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White House official: deal to avoid government shutdown could come today

White House sidewalk
White House sidewalk

White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said talks between Republicans and Democrats in Congress could reach an agreement to avoid a government shutdown as early as Sunday.

"The negotiations are ongoing and there's no reason we can't have an agreement there as early as today," Mulvaney said in an interview on Fox News Sunday.

But Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said negotiations continue to be stuck on Trump's demand that Congress include $1.5 billion to begin a building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, an item Democrats view as a deal breaker. Trump has repeatedly said he wanted a wall to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.

Republicans and Democrats have until Friday to agree on a funding package to keep the federal government open until Sept. 30, when the 2017 federal fiscal year ends. Legislation will require support from Democrats to clear the Senate.

Republican Trump is expected on Wednesday to announce his tax reform plan. In one of Trump's biggest 2016 election campaign promises, the businessman pledged to slash tax rates for businesses and people who pay taxes, saying that doing so would boost the economy and help create millions of new jobs.

Mulvaney said the reform plan would include governing principles and guidance on tax rates rather than policy details that could be crafted into legislation.

"What you're going to see on Wednesday for the first time is: here's what our principles are; here's some of the ideas we like, some of the ideas we don't like ... here's some of the rates we're talking about," he said.

The White House expects to see tax reform legislation sometime in June.

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