Clock Ticks as Senate Begins Budget Work

Senate leaders will start work Monday on a bill to fund federal agencies into the new fiscal year, but it remains unclear whether Congress can finish the job in time to avoid a partial government shutdown.

Congress is locked in a partisan dispute over the terms for funding the government for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, little more than a week away. Voting along party lines, the GOP-led House on Friday passed a bill that extends funding at current levels through mid-December.