Jeff Merkley: Democrats willing to do short-term funding to keep government open

Sen. Jeff Merkley said Friday that Democrats are willing to do a “very short” continuing resolution to get Republicans to negotiate.

“Since Mitch McConnell has been unable to focus on getting this deal done, we want to force the Republican leadership to focus, force the president to focus, with a very short CR,” Mr. Merkley, Oregon Democrat, said on CNN.

He said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer made the proposal to Republicans in an effort to avoid the shutdown, but also to keep the pressure on to come to a deal. Mr. Merkley added that Democrats are not worried about being blamed for a shutdown, however, should it come to that.

“I think the American people are going to se the Republicans are in charge of the presidency, they’re in charge of the House, they’re in charge of the Senate — that Democrats are willing to do a short-term CR to keep the negotiations going — so we’re not calling for a shutdown,” Mr. Merkley explained.

The deadline for some sort of funding measure to pass is midnight on Friday.