By Kristina Peterson and Natalie Andrews 

WASHINGTON -- Capitol Hill is a hotbed of partisan fighting, but a handful of congressional leaders are quietly working across the aisle to stabilize the government's finances.

Away from the headline-grabbing recriminations over whether to impeach President Trump, senior lawmakers in both parties are focused on smoothing the path for Congress to keep the government open for two years after its current funding expires on Oct. 1. Along the way, they are trying to avoid a bill-derailing debate over abortion, prevent a debt default and give lawmakers a modest pay raise.

"The forces of partisanship and polarization are very, very strong and still eating away at the institution. Appropriators are probably one of the last places you'll see that happen," said Rep. Tom Cole (R., Okla.), referring to his fellow members on the House Appropriations Committee, which writes spending bills. "It's an island of bipartisanship."

House Democratic leaders have opted to maintain a detente over abortion funding in their efforts to pass a spending bill. Despite pressure from progressives to remove it, Democratic leaders included in the bill expected to pass this week an amendment that bans federal funds for most abortions. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden this month faced such stinging criticism from the party's left wing for supporting the Hyde amendment that a day later he reversed his stance.

"I never have liked the Hyde amendment, and I've never understood why we just don't just go after it and outright repeal it," said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D., Va.). But, he said, that alone won't lead him or many in the caucus to vote against the spending bill that includes it. "In voting for or against any bill, it's a calculus: you weigh the good versus the bad," he said. Spending bills without the abortion-funding restriction would be unlikely to pass the GOP-controlled Senate.

Meanwhile, Senate GOP leaders met with top White House officials last week to continue negotiations aimed at reaching a two-year budget deal and raising the government's borrowing limit, known as the debt ceiling. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) have said they hope to raise the limit as part of any budget deal, to make sure the government can continue paying all its bills on time.

The Treasury Department has been using extraordinary measures since March to conserve cash, but the government could begin to miss payments by early fall without a debt-limit increase.

While some administration officials have been skeptical of anything longer than a one-year spending agreement, congressional leaders have been pushing to strike a two-year accord. Lawmakers said a longer-term agreement would make it easier for them to write spending bills and diminish the prospects of another partial government shutdown, after the five-week closure that ended earlier this year.

"A two-year deal would be in everybody's best interests," said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R., Ala.)

Since Congress and former President Obama agreed to lower federal spending as a way to resolve a 2011 debt-ceiling fight, lawmakers have regularly struck two-year deals to raise both military and nonmilitary spending levels, the most recent of which expires at the end of September. Absent an agreement by early next year, domestic spending for fiscal 2020 would be cut by $55 billion and military spending by $71 billion, compared with fiscal 2019 levels.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said that congressional leaders, "left to their own devices," would be perfectly capable of striking another agreement to avoid the deep cuts.

"There is bipartisanship in all of this. We know what we have to do. We can get it done," she said last week, while signaling concerns about how willing Mr. Trump and the White House will be to compromise.

White House officials have said they are concerned about the impact a two-year deal raising spending would have on the federal deficit.

Some of the behind-the-scenes efforts have hit hurdles. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) agreed privately this month to allow for a $4,500 cost-of-living salary increase for members and staff, the first in a decade. That deal, according to congressional aides, included provisions that neither party would air attack ads against those who voted for it, and that both leaders would ensure enough bipartisan support for passage while still allowing lawmakers in competitive districts to vote against, thus neutralizing it as a campaign issue.

But, while many members support the increase, House Republicans' campaign arm attacked freshman Democrats for allowing the bill to pass committee, and many freshmen who ran on ending corruption in Washington vocalized their angst over the raise, leading Democratic leaders to pull the pay increase from a package of legislation.

Rank-and-file House lawmakers currently make $174,000. Lawmakers have suspended an automatic 2.6% annual pay bump for the past decade. Negotiations for the raise are continuing.

Lawmakers said their public feuds often mask deeper, across-the-aisle relationships, particularly in the Senate where most bills need bipartisan support to clear procedural hurdles. Last week, GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson flew in barbecue ribs and macaroni and cheese from his home state of Georgia for a bipartisan lunch, attended by Sens. John Cornyn (R., Texas) and Chris Coons (D., Del.) among others.

"People sort of eat and drink as friends and fight in public," Mr. Cornyn said.

Write to Kristina Peterson at kristina.peterson@wsj.com and Natalie Andrews at Natalie.Andrews@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 16, 2019 07:44 ET (11:44 GMT)

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