Congress eyes temporary budget as US shutdown deadline looms
Washington, (MILLAT ONLINE):US lawmakers will resort to passing a short-term federal spending deal next week to avoid an embarrassing government shutdown, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Friday, as prospects for a long-term 2018 agreement dimmed.
A move to extend temporary funding beyond the January 19 deadline would be the fourth such extension, known as a “continuing resolution,” since September, and would signal that the country’s two warring political parties might be too far apart on budget issues and immigration to strike a bipartisan agreement this year.
“We will have to do something short term,” Ryan told a political forum in his native Wisconsin, when asked whether Congress would be able to reach a deal before government lights go out next Friday at midnight.
But the top Republican in Congress stressed he did not believe lawmakers will allow federal operations to stop.
“No I don’t think there will be” a shutdown, Ryan said.
Republicans have accused Democrats of slow-walking the budget process in a bid to strengthen their hand in negotiations on the sensitive issue of immigration.