WASHINGTON • A top House lawmaker said Tuesday that Congress will pass a government-wide temporary spending bill to keep the government running through Dec. 20, forestalling a government shutdown as the House turns its focus to impeachment hearings.

Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., made the announcement after meeting with Senate counterpart Richard Shelby, R-Ala., in hopes of kick-starting long-delayed efforts to find agreement on $1.4 trillion worth of agency spending bills. A fight over President Donald Trump’s demands for up to $8 billion in new funding for his U.S.-Mexico border fence project is largely responsible for an impasse on the huge spending package, which would implement the details of this summer’s hard-won budget accord.

The politically explosive impeachment hearing and the possibility of impeachment and a trial aren’t making the jobs of dealmakers like Lowey any easier. It’s yet another layer of complications for senior lawmakers pressing not just for an agreement on agency budgets; it’s also complicating action on a long-sought rewrite of the North American trade rules.

The coming weeks could still be the last, best opportunity for lawmakers to wrap up their work on the budget and the trade deal, even as stakeholders admit the timetable could easily slip amid foot-dragging and partisan flare-ups.

As the House returns from a quick break, the sole piece of must-do business before Thanksgiving is to pass a government-wide stopgap spending bill to avert the second government shutdown within a year.

The top leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations committees met Tuesday afternoon to try to make progress toward a year-end deal on a massive appropriations package. Greeting reporters after a meeting with Shelby, Lowey sought to dispel worries of a shutdown when current funding expires next Thursday.

The Capitol is seen in Washington. Congress will pass a temporary spending bill to keep the government running through Dec. 20.

the associated press