On December 17th local time, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement to the Senate that because the one-week temporary spending bill expires at midnight on the 18th, Congress is likely to need to work overtime on weekends and extend the validity of the short-term spending bill. to avoid the government shutdown.
“We’re going to stay here until it’s done, even if it’s all weekend,” McConnell said. He said that it was only “a short period of time” to hope to extend the validity of the short-term spending bill to avoid the government shutdown.
He added: “The work of the bipartisan and bicameral committee is to carry out annual government appropriation legislation on one front. I’m optimistic that if we can close other parallel businesses, we should be able to fund the government and move forward together.”
Lawmakers are reportedly discussing extending the duration of the short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown and allowing more time for government officials to pass relief deals.
