Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins told reporters Wednesday afternoon that funding negotiations with Democrats “are not going well” as lawmakers stare down a government shutdown deadline in just over three weeks.
It usually takes congressional leaders at least a month to finalizing a dozen annual funding bills after top appropriators strike an initial agreement on overall totals for the military and non-defense programs. But Collins (R-Maine) and her fellow top appropriators have yet to strike that “toplines” agreement to lay the groundwork for negotiating the details of the 12 bills — and the shutdown deadline on March 14 is quickly ticking closer.
Given the time crunch, lawmakers are likely to fall back on at least a short-term stopgap next month, if not a “full-year” funding patch that keeps federal agencies running on current spending levels through September. As Democrats demand commitments that the Trump administration actually spend the money they enact, some lawmakers have begun to voice concerns that there’s a higher chance of a shutdown this time around.
