Senate leaders scrambling

Senate leaders scrambling to finalize budget deal as shutdown looms

Both McConnell and Schumer are confident they can seal the deal.

By BURGESS EVERETT and JOHN BRESNAHAN

Senate leaders are racing to clinch a massive, two-year budget deal even as the government is set to shut down in fewer than 48 hours.

With funding running out at midnight Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are furiously negotiating a package that would boost defense and domestic spending by approximately $300 billion over the next two years, according to people familiar with the talks. In addition, they are discussing whether they can lift the debt ceiling and include an $81 billion disaster aid package.

No final decision has been made, but the agreement could be announced as early as midday Wednesday, aides said. The negotiations were still not completed as of Wednesday morning as the debt ceiling and disaster aid package were still under consideration.

Both McConnell and Schumer are bullish of success. The two leaders, along with House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), have been engaged in high-level spending talks for weeks.

“I’m optimistic that very soon we’ll be able to reach an agreement,” McConnell said Tuesday.

If all goes to plan, the Senate will amend a short-term spending bill passed by the House on Tuesday to include the deal to lift strict budget caps and send the package back for the House’s approval just before the deadline. House Democrats moved their annual retreat from Maryland’s Eastern Shore to the Capitol in anticipation of having to vote on the Senate’s plan.

Hardline GOP conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus will likely oppose the deal, meaning that Ryan will need some votes from Pelosi.

“We will need Democrats to pass this,” said a senior House Republican. “If it happens.”

Pelosi will also face pressure from some of her rank-and-file members - as well as progressive groups - to reject a budget caps agreement unless Trump and the Republicans agree to a legislative fix for Dreamers. But Schumer said Tuesday that he and Pelosi are aligned strategically on moving forward, potentially defusing another potential government shutdown.

And many Democrats and Republicans will find relief in a break from budget brinkmanship and in boosting domestic programs and defense spending. The House passed a bill Tuesday funding the government until March 23, which would allow Congress to write a new spending bill for the rest of the year at levels set by the emerging budget deal, potentially avoiding more shutdown fights in an election year.

In order for such a large package to be passed before funding expires, all 100 senators will need to agree to speedy action on the spending bill and budget package. Any one senator can object to moving forward and derail the leaders’ plan, though McConnell said it was unlikely that the budget deal would fall apart at this late stage.

The budget package would increase defense spending by more than $150 billion over two years and domestic spending by a significant but smaller amount, according to a person briefed on the tentative deal. The roughly $300 billion deal will likely include Democratic priorities like billions for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program sought by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a program President Donald Trump zeroed out in his budget, as well as military spending increases sought by hawks like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

Separately, Schumer and McConnell have been discussing how the Senate will handle a debate on immigration to protect immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program from deportation. While House Democrats had been pushing Senate Democrats to clinch a DACA deal in tandem with the budget, there is little hope of a deal on immigration this week.