm hoping the Democrats will agree and let us move forward with some of these other issues they've been holding hostage."

But Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., pushed back at Thune's suggestion of an impasse, declaring in a statement Thursday that "discussion on the caps deal is going very well."

Republicans, meanwhile, are hardly unified. Those divisions were on stark display Thursday as both conservatives and defense hawks threatened to withhold votes for another short-term spending measure. Leaders are eyeing a spending bill to keep the government open through late March, and it would have to pass both chambers early next week.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who chairs the conservative Freedom Caucus in the House, said his group might not support another short-term spending bill without promises of action on higher military spending levels and other issues.

"I don't see the probability of the Freedom Caucus supporting a fifth CR without substantial changes by Feb. 8 unless we see dramatic changes," Meadows told reporters. "We've had the land of promise for four times now on CRs. It's time to put some real commitment to the effort before a fifth CR."

Defense hawks in the House have grown increasingly frustrated with the multiple short-term spending bills, contending they threaten military readiness and even cost lives since the Pentagon is not getting the money it needs.

Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, who chairs the Armed Services Committee, told reporters after a closed-door session with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that both Cabinet members were insisting on an end to short-term spending bills.

"The secretaries were very clear, I think, in encouraging Congress to resolve the budget issues and end the continuing resolutions so that they can manage their departments," Thornberry said. "And more importantly, so the world knows that we are functioning and can do whatever needs to be done to protect the national security of the United States."

Thornberry refused to commit to voting for the continuing resolution expected on the floor next week.

"We're just going to have to see what the situation is when it arrives. Obviously there's a lot of conversation among members at this retreat about the way forward," he said. "Nobody wants a government shutdown, but we also cannot continue to inflict the damage that CRs inflict on the military. We can't keep doing that."

Overall discretionary spending levels are capped under a 2011 law, and exceeding those spending caps requires bipartisan agreement under Senate filibuster rules. Republicans are trying to negotiate an enormous increase in military spending in the pending budget agreement, which Democrats hope to match with domestic spending.

Previous budget deals passed under President Barack Obama in 2013 and 2015 proceeded along those lines. But now, with Republicans in the White House and in control of both houses of Congress, GOP lawmakers want to pursue a tougher posture.

Thune and Meadows suggested they might be willing to live with an increase in nondefense spending as long as that increase is devoted to infrastructure, a major congressional agenda item for the Trump administration. There is no indication that Democrats, who are pushing for new investments to combat the opioid crisis and beef up veterans' benefits, would agree to those terms.

Another complication waiting in the wings is the looming need to raise the federal debt limit. The Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that the limit will have to be raised above its current $20 trillion level by the first half of March - earlier than expected due to the GOP's recent tax-cut legislation. The last increase was passed in September as part of a temporary spending agreement brokered between Trump and congressional Democrats.

Republicans have typically found it hard, if not impossible, to cobble together enough House votes from their own party to increase the debt limit. That gives Democrats further leverage to bargain for spending concessions.

The CBO's announcement put the issue back into the spotlight, and Meadows said there are "discussions going on right now about the debt ceiling that I'm not at liberty to talk about" on ways to win conservative support for a debt ceiling measure.

Hard-liners have floated a number of proposals meant to rein in federal spending, though none has ever gotten broader buy-in from lawmakers.

Meadows said he has spoken to White House budget director Mick Mulvaney and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin "on how we can effectively make some real reforms in that area, and based on those initial conversations a number of Freedom Caucus members could potentially support those efforts."

Story by Mike DeBonis. DeBonis covers Congress, with a focus on the House, for The Washington Post. He previously covered D.C. politics and government from 2007 to 2015.