House Democrats propose stopgap spending bill

WASHINGTON – Democrats controlling the House are proposing a government-wide temporary funding bill to prevent a federal shutdown at month’s end and to give the slow-moving Senate time to act on $1.4 trillion worth of spending bills that fill in the details on this summer’s bipartisan budget and debt deal.

Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey said the temporary funding bill would likely extend until “sometime in November.”

The GOP-held Senate is likely to go along with the move, but a fight is looming in that chamber over President Donald Trump’s $5 billion request for 200 miles of new fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Republicans say they will try to fully fund Trump’s wall request, but Democrats vow to fight the plan because it would take money from popular social programs.