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Article snippet: Congressional leaders and senior White House officials are on a path to reach a deal to increase spending caps over the next two years and raise the debt ceiling beyond the 2020 election. The spending talks, which earlier this month seemed hopelessly stalled, have new momentum after Senate Majority Leader MORE in recent days. “I had a really good session with the president, just the two of us, about a week ago about the options available to us when it comes to government spending over the next two years,” McConnell told reporters on Tuesday. “A negotiated agreement with the House Democrats is the best of three alternatives, the other two being arguing back and forth over the length of a [continuing resolution] for God only knows how long, or a sequester that hits defense with about a $71 billion cut at the end of the year,” he added. Shelby said he delivered a similar message to Trump during a meeting Monday afternoon. Acting White House budget director Russ Vought had signaled to congressional negotiators in April that the president would be willing to accept a yearlong stopgap measure in the absence of a spending deal. More recently, White House officials mulled a one-year deal instead of a two-year agreement. “I’ve been to a lot of these meetings over the years — and I don’t want to be too forward-leaning in predicting an agreement, but it seems to me without exception everyone would like to [make one],” McConnell said Tuesday. “The agreement would be a two-ye... Link to the full article to read more