Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., joined by House Armed Services Committee members and Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, right, as Ryan puts his signature on the Defense spending bill before it goes to the president, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
November 30, 2017 - 12:36 PM
WASHINGTON - House GOP leaders are looking to keep the government's doors open through Dec. 22. They're hoping that talks with Democrats over spending and immigration could head off a government shutdown that neither side says it wants.
Republicans are preparing a bill to head off a government shutdown next Friday the government operating through Dec. 22. The idea is to win a bipartisan agreement on spending increases for the Pentagon and domestic agencies — whose budgets otherwise would be frozen — and pave the way for a catchall, government-wide spending bill in January.
But battles over immigration and President Donald Trump's U.S.-Mexico border wall would still threaten to spark a government shutdown, either just before Christmas or in January.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017