Hill leaders closing in on deal to avert shutdown

Congressional negotiators are nearing a deal on a three-month funding stopgap bill that would avert a government shutdown next week, which could tee up a vote in the House as soon as Tuesday night.

Republicans and Democrats both said Tuesday they had made progress toward a compromise that would fund the government through mid-December, while securing some priorities in both parties. GOP leaders are seeking tens of billions in trade relief for farmers, while Democrats are pushing for more pandemic-related nutrition assistance.

Top Democrats say it’s now possible that the House could vote late Tuesday night on an agreement — rather than the partisan version of the bill that the chamber had been slated to vote on earlier Tuesday.

“I think we’ve made some progress, and I’m hopeful we’ll be able to move it tonight,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi had halted plans to vote after party leaders restarted talks on Tuesday, days after negotiations had collapsed over a handful of policy disputes.

Pelosi, too, said Tuesday that she “would hope” to vote later that evening on a bipartisan bill, but did not yet have a formal agreement:

The biggest sticking points, according to people familiar with the discussions, involve funding for agricultural and nutrition programs. Democrats are seeking more money to help families with school-aged children buy groceries during the pandemic, in addition to an extension of flexibility that allows families to access free meals at the school nearest them regardless of income, among other things.

When asked on Tuesday if Republicans would be willing to spend more on food-related assistance in exchange for the farm aid, Senate Appropriations Chair Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said, “I’d listen to reason on that.”

Pelosi had originally planned to push through her party’s version of a short-term spending fix, despite fierce GOP objections over the lack of aid for farmers amid the ongoing trade war. But Pelosi told her caucus she was still negotiating right up until a private caucus call Tuesday morning, according to multiple sources on the call.

Both Democrats and Republicans are eager to reach a deal to avert last-minute drama, though the two parties have squabbled for weeks over various funding and policy provisions in the continuing resolution, which would buy more time for negotiations on a broader spending deal.

“The talks continue, and hopefully we’ll reach an agreement,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters in the Capitol on Tuesday, though he did not comment when asked if he’d spoken with Pelosi.

Without a spending agreement, top Democrats and Republicans would find themselves exactly where they don’t want to be just weeks before the election — perilously close to the Sept. 30 deadline with no agreement to keep the government open.

A deal had appeared to be coming together on Friday, including tens of billions of dollars in farmer payments that Republicans sought in exchange for $2 billion in pandemic-related nutritional assistance that Democrats wanted.

But last-minute objections to the trade relief — including Democratic concerns that the president is leveraging the money to boost his reelection chances — tanked the talks. House Democrats ultimately released stopgap legislation on Monday that lacked both provisions, drawing the ire of McConnell, who tweeted that it “shamefully leaves out key relief and support that American farmers need.”

Both Pelosi and McConnell have been adamant about avoiding yet another government shutdown under President Donald Trump, and have supported a bill to extend funding through mid-December.

Senate Republicans on Monday said a lack of relief for farmers in the stopgap spending bill is problematic. But most stressed that it’s not worth shutting down the government in protest and said their side of the Capitol could still attempt to amend the bill.

“We could offer an amendment to try to put it back,” Shelby said. “Or we could vote against the CR. But I’m for running the government. I’d prefer to keep the government running.”

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, slammed the lack of assistance for farmers. But when asked if Republicans would shut down the government without it, he replied, “No.”

As of Friday, Democrats had dropped a request that would extend the Census Bureau’s Dec. 31 deadline to turn over apportionment data used to divvy up House seats to the president — potentially punting the final handling of census data to Democratic nominee Joe Biden if he’s elected this November. Democrats had also failed to secure $3.6 billion in election security grants.

The GOP demands for farm aid, however, have emerged as a sticking point for many rank-and-file Democrats, who have been increasingly irate about Trump’s blatant use of farm aid for political purposes. That includes a campaign rally in Mosinee, Wis., last week, where Trump touted the taxpayer money as if it were a gift from him.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, the No. 4 Senate Democrat and ranking member of the agriculture committee, this week criticized Trump’s use of the program as a “slush fund” and argued Republicans have been unwilling to agree to stricter guardrails around how the aid can be spent.

“This is not just a political fund for the election,” she said.

Helena Bottemiller Evich contributed to this report.

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