WASHINGTON _ Congressional leaders wrestled with a host of unresolved issues kicked upstairs after a productive weekend of spending talks, ranging from border wall construction to unrelated riders such as surprise medical billing and satellite television legislation.
Wall funding has been the major impediment to a spending deal. Sources familiar with the talks said negotiators were moving toward a trade-off that neither side would be happy with, but could allow each to walk away with a win: President Donald Trump likely retaining authority to transfer funds from the Pentagon to border security accounts, but new wall funding staying flat at best from fiscal 2019 levels.
No decisions had been made and congressional and White House aides were reluctant to discuss details given the sensitivity of the talks.
To date, Democrats have unsuccessfully sought to block the president's ability to transfer up to $6.7 billion in prior appropriations, mainly for Pentagon military construction and drug-interdiction accounts and a smaller amount from Treasury asset seizures, to border wall construction.
Various interest groups have also tied up the move in several court proceedings, though the Supreme Court ruled in July that the president could tap $2.5 billion in prior appropriations for Pentagon counterdrug programs. A federal judge in California is also expected to rule soon on a lawsuit filed by House Democrats, several states and the Sierra Club on whether the administration can continue using $3.6 billion in military construction funds for wall-building.
Negotiators were also still trying to work out an agreement on how much new funding for a border wall or barriers would be included. The amount of new spending for the wall in fiscal 2020 has been in dispute, with the White House requesting as much as $8.6 billion, or more than six times above fiscal 2019 appropriations. Negotiators have been working with the $1.375 billion approved last year as the ceiling in the current negotiations, which could allow Democrats to walk away with a win.
Sources close to the talks said in addition to wall funding, quite a few other issues remained unresolved, and it did not appear likely that an agreement would be reached Monday.
Congressional leaders are negotiating the inclusion of extensions of tax and health care provisions and several other key legislative authorizations in a year-end spending package as appropriations leaders try to reach agreement on the spending bills.
In addition to tax extenders and health care extenders, the items on the table include reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, federally backed flood insurance, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program and a 2014 law allowing satellite television companies to provide broadcast content to underserved communities, according to sources with knowledge of the discussions.
Federal aid to a major pension plan for retired coal miners that is facing insolvency as well as provisions to allow retired miners to keep their health insurance is also under consideration. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell backs that effort, which faces greater urgency due to several recent coal company bankruptcies.
And the House Energy and Commerce and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees are pushing for leaders to include draft legislation they are working to finalize that would, among other things, crack down on surprise out-of-network medical bills, raise the legal age to purchase tobacco to 21 and provide nearly $20 billion for community health centers, a source said.
