As Deadline Nears, Prospects Of Avoiding A Shutdown Brighten

WASHINGTON _ With two days to go before the next government-funding deadline, President Trump on Tuesday threatened to “shut it down” if he doesn’t get the border-security package he demands.But Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer struck a more optimistic note, saying his Tuesday negotiating session with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “went very well,” and that “we are closer to an agreement than we have ever been.”As if to put icing on the cake of his new-found _ perhaps temporary _ bromance with McConnell, Schumer announced he had accepted the majority leader’s invitation to speak next week at the University of Louisville as part of the McConnell Center Distinguished Speaker Series.Although negotiations to head off a shutdown midnight Thursday are far from over, Schumer on Tuesday sketched out the parameters of a compromise.The main ingredient, he said, was agreement to lift spending caps on both military and non-military accounts _ something Republicans who control the White House and Capitol Hill had resisted, insisting caps be lifted for military programs only.