The Senate’s top appropriator said Thursday she has been instructed by the Trump administration and GOP leadership to start prepping a stopgap spending bill to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year.
It’s the clearest sign yet that bipartisan negotiations around a 12-bill funding deal are in trouble ahead of the March 14 deadline to avoid a shutdown.
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) told a small group of reporters Thursday that she was asked to start working on the funding patch — known as a continuing resolution, or a CR — and said in a later interview that it was “one option” being pursued ahead of a looming lapse in funding for federal programs in just over two weeks.
Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune talked about the yearlong funding patch option with President Donald Trump during their meeting Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the matter. Trump was supportive, according to the people.
