US Senate Can Take Action on Wednesday to Fund Gov't, Prevent Shutdown, Schumer Says

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Senate can take action on Wednesday to fund the government and prevent the shutdown ahead of the critical Thursday deadline, Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday.

"The Senate could take action as early as today to address a concern that demands the immediate attention of this chamber, the funding, funding the federal government beyond September 30 to prevent a government shutdown. Senate Democrats will be introducing a continuing resolution that keeps the government open until early December," he said on the Senate floor.

He added that while the government is funded, there is still a need to address the urgent matter of extending the debt ceiling and preserving the full faith and credit of the US.

On Tuesday, US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell shut down Schumer’s proposal to hold a vote on raising the debt ceiling with a lower 51-vote threshold, while a day earlier, Senate Republicans blocked a piece of legislation that required 60 votes to fund the government, raise the debt ceiling and prevent a shutdown.

Congress must pass a law to fund the federal government by October 1, the start of the next fiscal year, and if at least a temporary budget is not adopted by that time, many federal institutions will be shut down.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently warned lawmakers that the US government may run out of cash by October 18 unless Congress raises the debt ceiling. Yellen added that failure to raise the debt ceiling could lead to a crisis of “enormous proportions” and warned acting at the last minute could seriously harm business and consumer confidence due to the risk of a negative US credit rating.

The most recent government shutdown happened between December 22, 2018 and January 25, 2019.