US Senate to move on stopgap bill to avert partial government shutdown

By Moira Warburton and Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Senate will prepare temporary spending legislation that would avert a partial government shutdown at the end of the month, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Thursday.

“Time is not a luxury that Congress has right now,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. He said lawmakers in the chamber would spend the next several days trying to reach a deal that Republicans and Democrats alike could support.

Congress must pass spending legislation before the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1 to avoid furloughing thousands of federal workers and shutting down a wide swath of government operations weeks before the Nov. 5 election.

A bill that would have paired six months of funding with controversial election-law changes opposed by Democrats failed in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Wednesday. House Speaker Mike Johnson said after that vote that he would try another approach but did not provide details.