Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Mnuchin tells of bid to prevent shutdown
Pelosi backs plan, Treasury chief says
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday that he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have agreed to work on a shortterm spending bill to avert a government shutdown Oct. 1, weeks before the election.
“The speaker and I have agreed, we don’t want to see a government shutdown,” Mnuchin said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Mnuchin said his expectation is that this so-called continuing resolution would extend government funding into December — although the date has not yet been agreed on.
Without action by Congress, agency funding would expire at midnight Sept. 30 and the government would begin to shut down. Mnuchin’s comments confirmed reporting from The Washington Post and other outlets on agreement for a stopgap spending bill to avoid this outcome.
Mnuchin’s comments appear to suggest that the White House is not girding for a clash over this spending deadline, though White
House officials have in the past tried to negotiate deals with Democrats in Congress only to have President Donald Trump announce he is opposed at the last moment.
In 2018, a deadlock between Trump and Congress over border wall funding led to the longest shutdown in history, lasting 35 days.
“We do believe we’ll be able to get funding to avoid a shutdown,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Thursday.
A spending bill into December would allow lawmakers to return to the Capitol for a lame-duck session after the election and complete spending legislation for the 2021 fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
Short-term spending bills have become routine for Congress in recent years as lawmakers have failed to reach agreement in a timely fashion on the 12 annual must-pass spending bills that fund government agencies such as the Pentagon, the Education Department, and the Health and Human Services Department. This so-called discretionary spending accounts for about one-third of the overall federal budget, while programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security that continue automatically from year to year make up the rest.
Pelosi’s spokesman, Drew Hammill, confirmed last week that Pelosi supports passage of a so-called clean continuing resolution, meaning a government funding bill without extraneous legislation attached.
“The good news is we’ve agreed on a clean [continuing resolution], and I hope by the end of the week, we can begin moving forward with that, because that’s important to the American people,” Mnuchin said. “We haven’t agreed on the specific details, but my expectation would be through the beginning of December,” Mnuchin said Sunday. “For now the most important thing to make sure at the end of the month we don’t shut down the government and get something past the election.”
At the same time, Mnuchin repeated his view that more stimulus is needed for the economy.
Talks on additional coronavirus economic relief legislation broke down in August and have remained stalled. Lawmakers will return to the Capitol on Tuesday, and leaders in both parties say they hope to reach agreement on a new coronavirus relief bill.
But they remain far apart and it’s unclear if a deal will be possible. Democrats are unwilling to agree to legislation that spends less than $2 trillion, while Republicans say that figure is too high.
Senate GOP leaders have been hoping to try to advance a slimmed-down bill costing somewhere around $500 billion, but they’ve struggled to reach agreement even on that. The latest hang-up involves a push by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for a school choice provision opposed by some fellow Republicans.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., a member of the Senate GOP leadership, said Sunday that Senate Republicans anticipate opposition from Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to their emerging bill.
“We have a targeted package that the Republicans want to put forward to help people get back to work,” Barrasso said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“There’s paycheck protection money in there for our small businesses to continue. I expect Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to block that,” Barrasso said.