周二，国会最高拨款人在与众议院议长南希·佩洛西(加州民主党)和财政部长史蒂文·穆努钦的私下会晤中表现出乐观，表示相信尽管众议院迅速弹劾总统，国会仍有能力避免政府关门。
除非在12月20日前通过新的预算或临时资金措施并签署成为法律，否则政府将关闭。国会尚未通过12项拨款法案中的任何一项。
拨款委员会主席尼塔·洛维(纽约民主党)在议长办公室外对记者说:“我们可以在本周结束前完成一些零星的工作。”。
在定于周四举行的另一次会议上，洛维表示，她希望“必须做出的决定将是非常有限的”，而且只有将“松散的部分”捆绑在一起的任务才会继续。她补充说，各方意见不一的“几百个”未决项目在拨款过程中是正常的。
洛维在参议院拨款委员会主席理查·谢尔比的陪同下，他表达了同样的信心，认为预算能够在本财政年度通过近三个月。
洛维说，Mnuchin“完全站在政府一边说话”，他“理解完成我们工作的重要性和紧迫性”。
尽管众议院民主党人加快了弹劾特朗普的步伐，指控他涉嫌滥用权力，并在下周结束前阻挠国会，为通过预算设置了潜在的冲突路线，并在国会圣诞节休会前与加拿大和墨西哥达成了里程碑式的贸易协议。
2018年12月24日，华盛顿特区，美国国会大厦在联邦政府部分关闭期间展出
“我们可以走路、嚼口香糖、跑步——同时，”洛维说新闻周刊。“这就是为什么我们是民主党人。”
然而，洛维和谢尔比表示，在不到30分钟的会议中，有一个有争议的筹资问题没有得到讨论:特朗普的南部边界墙。
这座尚未建成的建筑导致了历史上最长时间的政府关门，政府关门于今年1月初结束。总统随后宣布国家进入紧急状态，单方面从五角大楼转移数十亿美元德克萨斯州的联邦法官阻止了星期二。
白宫已经要求为今年的预算增加隔离墙资金，如果国会希望避免在这个问题上再次关门，就必须解决这个问题。预算中的分歧还包括为国土安全部提供资金，涉及政府的移民政策。
“很快，在某个时候，”洛维笑着说，指的是他们讨论隔离墙的时间表。她拒绝提供更多细节。
这个故事被更新为包括德克萨斯州一名联邦法官的裁决，特朗普不能单方面挪用国会从五角大楼拨给他的边界墙的资金。
DESPITE TRUMP'S IMPEACHMENT, CONGRESS IS CLOSING IN ON BUDGET DEAL TO AVOID SHUTDOWN, LAWMAKERS SAY
Top congressional appropriators Tuesday emerged optimistic from a private meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, expressing confidence that despite the House's fast-moving efforts to impeach the president, Congress will be able to avert a looming government shutdown.
Unless a new budget or temporary funding measure is passed and signed into law by the end of the day December 20, the government will shut down. Congress has yet to pass any of the 12 appropriations bills.
"We can finish our work with a couple of loose ends by the end of the week," Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, told reporters outside the speaker's office.
At another meeting scheduled for Thursday, Lowey said it was her hope the "decisions that have to be made will be really limited" and only the task of tying up the "loose ends" will remain. She added that the "several hundred" outstanding items the various parties disagree over were normal for the appropriations process.
Lowey was flanked by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who expressed an equal amount of confidence that a budget would be able to pass nearly three months into the current fiscal year.
Lowey said that Mnuchin was "totally on board speaking for the administration" and that he "understands the importance, the urgency of getting our work done."
This comes despite the House Democrats' pace to impeach Trump for allegedly abusing his power and obstructing Congress by the end of next week, setting up a potential collision course for passing the budget and a landmark trade agreement with Canada and Mexico before Congress leaves town for Christmas recess.
The U.S. Capitol is shown during a partial shutdown of the federal government on December 24, 2018 in Washington, D.C.
"We can walk, chew gum, run—at the same time," Lowey told Newsweek. "That's why we're Democrats."
However, there was one contentious point of funding not discussed during the less than 30-minute meeting, according to Lowey and Shelby: Trump's southern border wall.
The yet-to-be-built structure caused the longest government shutdown in history, which ended earlier this year in January. The president then declared a national emergency to unilaterally divert billions of dollars from the Pentagon, a move which a federal judge in Texas blocked on Tuesday.
The White House has demanded additional wall funds for this year's budget, something Congress must address if they hope to avoid another shutdown over the matter. Disagreements within the budget have also included funding for the Department of Homeland Security involving the administration's immigration policies.
"Soon, at some point," Lowey said with a laugh, referring to the timetable for when they'd discuss the wall. She declined to provide further detail.
This story was updated to include a federal judge's ruling in Texas that Trump cannot unilaterally divert congressionally appropriated funds from the Pentagon for his border wall.
