The US Congress moved rapidly on Thursday to send President Donald Trump a short-term funding bill to avert a government shutdown this weekend, leaving fights over budget priorities and a range of other controversial issues for the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives, working against a Friday midnight deadline, approved legislation in a 235-193 vote to fund a wide range of federal programs through Dec. 22. The Senate followed up by approving the bill 81-14. The White House has said Trump will sign it into law. The measure creates more time for a reckoning between Republicans and Democrats about budget differences, which Trump discussed in a meeting with leading lawmakers at the White House earlier in the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that we\u2019re going to make some great progress for our country. I think that will happen,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Leaders now have about two weeks to find common ground on a host of thorny issues for the next government funding bill in order to prevent a partial government shutdown on Dec. 23. Both sides want to avoid having parts of the government close, particularly during the holidays, for fear of a public backlash, and leaders from both parties have preemptively blamed the other for such a potential outcome.<\/p>\n
That political blame game is likely to continue in the next two weeks while, behind the scenes, leaders hammer out a compromise.Republicans mainly want a big increase in defense spending for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2018. But Democrats are insisting that any added Pentagon funding be accompanied by increases to other domestic programs.<\/p>\n
Democrats also want to enact into law protections for nearly 700,000 undocumented immigrants who were children when they were brought into the United States. Republicans want a much wider series of immigration law changes to further clamp down on foreign arrivals, and they want immigration negotiations to be held on a separate track from the government funding bill.<\/p>\n
Democrats also want to shore up the Affordable Care Act, known as \u201cObamacare,\u201d by reviving federal subsidies for low-income people in the program.<\/p>\n
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer joined Trump and Republican congressional leaders for the talks after canceling a similarly planned meeting last week when the president posted a note on Twitter attacking their policy positions.<\/p>\n
The two Democrats said in a statement that the meeting on Thursday was productive but nothing specific had been agreed. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis joined the group to discuss military matters.<\/p>\n
The White House foresees a compromise with lawmakers that will include increases in defense and non-defense spending, White House legislative affairs director Marc Short told Reuters.<\/p>\n
He said the White House wants a deal that covers spending for fiscal years 2018 and 2019. Earlier on Thursday, Schumer said Trump seemed to be rooting for a shutdown and warned that, if one occurs, \u201cit will fall on his shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis party controls the Senate, the House and the presidency,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody here wants to see a shutdown. We Democrats are not interested in one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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