Little progress as spending talks push past weekend

 Top appropriators made little progress in crafting a new spending deal over the weekend, leaving them little time to reach a deal before a Dec. 20 deadline.   House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and her Senate counterpart Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) had hoped to work out politically contentious issues in the spending packages by the end of the weekend, leaving only the toughest issues for leadership to hammer out.

The talks began on Friday, when top Democrats and Republicans from 12 appropriations subcommittees responsible for annual spending bills submitted progress from their own talks to the full committee chairs, leaving them to haggle over tough issues such as how to tackle President Trump's proposed border wall.

Other contentious issues included immigration enforcement, abortion and Trump's use of emergency powers to transfer military funds toward the wall.

Appropriators have just days to work out a deal on the issues if they are to move packages of spending bills through both the House and Senate by December 20th to avoid a shutdown. Without new spending bills, Congress would have to pass a stopgap funding measure to prevent a government closure.

Shelby has suggested a stopgap could extend as far as March, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last week it could go until just after Christmas.

Whether President Trump will agree to sign another stopgap without a deal on the wall remains an open question. Last year, the fight over the wall led to a 35-day shutdown. There are reasons to think both sides would want to avoid a shutdown this time, given a presidential election that is less than a year away. But Trump is seen as a wild card in the negotiations, and tensions are high with House Democrats expected to impeach Trump before Christmas.