House Speaker John Boehner is making his case for the GOP plan to prevent a shutdown of the federal government in a speech to religious broadcasters.
Excerpts of Boehner's speech to the National Religious Broadcasters convention were released before the Sunday evening event in Nashville. In the remarks, the Ohio Republican says: "Americans want the government to stay open, and they want it to spend less money."
The Democratic-controlled Senate has rejected a plan by the Republican-controlled House to fund government operations through the end of September while slashing $61 billion in spending.
Lawmakers must approve a new spending plan before the current budget expires on Friday. Both sides have sought to blame the other with the first government shutdown since 1996 looming.
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