Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Thursday said there are “positive signs” that spending talks on Capitol Hill can get back on track and predicted that lawmakers can strike a deal if President Trump butts out of the process.
He touted bipartisan work on a recent spending package and said talks are ongoing about re-starting negotiations on the remaining bills for fiscal year 2020.
“We hope this moves forward in a bipartisan way. Each side has to agree,” the New York Democrat said in a Senate floor speech. “And I will repeat my view: if President Trump stays out of it, we will come to an agreement.”
But Mr. Schumer said if the president inserts himself into the proceedings, there could be a “second Trump shutdown.”
He said Republicans’ push to reallocate money for Mr. Trump’s desired U.S.-Mexico border wall was “way out of bounds.”
A dispute over border wall funding helped trigger a 35-day government shutdown that stretched from last December into January, though the White House is reportedly backing off some of its border wall demands in the current negotiations.
SEE ALSO: Senate spending impasse sets up shutdown fight
Beyond top-line spending for the wall, Democrats and Republicans are also in a standoff over exactly how much authority the president should have to transfer other funds to use on the wall.
Congress recently passed a stopgap bill that funds the government through Nov. 21. If lawmakers can’t finish negotiations on full-year appropriations bills before then, they will have to pass another short-term spending bill or risk another shutdown.
Congress signed off on a two-year budget deal earlier this year that allows lawmakers to approve about $300 billion more in spending than what had been allowed under the law. But they still need to pass bills that appropriate those funds.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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