Speaker Paul Ryan called House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Tuesday morning with a somewhat urgent message: Time is short, and the House needs to speed up negotiations to fund the government.

Federal agencies run out of money in 10 days, and Ryan (R-Wis.) – and many others in the Republican leadership – felt there are too many lingering issues, and too little time.

There are also questions on both sides over whether the right people are involved in the budget negotiations.
From the Republicans' point of view, New York Rep. Nita Lowey, the top Democratic appropriator, is not empowered to negotiate, whereas Ryan – who is maniacally focused on empowering committee chairmen – is intent on giving Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) the room he needs to cut a deal.

Democrats, however, believe Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Ryan will need to seal the agreement.

Ryan told Pelosi that Democrats would be receiving an offer from the GOP in the next day or so, and it should be viewed as having the Republican leadership's stamp of approval, according to multiple sources involved in the talks. House Democrats received the offer Tuesday evening, and top Democratic aides were evaluating the package to see how much negotiating was left.

Aside from that 30-minute, leader-to-leader phone call Tuesday, the talks have been mostly stalled in recent days. Democratic and Republican aides did not meet Monday, although they "communicated" on Tuesday before Republicans sent Democrats their offer.

Asked if Congress would meet the Dec. 11 funding deadline for a deal, Rogers said, “I don't know. You'll have to ask the minority leader.”

None of these hurdles is expected to cause a government shutdown on Dec. 11, though both sides concede Congress may need to pass a short-term spending bill to give them enough time to work through lingering issues.

The private conversation between Pelosi and Ryan, however, marked a new phase in the government funding battle, and also helps illustrate the new dynamics between the top Democrat and Republican in the House. Former Speaker John Boehner and Pelosi cut many deals to fund the government, oftentimes frustrating Rogers and other appropriators who thought they were being big-footed.

While Ryan’s staff is apprised of the talks — Dave Hoppe, his chief of staff, is in constant contact with Sharon Soderstrom, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) top aide — the speaker is not involved in working out the details of the yearlong spending bill.

Pelosi, though, believes the traditional way of doing business — the speaker and minority leader cut a deal in a room while rank-and-file wait to see what happens — will eventually prevail. Members of Ryan's inner circle say they believe he might have to tie up loose ends with Pelosi at the end of the day, but those talks will be minor.

Spending disagreements are not the only issue. Pelosi and Ryan are also butting heads over a business-focused tax break package worth several hundred billion dollars. One of the major areas of disagreement is over indexing the popular child tax credit for inflation. Ryan wants to force anyone applying for the tax credit to submit the child's Social Security number, which Republicans believe would cut back on waste, fraud and abuse. But Pelosi disagrees, and the hangup is one of several that threatens the entire package.

But the tax-extender package is not nearly as important as the government funding bill.

Before Boehner left Congress, he cut a massive budget deal, which set top-line spending numbers, removing one hurdle. But the composition of the policy provisions, or riders, in the agreement hasn't been worked out. Dozens of riders are still outstanding, and Republicans and Democrats are trading policy for dollars – typical for end-of-the-year negotiations. Many of the riders have been agreed to in previous spending bills, but each new round of talks reopen some of these issues.

There's serious horse-trading going on behind the scenes. The GOP, for one, is trying to figure out how to deal with the Syrian refugee crisis in the legislation. One option under consideration is to insert language from a House-passed bill into the omnibus, which would force cabinet level officials to certify that refugees from Syria and Iraq pose no threat to national security. President Barack Obama threatened to veto that bill, but it passed the House with a veto-proof majority.

Also under consideration is inserting language that would tighten restrictions on travelers who are permitted to stay in the United States for 90 days without a visa. Obama has already signaled openness to some elements of that plan. The House GOP will pass those changes to the so-called "Visa Waiver Program" as a separate bill in coming days.

Other fights on Cuba — the future of Guantanamo Bay detainees and money for a U.S. embassy in Havana — will also be trouble spots.

There are dozens of additional squabbles on environmental and immigration riders simmering as well. There were more than 100 policy provisions still outstanding, including some changes to regulations on everything from financial institutions to the environment, according to a list circulating this week. Most of these are GOP-backed measures designed to cut back the federal bureaucracy. Democrats counter that most of the provisions are just Republican legislative favors for special-interest groups.

Negotiators are also discussing wrapping an extension of a program to help sick 9/11 responders into the spending bill. The Zadroga Act, which Ryan said he wants to pass before the end of the year, could be paid for by lifting the oil export ban.