Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin declared that White House has "no intention" of allowing a government shutdown, following a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The principals, minus Donald Trump, are trying to make sure nothing blows up between now and next Thursday at midnight, when government funding runs out.
Campaign Action
That means putting off the difficult stuff until next month, since all parties have come to agreement that they'll vote next week to extend funding until Dec. 20. Politico reports that all parties came out of that meeting "confident that they could settle on concrete spending amounts over the weekend—a deal that would likely avoid a paralyzing government-wide shutdown this winter."
A Democratic aide said that "We're very close. […] If we can get everyone to sign off, it could be tomorrow or Monday." That would allow for a series of fast votes over the next few weeks to pass appropriations bills, all of which would have to be completed by Dec. 20, or be so close that another short-term funding bill could be passed to avert a shutdown.
All of this depends on whether White House officials, Democrats, and Republicans can figure out how to keep kicking the can of Trump's wall funding down the road. As of now, Republican negotiators "appear willing to set aside discussing the wall […] in hopes of achieving the bipartisan goal of finalizing the allocations," another senior Democratic aide said following the meeting. But did they clear that with Trump?
They have no choice but to move forward with these negotiations, but the dark cloud of Trump and his impeachment rage continues to loom.