WASHINGTON �� House Speaker Paul Ryan told Republican colleagues Saturday that a spending bill will be ready in time to avert a government shutdown next weekend and keep agencies running and financed through the end of September.
Ryan provided few details of the bill, though, during a Saturday afternoon conference call with rank-and-file House members, according to three members who participated.
There was no discussion of how any deal on a bill to keep government funded until the Oct. 1 start of a new fiscal year would resolve unsettled issues, including whether money would be provided for President Donald Trump's promised wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
In an excerpt from an interview to be broadcast on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, John Kelly, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said he "would suspect" that Trump "will be insistent on the funding" for the wall as negotiations to keep the government open continue.
Yet, the members said Ryan insisted that a bill will be finalized between Congress and the White House before an existing spending measure expires and government funding dries up after Friday. Trump will mark his 100th day in office next Saturday.
Ryan expressed urgency during the call for Republicans to show they can get something accomplished _ even telling members their future as a majority party will depend on it. Ryan said Americans expect Republicans _ who control both chambers of Congress and the White House _ to govern, and that they're entering a pivotal time, the members said.
Congressional Democrats, whose votes would be needed in the Senate and possibly also the House to pass such a spending bill, have said they won't support money for Trump's border wall.
Ryan said details of a spending bill deal would be announced when House members arrive back in Washington on Tuesday after their two-week spring recess.
All three members said Ryan made clear he didn't want their discussions to be publicized. At one point, they said, the speaker explained his reluctance to lay out specifics because he didn't trust that members of his own conference weren't recording the meeting or even streaming live audio.
The call was described as brief _ no more than 20 minutes.
