Leaders appear to make little progress toward funding deal

The Hill: Congressional leaders and White House officials appear nowhere closer to a bipartisan deal to fund the government, raising the chances that lawmakers may need to pass another stopgap spending bill to avoid a shutdown in just over two weeks.

The “Big Four” congressional leaders huddled in the Capitol Wednesday afternoon with Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and White House legislative affairs director Marc Short to discuss the outlines of a package to fund the government through September.

Time is running short, as lawmakers are seeking to prevent automatic across-the-board spending cuts, known as sequestration, from taking effect later this month.

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