Trump, congressional leaders plan White House budget meeting
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and congressional leaders have scheduled a summit to begin sorting out their budget differences, top lawmakers and the White House said Monday, as a clash that could produce a partial government shutdown by the weekend hung in the balance.
The meeting, set for Thursday at the White House, comes just a day before federal spending expires that’s needed to keep agencies functioning beyond midnight Friday night. Complicating the search for a pact are disputes over immigration, health and other issues folded into the year-end mix.
Top Republicans have wanted to push a bill through Congress this week keeping government afloat through Dec. 22, giving bargainers more time to seek a longer-term budget pact. But underscoring the balancing act leaders face, the hard-right House Freedom Caucus flexed their muscle late Monday and demanded that the temporary spending bill run until Dec. 30.
The conservatives said they worry that a vote on the spending measure before Christmas — when lawmakers are desperate to get home — would give Democrats more leverage to boost the package’s price tag. In a brief drama, around two dozen of them withheld votes for a procedural measure advancing the GOP’s prized, separate tax bill until House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., agreed to talk to them further about their concerns, said Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C.