House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday evening that the funding bill under negotiation still has “70 poison pills” that the Democratic Party can’t live with.
Pelosi, on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” said that despite the remaining differences, the two parties had made substantial progress and she does not foresee a government shutdown — at least “not this week.”
“The Democrats are determined that we will not have a government shutdown,” the California Democrat said. “If we need a one-week extension in order to pass it on the floor, the legislative part of it, I think we’re OK with that.”
She said Democrats, who still have enough seats in the Senate to block the spending measure, still must work out a series of provisions in the bill for it to be palatable.
“There are probably still 70 poison pills in the bill that we can’t live with,” Pelosi said.
Debate on a few points has already flared up as a government shutdown looms closer. The White House had requested some funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall be included in the bill, but relented after Democrats offered money for border security instead.
There was also a debate about payments to insurers under Obamacare to help low-income people, that sources told CNN the White House officials had agreed to continue.
Pelosi described both points as “two obstacles that were there.”
“The wall — kick that can down the road,” Pelosi said. “And we still would like to have some more certainty in terms of the funding for the Affordable Care Act, but we’re on a good path.”