Congressional Leadership Agree To Seek Long-Term Government Funding Bill

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have told reporters that they plan to legislate a long-term government funding omnibus in the lame duck session of Congress, rather than seeking another stopgap funding measure.

• Pelosi and Schumer made the comments after a bipartisan White House meeting with President Joe Biden and Republicans, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
• Schumer said it was "a very productive discussion about funding the government — we all agreed that it should be done this year."
• Pelosi conceded if they can't reach a deal, they "may have to have a year-long CR," but said "they don't want that."
• Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) said yesterday that he believes the chances of finishing an omnibus by the end of the year as 50-50.
• Senate appropriators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Richard Shelby (R-AL) said after a meeting last night: “We might be at Christmas, you know, there’s a lot of things at stake."