Congressional leaders strike deal on government funding as shutdown looms

Congressional leaders reached a deal Wednesday on a short-term funding extension to head off a partial government shutdown on Saturday. 

The deal extends funding for some government agencies until March 8 and the rest until March 22. 

It sets up a potential vote next week for six of the 12 appropriations bills that fund the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Interior, Energy, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development. Lawmakers would then have two more weeks to pass the remaining six spending bills that include funding for the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, State, Health and Human Services, and Labor. 

"These bills will adhere to the Fiscal Responsibility Act discretionary spending limits and January's topline spending agreement," the bipartisan group of lawmakers said in a statement.