House negotiators on both sides said Wednesday that they think a deal on a topline for fiscal 2025 spending could come as soon as this week.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, told reporters that expectations of a topline agreement by the end of this week or next are “reasonable.”
Lawmakers currently have until mid-March to pass legislation to keep the government funded and prevent a shutdown.
DeLauro told The Hill that she thinks negotiators will need to have a topline number to work from “by the end of this month in order to meet the March 14 deadline.”
House Republicans also said the timeline was discussed as GOP members of the Appropriations Committee huddled earlier on Wednesday on next steps on funding.
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), a spending cardinal, told The Hill that the focus of the meeting was to discuss the “path forward” as well as “topline numbers,” which he said could come “by the end of the week, if not first of next week.”
Aderholt also said that hearings on fiscal year 2026 funding could begin next month, as lawmakers are already running months behind in finishing up their spending work for the current fiscal year, which began last October.
“We’re moving forward on that, even though we hadn’t finished completely on 2025. That’s hanging over our head. But we’re not letting that stop us, as far as moving forward 2026,” he said.
