Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney huddled behind closed doors in the Capitol Wednesday with other congressional leaders to work on a deal on next year's spending levels.
There are two items on the agenda: head off an automatic round of budget cuts and increasing the debt ceiling, which, if it's not raised, would result in the first-ever default on U.S. obligations.
The bipartisan group is trying to stave off a financial train wreck ahead of a series of deadlines this fall, which could include another government shutdown after the current fiscal year ends Sept. 30.
Congressional leaders and administration officials are meeting in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office to try to come to a financial deal to prevent another government shutdow
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is leading the talks for the Trump administration
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy joined in the talks along with Budget Director Russ Vought.
The group also met on the issue in May and made some progress but President Donald Trump, angered over Pelosi's accusation he engaged in a cover up on the Russia probe, walked out a May 22 White House meeting with Democrats.
The speaker is meeting with the administration team despite her frustration with President Trump boiling over last week.
'I'm done with him,' Pelosi said at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation financial summit.
'I don't even want to talk about him,' she said, adding, 'My stock goes up every time he attacks me, so what can I say, but let's not spend too much time on that because that's his victory, the diverter-in-chief, the diverter-of-attention-in-chief.'
Pelosi told reporters last week the House won't pass the must-do legislation to increase the government's borrowing means until the administration agrees to increase spending limits on domestic programs.
'When we lift the caps then we can talk about lifting the debt ceiling - that would have to come second or simultaneous, but not before lifting the caps,' she said.
Without a deal to raise the spending caps, domestic and military spending face a $125 billion cut.
Mnuchin, who is leading talks for the administration, said his priority is the debt limit as the U.S. has never defaulted on a loan.
'If we reach a caps deal, the debt ceiling has to be included,' he said.
Wednesday afternoon's talks are intended to set a more orderly fiscal agenda that would permit relatively routine passage of both spending bills and drama-free consideration of the debt limit legislation, required this fall to avert a market-rattling default on U.S. obligations like bond payments.
Already negotiators are behind last year's schedule, and that ended in a 35-day government shutdown.
It won't be easy. An early burst of optimism after
