Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told reporters at the Capitol Wednesday that the Senate GOP was working with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and the White House on legislation that would fund the government through Dec. 9.
“The Speaker is talking to his members, I believe, later in the week about how to go forward,” McConnell said. “We are two separate bodies, but we’re talking to each other.”
Some Republicans in the House have called for the stopgap funding legislation — known as a continuing resolution — to last through next March. A short-term CR until December would give the lame duck Congress a chance to work out a permanent funding plan for next year.
The need for a continuing resolution comes after divisions in the House GOP, as well as Democratic policy riders, bogged down the appropriations process earlier in the year. Congress is not in session for enough days before the election to give it the time to hammer out a long term funding plan, especially in light of the intra-party divisions. If no new spending legislation is passed, the current funding for the government will run out at the end of September.