BUDGET/POLITICS: “Congressional leaders and White House officials will restart negotiations Wednesday [1-3-18] to iron out differences over spending on the Pentagon and other government agencies, with lawmakers hoping to avoid more short-term patches.
Congress ran out of time last year to tackle the spending fight, instead opting to keep the government open with a stop-gap spending bill and pushing the debate into the new year. Lawmakers returning to Washington have just three weeks before that current spending measure expires on Jan. 19.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) will host a meeting Wednesday afternoon with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.). They will be joined by Marc Short, the White House director of legislative affairs, and White House budget director Mick Mulvaney as they resume discussions over how to boost federal spending above the lower levels that will kick in unless Congress intervenes…
Both parties want to increase spending for the military, but Democrats want to see that matched with an equal increase for nonmilitary spending, a concept they call ‘parity’ in spending.”
-Kristina Peterson, “Top Lawmakers to Meet With White House Officials to Tackle Spending Talks,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 3, 2018 10:11am