GOP leaders mull a big debt-and-funding deal with Democrats

House and Senate GOP leaders are internally debating a possible deal with Democrats that would include government funding, California wildfire aid, a debt-limit hike and border security money, according to two Republicans with direct knowledge of the matter.

Senior Republicans have been privately mulling a bipartisan government funding deal for weeks now, wary that they may not be able to add a debt-limit hike to their party-line reconciliation package given internal GOP divisions over the matter. But conversations around the potential larger deal have heated up in recent days as GOP leaders try to figure out how to lift the approaching debt ceiling while also advancing a massive, party-line reconciliation bill and avoiding a March 15 government shutdown.

The strategy isn’t finalized. Asked about it on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) indicated that he was open to linking everything together in a giant package but that several options are currently under discussion.

“I’m interested in getting a result on all of the above but how we do that is still an open question,” he said.

It would come with plenty of risks — Republicans would need to convince Democrats to accept the border funding increase. And they could face backlash from House GOP hard-liners unless they attach steep spending cuts, which would automatically threaten Democratic support and raise the risk of a shutdown. President Donald Trump has already shown interest in linking wildfire aid to the longer-term debt ceiling hike he is pursuing.

House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) met Wednesday as they negotiated a top-line dollar amount to pitch to Democrats that would pave the way for lawmakers to craft the larger funding package. Those appropriators are circling an agreement for the top-line number, which they hope to clinch in the coming days.

As expected, conservative hardliners who are less inclined to support funding bills such as Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), are signaling they’ll oppose such a package. Roy warned in a brief interview Wednesday that he would oppose the option unless there were spending cuts included and indicated he would want disaster relief spending to be paid for.

Linking border, debt and disaster aid to government funding isn’t the only option that leadership has floated, and in some cases walked back, in recent weeks.

Speaker Mike Johnson has floated linking the debt ceiling to money to recover from the California wildfires. Thune also previously indicated that the debt ceiling was unlikely to be included in the GOP border and energy bill Senate Republicans are crafting, in another sign that Republicans were likely to leave it out of their party-line reconciliation effort.

Johnson, Thune and their respective leadership teams met with Trump on Tuesday, where they discussed the government funding deadline, and potentially linking disaster aid and the debt ceiling.

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