Top Senate Republicans will meet with President Donald Trump's negotiating team to discuss whether the party can pass government funding bills amid stalled bipartisan budget negotiations with congressional Democrats.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.
) and other Republican appropriators will meet with acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and acting director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought on Tuesday afternoon, according to three people familiar with the matter.Mnuchin has been Trump's point man on fiscal issues this year after last year’s debacle that resulted in a 35-day partial government shutdown. Mulvaney, a former OMB chief and House member, and Vought are seen as more reluctant to cut a spending deal with Democrats given their opposition to spending increases. Some conservatives want to allow blunt budget cuts to take place in the fall that will occur automatically absent action — though leaders in both parties vastly prefer a new budget deal to avoid spending cuts on both defense and domestic matters.
Talks among Republicans and Democrats are stalled, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) over a disagreement on increasing domestic spending. So, Senate Republicans are trying to figure out if they can begin moving spending bills absent a two-year spending agreement. House Democrats are moving this week to pass a package spending bills, though without the impediment of the Senate’s supermajority requirement.
Shelby is eager to work with Appropriations Committee ranking member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to begin passing spending bills after reaching an agreement last year to ward off so-called "poison pill" amendments that can derail the process. That could more difficult this year with an internal Democratic debate over how far to go to kill the Hyde amendment, which restricts abortion spending.
Spending chiefs in both chambers successfully collaborated last year to fund roughly 75 percent of the government by the Sept. 30 deadline, a marked improvement over previous years. But parts of the government still shut down after the midterm elections due to disputes over President Donald Trump’s border wall demands. This year, Congress is behind schedule in part due to the broader fiscal standoff, but also due to increasing impeachment tensions between Pelosi and the president.
Both parties are increasingly worried about a potential fiscal disaster this fall, when a budget deal expires. The government needs to be funded past Sept. 30, and the debt ceiling will need to be raised later in the fall, creating a potentially calamitous mix of must-pass legislation.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine