#Nancy Pelosi and Steve Mnuchin reach deal to avoid government shutdown

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin reached a deal to prevent a partial government shutdown, likely avoiding a bitter fight that leaves workers without pay a month before the Nov. 3 election.

The Democratic leader and Mnuchin, a top White House negotiator with Congress, agreed on a temporary spending bill, known as a continuing resolution, according to multiple news outlets.

“They agreed it should be clean as they both want to keep the government open,” a source told Fox News on Thursday.

The bill must pass the Democratic-controlled House and the Republican-held Senate before funds for agencies run out at the end of the day on Sept. 30.

The agreement comes despite continued gridlock on new coronavirus pandemic relief legislation that would send another round of $1,200 stimulus checks to most Americans.

Both sides agree on more stimulus checks, but they disagree strongly on how much money state and local governments should receive.

Democrats and Republicans also disagree on how large a federal unemployment insurance supplement should be — leaving workers with nothing, though Trump last month signed an executive order allowing a $400 weekly boost if states chip in $100.

Republican leaders want to peg the unemployment supplement to 70 percent of pre-pandemic pay, but Democrats want to revive an expired $600-a-week boost that in some cases resulted in workers earning more than they did before COVID-19 left them jobless.

A shutdown would have dominated political news coverage at President Trump seeks re-election against Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

During the most recent partial shutdown, ending last year after 35 days of disagreement on Trump’s Mexico border wall, about 800,000 federal workers missed paychecks.