The Trump administration and congressional leaders have “reached an agreement“ on overall spending levels in a two-year deal to raise the budget caps, in addition to settling on a two-year debt limit increase, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday morning.
The talks are now focused on offsets sought by the Trump administration for spending increases, in addition to “structural issues,” Mnuchin said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.
““The good news is, we spent a lot of time working on the topline,” he said. “We’re now working on offsets. We’ve agreed that there will be offsets, so now we’re just trying to figure out whether we can get both the number agreed to in time and the specifics in a structure and we’re all working hard to do that.“
Mnuchin said he plans to talk to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi later today after days of ongoing negotiations over the phone.
Mnuchin and Pelosi have been racing to secure a deal by the end of the week, with time running out before Congress leaves for the August recess. Both have stressed that they‘re making good progress, but a senior Trump administration official contended on Wednesday that the parties remain far apart.
When asked about that challenge to their optimism, Mnuchin said he has been in close contact with President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, acting OMB Director Russ Vought and GOP congressional leaders.
“This is very much a team effort,” Mnuchin said.
Mnuchin said he’s encouraging Congress to just raise the debt ceiling before the summer break if lawmakers are unable to hash out the specifics in time.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine