(Bloomberg) -- Republican leaders balked at Democratic requests for spending on non-defense government programs, warning that the two parties are still far apart on a deal to avert a government shutdown and lift the debt ceiling.

The request came at a meeting Wednesday that included Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and acting White House budget chief Russ Vought.

Republicans are demanding more defense spending, which Democrats want to match with other government spending. Such a deal would raise budget caps, which under current law would trigger a $126 billion automatic budget cut at the end of 2019.

“We are farther apart because the Democrats are asking for more money than they asked for last time,” McCarthy said after the meeting. “They just want to spend more.”

The top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Patrick Leahy, confirmed that Democrats made an offer but wouldn’t say how much they proposed for non-defense discretionary spending. Mulvaney said Democrats are asking to spend $647 billion on government programs in fiscal year 2020, compared to the $639 billion they previously requested.

“You tell me if things are moving in the right direction,” Mulvaney said after detailing Democrats’ offer, implying that the meeting didn’t go well.

Mnuchin said the White House offered a one-year extension of current levels of government spending and a one-year suspension of the debt limit. He said everyone agreed they will raise the debt ceiling but there is still disagreement about the budget caps.

--With assistance from Nancy Ognanovich.

To contact the reporters on this story: Erik Wasson in Washington at ewasson@bloomberg.net;Jack Fitzpatrick in Washington at jfitzpatri53@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Anna Edgerton, Laurie Asséo

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