Familiar Partisan Clashes Face Lawmakers As Congress Returns
Follow KDKA-TV: Facebook | Twitter
WASHINGTON (AP) - Lawmakers will be returning to some familiar partisan clashes as Congress begins its 2018 session.
The year's first potential calamity is a government shutdown unless a bipartisan spending pact is reached by Jan. 19.
Top White House officials plan to meet at the Capitol on Wednesday to discuss the budget with the Republican and Democratic leaders of both chambers. Their goal is to find compromise on raising limits on defense and domestic spending that eluded lawmakers before they left Washington for the holidays.
Two new Democratic senators will also be arriving.
Alabama's Doug Jones narrowly upended Roy Moore in a special election last month to become the first Senate Democrat in a quarter-century from one of the nation's reddest states. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith will replace Democrat Al Franken.
(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)