Republican funding leaders have made an opening offer to Democrats as the two parties launch negotiations toward a deal to fund the government before the mid-March shutdown deadline.
Congress’ top appropriators gathered privately Thursday evening in the Capitol for an hourlong “four corners” meeting — the first concrete step toward a bipartisan funding agreement as Republican leaders begin to embrace the idea of a cross-party accord that funds the government and raises the debt limit, while also potentially boosting disaster aid and border security funding.
The beginning of negotiations follows months of inaction on a bipartisan government funding plan, after lawmakers first punted beyond the October start of the fiscal year and then again resorted to a stopgap measure in December, pushing the spending cliff into the first months of the new Trump administration.
Leaving the meeting, the House’s top Democratic appropriator, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, said the four lawmakers hope to strike a “top-line” agreement by month’s end — just over a week away — to set overall totals for the military and nondefense programs, as well as rules for policy add-ons.
