Farm aid holds up stopgap bill to avert shutdown

WASHINGTON — Efforts to fashion a temporary spending bill needed to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month ran aground Friday amid a fight over farm bailout funding that’s a key priority of President Donald Trump and Capitol Hill Republicans.

A House Appropriations Committee spokesman said the measure, which aides had predicted would be released Friday evening, won’t be unveiled until next week. The measure needs to be passed by the end of the budget year on Sept. 30 to prevent a shutdown of nonessential government functions.

A tentative proposal by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to permit Trump to keep awarding agricultural funds this campaign season in exchange for food aid for the poor ran into severe turbulence with both House and Senate Democrats.

The evolving measure is a lowest-common-denominator, bareminimum bill that befits a deeply polarized Congress. Even so, it took intense efforts at the highest levels of Washington to get the measure this far, but a negotiating flurry Friday fell apart. Neither side wants a partial government shutdown.

Aides following the talks closely said Pelosi initially denied an administration request to add routine flexibility to rules governing Trump’s farm bailout efforts, which would freeze his ability to dole out subsidy payments until after the election. Trump is using the funding, over which he has much control, to try to shore up his support in farm country, which has been hit hard by low commodity prices and higher tariffs he himself imposed.

The battle prompted Trump on Friday to blast his nemesis on Twitter: “Pelosi wants to take 30 Billion Dollars away from our great Farmers. Can’t let that happen!”

Pelosi then reversed course Friday afternoon to briefly approve the Trump-sought change — only to again change her mind, Democratic and GOP aides said, speaking on condition of anonymity to publicly characterize behind-thescenes dealings. Pelosi was also seeking a higher food benefit for families whose children are unable to receive free or reduced lunches because schools are closed over the coronavirus.

It’s unclear what happens next, but Pelosi retains the option to try to jam the measure through without the farm provision and try to cast blame on Republicans or Trump if it runs aground in the Senate.

What remains is not controversial and includes provisions that would extend federal highway and flood insurance programs, along with a variety of other low-profile items.

As previously announced, the bill does not contain COVID-19 relief, leaving that issue in all likelihood for a post-election lame duck session — or for the next administration.

Pelosi, D-Calif., and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin negotiated the measure, which would keep the government open through Dec. 11.