Stopgap bill to prevent government shutdown held up as Trump, Pelosi feud

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, bare-minimum 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!”