WASHINGTON — Pressure is mounting on US congressional leaders to strike a year-end spending deal by Friday and avoid a government shutdown.
Lawmakers must pass a long-term omnibus spending bill, and negotiators are aiming to release the text of the legislation on Monday in time to schedule votes by midweek, The Hill reported.
Congressional leaders and Congress watchers are optimistic there will be a deal despite rancor over Republican policy riders opposed by Democrats. Negotiators were said to have been working over the weekend to hash out the details.
"My latest read of the situation is — and this could change by the hour — is that they are engaged in negotiations and trying to work out what riders will or will not be on the bill," Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said. "At this point, I don't think there's much of a possibility of a government shutdown unless we see negotiations break down completely."
Key Republican lawmakers have left the door open for a short-term stopgap spending measure should negotiations get too close to ors need to keep working past Friday's deadline. While some lawmakers have said they oppose any further continuing resolutions, Harrison said he did not believe that threat would apply to a CR of a couple of days.
Congress may miss the Friday deadline, according to one key lawmaker. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Ryan reportedly told a radio station in his hometown of Janesville that "it might take us more than just this week to get these issues put together correctly."
Democrats would like to fend off riders on Syrian refugees — a hot topic in the wake of the Paris attacks — and on Obama administration environmental rules, among others. Last Wednesday, Democratic leaders rejected a Republican-crafted spending bill over its inclusion of more than 30 policy riders.
Rep. Steve Scalise, the House majority whip, on Fox News Sunday said he did not expect a government shutdown but suggested a firm stance on the policy riders.
"American families want to see these things addressed," he said of the "problems" the riders are meant to cure.
White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday that the inclusion of such riders "does risk a government shutdown," one which the country would not support "over the inclusion of ideological provisions in a budget bill."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday she was "optimistic" about an agreement.
"It shouldn't take this long, it shouldn't have this uncertainty, it shouldn't be weighted down in all of this policy when, in fact, a spending bill is a great deal of policy making itself," she said.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told MSNBC on Thursday he had "no reason to believe that we would have a shutdown."
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., last week warned that "vexatious poison pill riders" could still lead to a shutdown, though he said the two sides were making progress every day.
"We've got to pass a lot of bipartisan legislation," Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said. "First and foremost, fund the government. No shutdown."
Email: jgould@defensenews.com
Twitter: @reporterjoe
Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.
