US Congress aims for 6-month shutdown

WASHINGTON: The US Congress, facing yet another government shutdown deadline at midnight on Friday, will try this week to approve a massive spending bill that would end lawmakers' nettlesome budget infighting, at least through September 30. Republican leaders in the House of Representatives hope to unveil soon the product of long negotiations over a $1 trillion spending bill.

It would fund all of the federal government's activities, except for the gigantic "mandatory entitlement" programs such as Social Security and Medicare, which do not have to be renewed annually.

The Republican-controlled Congress was supposed to have completed this work by September 30, 2017, the start of fiscal 2018, but it has not done that. Instead, the government has been running on a series of short-term, stopgap funding measures. As of Sunday, negotiators were still trying to put the finishing touches on a longer-term bill.