House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will continue Tuesday a back and forth with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on a budget deal. | Win McNamee/Getty Images congress Pelosi rejects short-term debt ceiling hike as budget talks extend

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Monday night turned aside the notion of a short-term debt ceiling hike as she continues negotiating on a broader budget deal with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

After days of hashing out their positions over the phone, Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Mnuchin spoke again Monday night, with plans to talk on Tuesday, according to a Pelosi aide.


“We shall see,” Pelosi said when asked about the possibility of striking a sweeping two-year agreement before the August recess that lifts the budget caps and the debt limit.

“The issues are what they are. They’ll be here now, they’ll be here later,” she said. “The interests of the full faith and credit of the United States of America are served by us doing this as soon as possible.”

Pelosi would not speculate on a backup plan if congressional leaders and the White House fail to strike an accord before the break.

The speaker outlined her parameters for a sweeping deal in a letter to Mnuchin over the weekend, demanding “parity,” or dollar-for-dollar increases in military and nonmilitary spending.

But some of the Trump administration’s key budget negotiators, like acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and acting OMB Director Russ Vought, have already panned the same-dollar increases, which House Democrats adhered to in crafting fiscal 2020 spending bills this year.

Pelosi also called for $22 billion in additional funding over the next two fiscal years for veterans' health care. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said tonight that request remains “a big obstacle” to a deal.

