The end of the fiscal year and the borrowing limit loom, but lawmakers are no closer to a deal to keep the government open beyond Sept. 30.
The Trump administration and Republican and Democratic leaders have yet to strike an accord on how high to lift spending caps on both domestic an military spending.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby said he’ll delay the typical July frenzy of appropriations legislation until a firm caps deal is reached.
The Alabama Republican is putting off the legislation at the direction of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who told Shelby he wants President Trump’s buy-in on a caps number before authoring and voting on government funding bills.
“The leader is looking for some real numbers,” Shelby said.
Shelby said there are no meetings with the White House planned and that the “center of gravity” is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Trump administration officials, namely Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Talks that had been progressing stalled ahead of the July 4 recess.
Pelosi, a California Democrat, and the Trump administration need to strike a deal quickly, Shelby said.
“It’s time for serious, serious conversations between the speaker and the administration on those numbers,” Shelby said.
As Congress runs out of time on passing spending bills, raising the specter of a government shutdown, the nation’s borrowing authority is now expected to expire much sooner than anticipated.
On Monday, the Bipartisan Policy Center said the nation’s debt limit would be reached in mid-September, which is weeks earlier then a previous October prediction.
Lawmakers want a deal to raise the debt limit to be wrapped into the caps deal. Mnuchin had hoped Congress would agree to raise the debt ceiling separately from the caps, but neither GOP nor Democratic leaders will agree to that.
While the GOP-led Senate plans to hold off on spending bills until a deal is reached, the Democrat-led House has begun passing an appropriations bill using their own preferred spending limits.
Those measures will be used to bargain on a final spending deal with the Senate and will ultimately have to adhere to a caps deal.
A spokesperson for Pelosi has not yet responded to a request for comment about the negotiations.
McConnell declined to comment.
