McConnell backs stopgap bill to fund government into December

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday he would support a “clean” bill that would fund the government into December.

“Yeah, that’s something I support,” McConnell told reporters when asked about conversations on a continuing resolution (CR) into December.

Congress has until Sept. 30 to fund the federal government and avoid a shutdown roughly a month before the November election.

Talks are underway behind the scenes about how long the stopgap bill should last and what should be attached to it.

McConnell’s timeline is at odds with some Democrats, who have suggested that the CR, which continues funding at fiscal 2020 levels, should go into next year, when they hope to control both the House and Senate and have won back the White House.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) declined on Wednesday to say how long he thought a stopgap funding bill should last.

“We’re discussing what time the CR should go to. We haven’t formulated our position yet,” Schumer told reporters.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has talked with both Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) about the need to pass a CR this month. Mnuchin and Pelosi have informally agreed to a “clean” CR, meaning it would not include issues that either party views as a poison pill.

“I would hope we could do one sometime in December,” Shelby said. “Some people are talking about January, but I don’t think we want to do that.”