Senate races to avoid government shutdown with time ticking and lingering issues

By Fox News · Fox News

The Senate will return to a fast-approaching government funding deadline , but this time both sides appear ready to avoid another shutdown. When lawmakers in the upper chamber return Monday, they will have three working weeks to fund the government. That process fizzled out before they left town earlier in December, but lawmakers are hopeful that both parties can come together to ward off a repeat of September’s funding deadline. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer , D-N.Y., told reporters before leaving the Capitol that Democrats’ goal was to have the remaining slate of appropriations bills completed by the Jan. 30 deadline. It takes 12 spending bills to fund the government, and so far, neither chamber has come close to hitting that mark. DEMOCRATS' LAST-MINUTE MOVE TO BLOCK GOP FUNDING PLAN SENDS LAWMAKERS HOME EARLY "We want to get through the process and get the appropriations bills done," Schumer said. It’s a stark departure from his and Democrats’ earlier position, given that they shut the government down for a record 43 days in a bid to bring expiring Obamacare subsidies to the forefront of discussions. Congressional Democrats also have been leery of working with their Republican counterparts after President Donald Trump ’s roughly $9 billion clawback package, which cut funding to already agreed-to programs and priorities, passed on a partisan vote over the summer. A similar issue played out just as the Senate was on the cusp of advancing a five-bill spending package before skipping town. 2026 DEADLINES LOOM AS CONGRESS LEAVES DC WITH SEVERAL UNFINISHED BATTLES Sens. Michael Bennet , D-Colo., and John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., held up the process over the Trump administration’s plan to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought had just announced that same day that the facility would be put under a microscope, and charged that the NCAR was "one of the largest sources…