"I'm hoping today," Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters when asked Tuesday morning when leaders would wrap up negotiations. "There are some unresolved issues. We're working through them as we speak." | Alex Wong/Getty Images Congress struggles to clinch spending deal Lawmakers are still wrestling over key provisions — with a shutdown looming at week’s end.

Congressional leaders are racing to finalize a spending bill by the end of Tuesday but find themselves still at odds over a host of controversial issues — delaying plans to unveil the proposal and raising the prospect of weekend votes to avoid a shutdown.

Democrats, Republicans and the White House battled late into the night Monday and into Tuesday afternoon over whether to include provisions on President Donald Trump’s border wall, a massive New York infrastructure project and the special counsel‘s Russia investigation, according to lawmakers and aides in both parties.


There were still a number of unresolved issues as of Tuesday evening, and multiple sources were pessimistic that negotiators would reach a deal in time to release the bill before Wednesday.

Asked how confident he was that the Senate would avoid weekend work, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) replied: “I’m not real confident at this point.”

Dragging the talks into Wednesday would increase the chance that lawmakers pass a short-term spending bill to prevent a temporary shutdown when funding lapses Friday evening.

Several issues remain open after administration officials participated in a lengthy meeting Tuesday afternoon with top leadership and appropriations staffers that did little to break the logjam.

“Everything that remains is going to be pulling teeth to resolve,” said a senior congressional aide with knowledge of the meeting, which included representatives from the White House and the Office of Management and Budget.

The New York-area Gateway project is a primary issue for the White House, according to the aide, but several other provisions are also still up in the air.

Trump is likely to support the bill if the Gateway project is excluded, the military receives a major budget boost and there is a significant infusion of border security funding, White House legislative affairs director Marc Short said at the Capitol Tuesday.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told his conference that he is planning to pass the massive, $1.3 trillion omnibus on Thursday, according to House Republicans.

"I'm hoping today," Ryan told reporters when asked Tuesday morning when leaders would wrap up negotiations. He said lawmakers were not yet considering a short-term funding patch to buy more negotiating time. "There are some unresolved issues. We're working through them as we speak."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he would keep the Senate in until the bill is passed.

"We anticipate the House filing later today, which will give the Senate plenty of time to take a look at it and see what’s in it," McConnell said on Tuesday afternoon.

Still, on the House's current schedule, the Senate would have just a day to pass the bill before government funding runs out on Friday evening — allowing for any one senator to shut the government down briefly. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) caused such a shutdown last month in protest over a budget deal.

Paul would not rule out doing everything he can to stop the spending bill if he views it as poorly as he did a budget bill in February.

“I will oppose the bill. I have to make a decision about whether or I will accept a time agreement,” Paul told reporters on Tuesday.

Senate leaders are already entertaining a short-term spending bill in preparation for any antics by Paul.

"We're going to be here into the weekend, perhaps. But I think there could be some measures taken to keep the lights on. But we'll get it done," said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas). "Anything can happen around here."

Congressional leaders had hoped to file the bill, which would fund the government through the end of September, on Monday night with a House vote on Wednesday. But Congress is bogged down over policy provisions that various congressional factions are trying to attach to the must-pass bill. Many lawmakers view the legislation as their last chance to get their priorities signed into law before the midterm elections.

“Negotiations continue between the four leaders. A few sticking points remain, but we are very close," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). "I think it will be a fair compromise."

Lawmakers and aides estimated there were as many as 20 provisions still being debated. One of the most controversial is $900 million in funding for the Gateway tunnel project in New York, a key priority of Schumer and New York-area Republicans and Democrats.

Gateway supporters are trying to include language that would allow the project to apply for competitive grant money and prevent the Trump administration from squashing the project. Trump has told Republicans he will veto a bill that funds the project specifically. Schumer and GOP leaders were still battling over the provision as of Tuesday afternoon, and the New Yorker said the tunnel is of national significance despite Trump's complaints.

The White House remains unmoved, however.

“The secretary of transportation has explained if you put that much money in one project it’s going to crimp projects across the country she needs to fund. It‘s also a project that a majority of House Republicans… voted against," Short said. “The president has made his wishes well known so I think we’re going to be fine."

Another sticking point: immigration. Talks to protect young immigrants facing deportation fell apart over the weekend, but congressional Democrats spent Monday and Tuesday pushing to freeze hiring of immigration enforcement officials in return for providing Trump more than $1 billion in funding on his border wall.

Democrats and Republicans are likely to agree on about $1.6 billion in border funding that would help finance some fencing and security and avoid directly funding the large concrete wall that Trump wants, according to a Democratic aide.

Republicans are seeking to fix an error in the new tax law that lowers tax bills for farmers that sell grain to cooperatives at the expense of other companies. Though Senate Democrats and some Senate Republicans are willing to rewrite the provision in exchange for a boost in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits in the spending bill, Ryan has resisted, according to people in both parties. Ryan allies say that just because he rejected an offer from Schumer to fix

the so-called “grain glitch,” it doesn't mean the issue is dead altogether.

Congressional Democrats also pushed provisions to protect special counsel Robert Mueller but have been rebuffed by GOP leaders. An attempt to shore up Obamacare's insurance markets is also stalled in a battle over abortion.

Lawmakers believe neither of those provisions will be in the omnibus.

A Tuesday morning school shooting in Maryland, however, may have thrown another wild card into the mix: GOP leaders are pressing to include popular legislation that would improve the National Instant Criminal Background Check System for firearms purchases.

“We remain hopeful that Fix NICS is in the omni," Short said of the proposal to improve the FBI’s background check system.

But Democrats want a broader gun debate and note that the provision is a modest way to simply bolster existing gun laws. Meanwhile, conservatives believe it would make it more difficult for some veterans to buy a gun, which could keep that provision out as well.

"There are still some key questions. There's a NICS question, there's an Internet sales tax question, there‘s [an Obamacare] question. There's a Gateway project financing question," said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a conservative leader. "It looks like a lot of those things aren't gonna be in it, which is a good step, but it still spends way too much money."

Kyle Cheney and Quint Forgey contributed to this report.