The chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees are discussing how to keep the government open after the current continuing resolution (CR) runs out Dec. 8, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Oct. 31.

“We are in a four-cornered, bipartisan negotiation over how to fund the government, including the Trump administration,” McConnell told reporters in the Capitol. “That job will have to be done by Dec. 8, and I think we’re on a path to do that.”

Congress passed the CR in September because it had not finished its appropriations bills for fiscal year 2018, which began Oct. 1. McConnell did not say whether the current CR will be succeeded by a new CR or an FY 2018 appropriations package.