Mikulski: We don’t want another shutdown

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said the Senate would pass a stopgap spending bill because no one wants another government shutdown.

“We don’t want another government shutdown and I believe there is support on both sides of the aisle not to do that,” Mikulski said on the Senate floor Thursday. “We know from last year that is was a terrible situation.”

{mosads}Later Thursday, the Senate will vote on a $1 trillion spending bill to keep the government funded through Dec. 11. The House added an amendment to the measure to authorize the arming and training of moderate Syrian rebels to help fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

“It is a temporary stopgap bill,” Mikulski said. “There are no new programs and there is no new funding.”

The House approved the bill on Wednesday. If the Senate doesn’t act, the government would shutdown on Oct. 1.

Mikulski said lawmakers didn’t want to repeat the two-week shutdown of last October. She said that was a “terrible situation.”