The Senate is expected to vote Friday afternoon to move forward a stopgap spending bill, setting up a fight with the GOP-led House as the two legislative bodies try to hash out a budget deal this weekend and avert a shutdown.
The Senate is expected to vote Friday afternoon to move forward a stopgap spending bill, setting up a fight with the GOP-led House as the two legislative bodies try to hash out a budget deal this weekend and avert a shutdown.
The Senate convenes at 9:30 a.m. and the first vote is expected around lunch when Majority Leader Harry Reid will need 60 votes to end debate on the House spending bill. The House bill, passed earlier this week, strips funding for the Obama administration’s landmark health care law–a provision the Democrat-controlled Senate has vowed to stop.
The Senate will send an amended version of the bill back to the House where Speaker John Boehner has said he won’t accept a “clean” continuing resolution (or CR) to keep the government funded for another couple months. Instead, he is expected to put forth a series of demands before accepting the Senate’s version of the bill–though he won’t say what those might be.
Without a deal, a government shutdown impacting a variety of federal services from national parks to soldiers’ paychecks, could arrive as soon as Tuesday. The budget year ends Sept. 30.
NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell contributed to this report.
