Lawmakers negotiating a fiscal 2016 spending deal aren’t expected to be ready with the legislation until Tuesday at the earliest, which would guarantee that Congress will have to pass yet another short-term funding patch.
An aide to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said it is less likely the deal will be finalized by Monday afternoon or late evening, as lawmakers had hoped. Instead, it is more likely the bill would be finished Tuesday.
The aide pointed to “multiple issues to be resolved” as the reason for the delay.
A top GOP aide also confirmed the bill will most likely be ready on Tuesday. On Friday, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., said he hoped to file the legislation by Monday, which would set the House up for a Wednesday vote.
But the two parties appear stuck on a number of policy riders as well as a desire by Democrats to lift a ban prohibiting the Centers for Disease Control from advocating for gun control.
The new delay makes it far more likely Congress will have to pass another brief funding patch. The government has been operating off temporary spending plans, called continuing resolutions, since the new fiscal year began on Oct. 1.
The most recent patch expired on Friday, and Congress extended it until Wednesday.
Even if the House were able to pass the full spending year legislation by Wednesday, Senate rules almost always require days of consideration, which would have required additional time beyond the spending deadline.
Lawmakers have not yet written a new measure to temporarily fund the government beyond Wednesday, House Appropriations Committee spokeswoman Jennifer Hing told the Washington Examiner.
