Senate negotiators look at dueling options to avert government shutdown
Top appropriators are still in search of a deal to fund the government with 10 days until a shutdown deadline, as talk in the Senate turn to two possibilities for stopgap spending bills.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Monday told reporters that negotiators are working on dual tracks: either a full-year continuing resolution (CR) lasting through the end of September or a monthlong measure to give appropriators more time to hammer out a yearlong overall deal.
The remarks come after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said over the weekend that he was planning on the first option, which has also won the support of President Trump.
This, however, has led to increased grumbling from Senate Democrats who are displeased with the possibility and are accusing Republicans of shutting them out of talks as the clock ticks to the March 14 deadline.
“That is a surrender,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said. “To walk away from the........
© The Hill
