US Senate leaders have reached a compromise on a short-term funding measure that would keep the government running through March, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Sunday. McConnell said he and the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid agreed to a plan to fund the government into early next year, when the new Congress convenes, with Republicans in control of the House of Representatives and with greater clout in the Senate.
-- Senate spending plan would run through March
"We're going to pass a short-term continuing resolution over into March," McConnell said on CNN's "State of the Union."
Reid, a Democrat, in remarks on the Senate floor in a rare Sunday session, said a few issues remained to be settled but the discussions were "nothing we shouldn't be able to work through."
A Reid aide said it was unclear whether a deal could be finalised on Sunday.
Lawmakers failed to pass a budget for the current fiscal year, which started on October 1, and have extended last year's budget to fund the operation of everything from nuclear submarines to national parks.
On Friday, Congress voted unanimously to extend government funding through Tuesday to avoid a shutdown after lawmakers failed to agree on a long-term solution to a stark partisan divide over spending.
Senate Democrats had hoped to pass a detailed $1.1 trillion bill to cover spending through the end of the fiscal year in September. But they abandoned that effort on Thursday night in the face of unified Republican opposition.
Republicans favour a shorter term extension so they can leverage their November election gains to shape spending the way they want early next year.
Any measure passed by the Senate would also have to be approved by the House of Representatives, which approved a spending package through September 30 earlier this month.