“Time is short. That doesn’t give you a lot of confidence,” House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told reporters today, “But the reports that I have received from our three [members of the committee] is that there is an honest effort.”

Doubts about whether a deal will be struck by the deadline are beginning to rise, with Hoyer stepping away from a generally positive tone he has held before. …

“Obviously there is a strong constraint of time,” Rep. John Larson (D-CT) explained to reporters today, “but a great opportunity here.”