White House Has 'Every Intention' of Avoiding Shutdown Despite Budget Impasse

Congressional leadership and the Trump administration on Wednesday moved no closer to a deal to lift spending caps set to take effect in October, though the White House appears to be offering a one-year stopgap spending measure in hopes of avoiding another government shutdown. Top lawmakers in both the House and Senate huddled with Treasury Department Secretary Steve Mnuchin, as well as acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, in hopes of reaching a compromise to offset automatic budget cuts that would slash defense and non-defense spending by a total of $125 billion in fiscal 2020. The officials also discussed a path forward for lifting the nation’s borrowing limit, as Treasury is set to hit its debt ceiling later this year.