Congressional Budget Conferees Fail To Meet Deadline

Increasing the chance a stopgap spending bill will be needed to keep government going after January 15

Congressional budget conferees on Monday failed to meet a deadline set by appropriators for a top-line budget number.

The blown deadline raises the odds that Congress will need at least a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running after Jan. 15.

Appropriators had called on the House-Senate conference to get a deal by Dec. 2 to ensure they had time to complete detailed spending bills, but the informal deadline was never endorsed by the leaders of the conference.

Sources say a small budget deal remains possible before the committee's official deadline on Dec. 13, though this week is pivotal.