Trump, lawmakers plan budget summit

Seek to sort out issues as deadline approaches

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 House Freedom Caucus flexed its 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.

The GOP will need Democratic votes to push the spending bills through Congress. Even so, top Republicans expressed confidence that they’d approve the short-term measure this week, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, R-KY., saying, “We will pass it before the end of the week.”