"Senators are growing increasingly bullish on the prospects of returning to a major energy reform bill and a Flint, Mich., aid package.

Lawmakers negotiating a deal to bring the two items back to the Senate floor say they're trying to resolve final disputes over the packages in hopes of calling them both up for votes in the coming week.

"We need to get it all ironed out, but the thing that I find encouraging every day, and one of the reasons I have not lost my optimism, is because everybody is continuing to talk, continuing to work through things, and as long as all that is happening, you can achieve a desired result," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Thursday."

Devin Henry reports for The Hill March 7, 2016. [2]