Congress likely to punt government shutdown deadlines again, sources say

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With roughly a week until Congress’ deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown, House and Senate leaders are seriously considering a short-term federal funding extension to give lawmakers more time to reach a deal.

Four sources told Fox News Digital that the spending patch, known as a continuing resolution (CR), is increasingly likely to be congressional leaders’ near-term fix to avoid the negative impacts of a partial shutdown.

A CR would give lawmakers more time to put together a spending deal for the next fiscal year without risking potentially furloughing thousands of government employees and pausing critical federal programs in the meantime. That deal is still being negotiated by Congressional leaders and appropriators.

"Our speaker is doing his best, but I do think he has stopped saying, ‘This will be the last CR,’ because he sees that the Senate is almost impossible to negotiate with, with a deadline," one GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital. "We really do need them to just stop assuming they can kick the can each and every time down the road, when all that does is build pressure on our side, on the House side with Republicans."

When asked if another CR was the likely move, the GOP lawmaker said, "unfortunately."

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"I would say that that is one of their options.