Will The Government Shut Down Again? Negotiators Working To Reach Agreement Before Holidays

Lawmakers said Thursday they have reached agreement in principle with the administration to avert a government shutdown when spending authority runs out next week.

“There’s a meeting of the minds,” House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., told reporters following a meeting involving House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the leaders of the House and Senate appropriations committees.

Details of the legislation were not released.

Mnuchin said a “handful” issues, however, remain before the government runs out of spending authority. Mnuchin was to brief President Trump later in the day.

“We’ll see if we can resolve this quickly,” he said.

Among the issues that had been holding up an agreement was funding for Trump’s border wall. The Wall Street Journal reported negotiators agreed to provide about the same level of funding as was in last year’s fiscal budget, $1.38 billion. Trump had sought $8.6 billion while Democrats initially refused to provide any funding.

There was no immediate comment from the White House.

Last week, Democrats and Republicans agreed to divvy up $1.4 billion in spending into 12 annual bills to pay for discretionary spending.

Lawmakers are facing a tight deadline for passing the spending measures. The last continuing resolution runs out Dec. 20, the same day Congress is scheduled to adjourn for the holidays. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said he expects a vote on Tuesday.

Democrats said they have received assurances the president will sign the bills once they are passed.

A year ago, the government shut down for 35 days as Trump as lawmakers wrangled over spending, largely involving the border wall.

A federal judge in Texas earlier this week blocked the president from shifting funds meant for other Pentagon spending projects to the border, forcing the administration to halt construction in the short-term pending appeal or a spending agreement.

The New York Times reported last month the first new sections of border wall were installed, covering about 1 mile of the 1,900-mile U.S.-Mexico border. The Defense Department said in September the Army Corps of Engineers expects to build about 450 miles of wall along the border, but did not release any timetable.