Congressional leaders to launch budget talks with White House
The top four congressional leaders of both parties are expected to meet with White House officials next week to discuss a two-year budget deal, a pair of sources confirmed Friday.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) will kick off talks as deadlines to avoid another government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling loom this fall.
{mosads}Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are expected to attend, but the meeting has not been formally scheduled as of Friday afternoon, according to an aide.
A congressional source added that Hill leadership had agreed to meet with Mnuchin and other administration officials to discuss the budget caps on defense and non-defense spending.
The meeting comes after Mulvaney met with McConnell on Thursday to discuss spending and amid growing concerns on Capitol Hill about avoiding across-the-board cuts known as sequestration.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) indicated on Thursday that leadership was trying to set up a meeting with the White House next week to discuss a budget cap deal.
“What could come out of it is an agreement, where we can move our approps, a number,” Shelby told The Hill when asked what could come out of the White House talks. “Or nothing could come out if, you’ve been here, you’ve seen.”
A senior White House official told The Hill that “it’s still too early to speculate on what the outcome of these discussions will be, but as deficit spending continues to drive up our national debt, the Administration will continue to push for fiscal responsibility.”
McConnell initially announced last month that he, Pelosi and President Trump had agreed to staff-level talks about how to get a budget caps deal. News of the meeting next week was first reported by Politico.
Lawmakers have been sounding the alarm about the need to keep the government open, with current funding set to expire at the end of September. They’ll also need to raise the debt ceiling later this year to avoid defaulting, with the Treasury Department expected to be able to extend the deadline until September or October.
Unless lawmakers reach a deal on spending, about $120 billion in automatic cuts to defense and domestic programs would go into effect under sequestration.
Separately, Pelosi and Schumer plan to meet with Trump next Wednesday to follow up on their recent meeting about a $2 trillion infrastructure plan.
—Updated at 4:26 p.m. Brett Samuels contributed.
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