republicans in congress will huddle with vice president-elect mike pence. | ap photo the emerging deal to fund the government through march came as mike pence met with republicans on capitol hill. by rachael bade , burgess everett and kyle cheney 11/17/16 01:57 pm est updated 11/17/16 01:57 pm est capitol hill republicans and the incoming trump administration are nearing agreement on a plan to fund the government at current levels through march 31, house speaker paul ryan (r-wis.) told lawmakers during a closed-door meeting thursday. the short-term patch is aimed at giving trump a say in next year's funding priorities and preventing president barack obama from putting his mark on a massive spending deal. story continued below "speaker ryan told the gop conference that in consultation with the incoming trump administration, it was determined that a [continuing resolution] into march is the best approach,<u+201d> ryan<u+2019>s spokeswoman ashlee strong confirmed in an emailed statement. the news come as vice president-elect mike pence is on capitol hill for the second time in just over a week to meet with the house republican conference, ryan and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell (r-ky.). pence will also meet with democratic leaders. house republicans have little interest in negotiating with a lame-duck obama. punting to early next year, when trump will be in the white house with a gop congress, will give the right more leverage to get its spending priorities and pet policy riders into law. even mcconnell <u+2014> who was pushing for a full appropriations package with new funding levels for all government agencies and departments, known as an omnibus <u+2014> is starting to come to terms with the ryan-trump plan, though he has cautioned that nothing is final. "discussions are also ongoing about how to fund the government and for how long, as i noted yesterday. i<u+2019>ll have more to say on this issue as more details are available," the kentucky republican said on thursday morning. senate republicans generally prefer a longer-term spending bill to avoid fouling up their schedule in march or april, when the chamber could be considering legislation critical to trump<u+2019>s agenda or a supreme court nominee. the senate moves much less quickly than the house, and shutdown deadlines have a way of seizing the attention of the entire capitol and distracting from other matters. by alex isenstadt and darren samuelsohn yet mcconnell<u+2019>s top deputy said that republicans are beginning to accept that<u+2019>s what the house and trump<u+2019>s team want. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s still being discussed, but it<u+2019>s sounding like it<u+2019>s more likely to be a short-term cr. that<u+2019>s what i<u+2019>m hearing. no decision<u+2019>s been made,<u+201d> senate majority whip john cornyn (r-texas) said in an interview thursday morning. <u+201c>frankly, we<u+2019>re going to be so busy, it would be nice to clear the decks." there<u+2019>s also an awareness among senate republicans that they need democratic votes to fund the government, which could add a flare of drama to a lame-duck session that the gop is hoping will be low-key. outgoing sen. barbara mikulskik (d-md.), the top democrat on the appropriations committee, opposes a continuing resolution. senate minority leader harry reid also offered a dour assessment of the gop plan. "they're not doing their jobs," reid said. but republicans also want to pay deference to the president-elect in his first days in office. <u+201c>my personal preference is that we do it until the end<u+201d> of september, said sen. john thune of south dakota, the no. 3 republican. <u+201c>to do anything, as you know, in the senate takes a lot of time. we<u+2019>ve got a lot of stuff that we really want to get hopping on. it<u+2019>ll be a very busy six months. if you have to stop and finish last year<u+2019>s business in the middle of that, it<u+2019>s challenging.<u+201d> legislation must be enacted by dec. 9, when the government runs out of money. while that gives lawmakers a few weeks to come up with a plan, some are already hoping to adjourn in early december. a short-term cr isn<u+2019>t as simple as it sounds. lawmakers from both parties as well as the obama administration will want to include a host of policy or funding tweaks, known as <u+201c>anomalies,<u+201d> to ensure that federal operations continue unhindered. <u+201c>this will be a more complicated cr than would ordinarily be the case,<u+201d> said rep. charlie dent of pennsylvania, a gop appropriator. <u+201c>there will be a lot of anomalies, potentially some policy issues.<u+201d> the obama administration has also requested an additional $11.6 billion in war funding for afghanistan and iraq. house appropriations chairman hal rogers (r-ky.) said he and his colleagues would try to deliver those funds in the lame-duck session. <u+201c>that obviously is terribly important,<u+201d> he told reporters. <u+201c>we want to be sure that our military has adequate resources during this interim period of time. so, that<u+2019>s under deep consideration.<u+201d> the trump team might regret its decision to call for a cr. republicans are sure to confront the <u+201c>navel gazing and circular firing squads<u+201d> that always accompany funding the government, dent said. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s going to be their headache,<u+201d> he said of the trump administration. <u+201c>they<u+2019>ll find that out soon enough.<u+201d> dent also noted that passing budgets in the new year leaves the senate with a smaller margin of error for republican defections. a <u+201c>cr is better than a shutdown," he said, "but we should pass the omnibus and the appropriations bills now and not defer this into the new year." presidential transition by darren samuelsohn during their meeting with pence, republicans talked about leaving early in order to give them more leverage to use the so-called congressional review act. that law allows congress to repeal regulations enacted in the previous 60 legislative days. by adjourning early, republicans could stop the clock for a time, and when they return in january, repeal some of obama<u+2019>s midnight regulations enacted in his last few months in office. sources in the room said pence also told lawmakers that he and trump were happy the current house gop leadership team was reelected. he thanked lawmakers who supported the ticket but assured the rest who did not that trump <u+201c>believes we are all on the same page.<u+201d> pence said he and trump plan to work closely with the house, and he advised lawmakers to <u+201c>buckle up<u+201d> because they want to move quickly to pass top republican priorities, including tax reform and a repeal of obamacare. pence declined to get into specifics as he exited the 45-minute meeting. members worked to project optimism and unity, even tweeting out a photo of pence taking a selfie with the conference, with the aid of a selfie-stick. rep. mark meadows (r-n.c.) said pence advised members to prepare for a more grueling schedule than they've seen in awhile. "advise your families that you need to be prepared for work," pence told them, according to meadows, "and that you<u+2019>re going to be working a lot more aggressively with a more aggressive schedule than you<u+2019>ve seen in a long time." ben weyl contributed to this report. by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz by jack shafer
republicans, trump close in on spending deal - politico
rachael bade burgess everett kyle cheney alex isenstadt darren samuelsohn darren samuelsohn jack shafer