(Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she’s “hopeful” that she and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will finalize an agreement to lift caps on government spending this month -- a deal she wants to attach to a bill raising the debt limit before Congress’s August recess.
The discussion has boiled down to whether $22 billion for a law expanding veterans health care options over the next two years will count as part of government spending on non-defense discretionary programs. Pelosi said Tuesday at least part of that cost shouldn’t count toward the budget cap.
Pelosi has been negotiating with Mnuchin in a series of phone calls, and the speaker is still pushing to include the budget deal in the bill Congress must pass to raise the debt limit.
Mnuchin said Monday he wants to honor the request from congressional leaders to finalize the spending levels for next year along with raising the debt limit. But he said if an agreement can’t be reached, then a bill to give the U.S. more borrowing authority should move separately.
House Budget Chairman John Yarmuth said it’s unlikely that Democrats and Republicans will reach an agreement to lift caps on government spending before their August recess. Although Yarmuth isn’t directly involved in the negotiations, he doesn’t think the two sides will resolve their differences before the recess that begins July 26.
To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Wasson in Washington at ewasson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Anna Edgerton, Laurie Asséo
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