WASHINGTON — The White House and top congressional leaders from both major parties issued upbeat assessments Wednesday after a Capitol Hill meeting in which they forged progress on a stack of unfinished Washington business, starting with a hoped-for bipartisan budget deal. The session in the office of House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., came with little more than two weeks before the next threatened government shutdown. Both sides issued bland but positive statements after the session, which lasted more than an hour and included White House budget director Mick Mulvaney. The budget battle is but one element of a tricky Washington matrix facing the White House, its GOP allies and Democratic rivals like Schumer. Democrats say they won’t go along with any budget deal until those immigrants, commonly referred to as Dreamers, are guaranteed protections.

Source: National Post January 03, 2018 20:50 UTC