GOP fears rise over shutdown odds
One senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee put the chances of a shutdown in the fall at 'a real square 50-50.'
Senate Republicans familiar with Senate Majority Leader John Thune's (R-S.D.) plans say he hopes to bring a package of appropriations bills to the Senate floor the week before the August recess.
The lawmaker warned that if the White House sends up another rescissions package, 'it will be met with mixed results.'
'I agree with John Thune that we need to get to a regular appropriations process, and I think it gets in the way of that. So the timing, if they do another one, is going to have to be better timed and [have] much more detail,' the senator said, referring to Thune.
Asked whether there's support in his conference to take up another rescissions package, Thune said: 'We'll see what the future holds, but I think right now the goal is to get into the appropriations process.'
The Hill's Alexander Bolton has more here.
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