Mitch McConnell says stopgap funding bill has ‘green light’ from White House

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said a stopgap funding bill the Senate is expected to vote on this week has the blessing of the White House.

“I’m glad the continuing resolution on the table earned significant bipartisan support across the Capitol and has also earned the green light from the White House,” the Kentucky Republican said in a floor speech.

Last week, the Democrat-led House passed the stopgap funding bill, known as a “continuing resolution” or “CR” on Capitol Hill, ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline to avert a potential shutdown.

The measure would keep the government running through Nov. 21, kicking bigger fights over topics such as funding for President Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall down the road a few months.

Mr. Trump has wavered on signing spending bills in the past, and a dispute over wall funding helped trigger the 35-day shutdown that stretched from December into January.

If the Senate approves the House-passed bill and Mr. Trump signs it into law, lawmakers would avoid another shutdown, at least temporarily.

But as the latest fight over the wall comes to a head, both parties are now accusing one another of undercutting a broader two-year budget deal leaders agreed to over the summer that allows Congress to spend about $320 billion more than had been allowed under law.