A government shutdown over military spending will be avoided because "Congress works best when it has a deadline," according to Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford Thursday on CNN's "New Day."
"I don't see a looming shutdown. I do see a deadline, though. Quite frankly, Congress works best when it has a deadline. It hardly works at all when it doesn't," Lankford added.
"We're working through that over the next three weeks," the Oklahoma Republican said, referencing a shutdown that could happen around the president's 100th day in office, April 28.
"We've got three weeks and then we'll bring these bills to the floor. By the 28th of April, we have to have all funding done at that point or have a continuing resolution. I'd like to have appropriations bills done — I'm on the appropriations committee — there are a lot of important aspects that happen when you do appropriations, not a continuing resolution, which is basically taking last year's budget, changing the dates and just putting in this year's. It's not very strategic at all," he said.
Congress must pass a stopgap spending bill before April 28, according to CNN.
"Republicans do not want a shutdown. Oh my God, they don't want that," said Steve Bell, former Senate Budget Committee senior staffer
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