WASHINGTON: US lawmakers sought to clinch a sweeping budget deal Wednesday that would set spending levels for two years and end the immediate threat of another government shutdown, on the eve of a new deadline for federal funding.
But the sensitive issue of immigration -- which has been mired in congressional gridlock for weeks as lawmakers and the White House negotiate over the fate of millions of undocumented migrants -- is not expected to be in the latest compromise agreement.
The Senate and House of Representatives have until midnight Thursday (0500 GMT Friday) to pass a stopgap spending measure and send it to the president for his signature, or risk a second shutdown in three weeks.
The top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell and opposition Democrat Chuck Schumer said Tuesday they were close to reaching an elusive deal that would set spending caps for 2018 and 2019, in what would be a victory of sorts for Democrats, who have angled for parity in military and non-military funding.
"I don't think the government will shut down. Nobody wants the government to shut down," number two House Democrat Steny Hoyer told CNN.
On Tuesday, the House passed a partisan bill that would fund government for six weeks -- but fund the military through the remainder of fiscal year 2018.
The Senate is expected to rewrite the measure by stripping out military funding and including leadership language on spending caps before passing it and sending it back for House approval by Thursday.
But President Donald Trump's provocative outburst that he would "love to see a shutdown" if he did not get his way on immigration -- just as lawmakers sought to reach an understanding that would keep the lights on in Washington -- sent aides scrambling to downplay his remarks.
"We are not advocating for the shutdown," insisted White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.
"The president wants a long-term deal, and he wants to get a deal on immigration."
Trump's remarks threw a monkey wrench into his Republican Party's negotiating position that immigration should be handled separately from budget issues.
Democrats have long pursued a strategy to tie immigration to the debate over federal funding -- and last month implicitly threatened to bring government to a standstill absent a permanent solution for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children.
The so-called "Dreamers" were shielded from deportation under the Obama-era program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. But Trump ended the program last September, and set March 5 as a deadline for resolving the issue.
- Protecting 'Dreamers' -
With less than a month before the DACA deadline, no solution was in sight.
The White House plan -- which would put 1.8 million immigrants on a path to citizenship, boost border security, and dramatically curtail legal immigration -- has been panned by Democrats. A series of bipartisan efforts have stalled.
In the meantime, McConnell has pledged to allow open debate on immigration on the Senate floor after Thursday.
The process will be "fair to everyone," with any senator allowed to bring proposals to the floor, he said.
Top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi was again demanding action on immigration from House Speaker Paul Ryan in order to get her Democrats on board for the budget deal.
"The package does nothing to advance bipartisan legislation to protect Dreamers," Pelosi said in a statement.
"Without a commitment from Speaker Ryan comparable to the commitment from Leader McConnell, this package does not have my support."
It remained unclear whether any of the competing proposals would be able to win the 60 votes necessary to advance in the 100-member Senate, clear the House and earn Trump's backing.