Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins told reporters Wednesday afternoon that funding negotiations with Democrats “are not going well” as lawmakers stare down a government shutdown deadline in just over three weeks.
It usually takes congressional leaders at least a month to finalize a dozen annual funding bills after top appropriators strike an initial agreement on overall totals for the military and nondefense programs.
But the Maine Republican and her fellow top appropriators have yet to strike that “toplines” deal to lay the groundwork for negotiating the details of the 12 bills — and the shutdown deadline on March 14 is quickly ticking closer.
Given the time crunch, lawmakers are likely to fall back on at least a short-term stopgap next month, if not a “full-year” funding patch that would keep agencies running on current spending levels through September.
