Democratic leaders in Congress announced that they made a deal with President Donald Trump to pass relief aid for Hurricane Harvey, raise the debt ceiling, and pass a three-month bill to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month.



House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the deal in a joint press release after a meeting at the White House Wednesday, which also included House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"Both sides have every intention of avoiding default in December and look forward to working together on the many issues before us," Schumer and Pelosi said in their statement.



The deal would keep the government from defaulting on its debt or shutting down until Dec. 15, when Congress would have to act again. "The nation can breathe a sigh of relief. We've avoided default and we've avoided a government shutdown, both of which would cause damage far into the future," Schumer told reporters back at the Capitol later Wednesday.

Whether the deal moves forward is up to Ryan and McConnell, who control both chambers of Congress. Hours before the White House meeting, Ryan called a three-month extension of the debt ceiling a "ridiculous" and "unworkable" idea. But McConnell told reporters Wednesday afternoon that he would support the deal, even as other Republicans have expressed deep frustrations with an agreement that would take away a lot of their leverage this fall.

“It’s completely ridiculous. It’s like they’re trying to lose," a senior Senate GOP aide said of the deal.

Asked about the agreement Sen. Orrin Hatch said: "Let's just say I'm not supremely happy right now."

A source briefed on the meeting said that Republican leaders were surprised that Trump sided with Democrats on a shorter extension of the debt ceiling.

"McConnell, Ryan, McCarthy, and the President's own Treasury Secretary, [Steven] Mnuchin all advocated for a longer debt limit extension than what Schumer and Pelosi called for. Basically everyone with an R behind their name," the source said. "There was an expected standstill in the meeting on this point and the congressional leaders were basically going to agree to disagree, and then unexpectedly the president said basically let's just all agree and do three and three. Three-month CR and three-month debt limit with Harvey."

Democrats appeared to be surprised by Trump's move as well. "It's fucking wild," one Senate Democratic aide said of the agreement.

White House Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short said that Trump made the agreement in order to "clear the decks" for Republicans to tackle tax reform, pushing major battles back from the end of this month to December.