Republican House Speaker John Boehner is pressing Democrats to enact a one-week stopgap spending bill to avert an imminent government shutdown that begins at midnight if no deal is reached between parties.
“I think the Senate should follow the House lead and pass the troop funding bill and do it today,” Boehner said in a brief appearance before reporters.
Boehner also pressed Democrats to “get serious about cutting spending” and said “we’re close to a resolution on the policy issues.”
Senate Democrats are considering their own stopgap bill, and Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is pushing a bill so troops in active service in one of three ongoing wars will be paid without interruption.
Hutchison announced in a Senate floor speech she had 60 cosponsors to her bill.
The House-passed stopgap bill would fund the Defense Department for the rest of Fiscal Year 2011, fund the rest of the government for one week, cut $12 billion in spending, prohibit President Obama from closing Guantanamo Bay, and ban the D.C. government from spending public funds on abortions.