Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say time is running short for party leaders to come to an agreement before a Dec. 20 shutdown deadline. Congress will soon be on recess for the rest of November, leaving just three weeks to craft an omnibus bill in December.

“I think we’re running out of time,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a senior appropriator, said on Monday. “Let’s face it, this is the 18th, if I’m not mistaken, and we’re supposed to be out of here by the middle of December.”

The Senate is consumed with processing judicial nominees and will turn its attention to other must-pass legislation in December, in particular an extension of the farm bill and Congress’s annual defense bill.

But hanging over the talks are a series of political dynamics that make a compromise even less likely.

Mike Johnson (R-LA), vying to become speaker again, is facing a tough vote on the House floor in January and won’t want to upset his right flank with a spending deal weeks before Democrats lose power in the Senate.

Even more important is President-elect Donald Trump’s preference on the funding given he will be returning to the White House.

Senate Republicans had been arguing that Trump will want a “clean slate” next year as lawmakers devote the bulk of their attention to extending his 2017 tax cuts.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, also expressed concern that a short extension would set Congress back on crafting its spending bills for the coming fiscal 2025.

“They’re not going to want to be in a food fight about this year’s budget,” she said. “They should get that done.”

Yet, Johnson, who spent several days with Trump last week, signaled his preference for a short-term extension on Sunday. Further dimming its prospects, Collins said the two sides only have until the end of this week to strike an agreement on top-line spending.

The position of Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has been that spending negotiations will require Democratic buy-in, whether they are in the majority or not, and that another short-term extension only injects uncertainty into federal budgets.

“Neither chamber will have an overwhelming majority, and these spending bills will be a bipartisan product, just as they already are,” Murray said last week.

But for now, there appears to be no appetite for a shutdown fight. In September, Johnson lost a battle to extend government funding into March, yet that appears to be the exact scenario Congress is headed toward with the latest funding deadline approaching.

Senate Republicans are either split or agnostic, given they will be taking over Washington next year.

“You know, it’s really a judgment call. I can argue it both ways,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), an adviser to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). He noted that unspent funds can be “clawed back” next year if Republicans are in charge.

WHAT TRUMP HAS PROMISED TO DO ON DAY 1 IN THE OVAL OFFICE

But there is a recognition on the Republican side, too, that a short-term extension, known as a continuing resolution, is the likeliest path at this point.

“I think we’ve waited so long; I think a CR may be inevitable,” said Cornyn.