Continuing Resolution 2014: McConnell Weighs One-Week Bill; Dems Say It's Not Happening

A possible proposal by Senate Republicans to pass a one-week continuing resolution to fund the government and avert a shutdown, perhaps the last viable attempt to keep the government open, might be doomed even before it's introduced.

Democrats and Republicans need to agree on a temporary funding measure, known as a continuing resolution, to prevent a government shutdown after midnight tonight. Without money appropriated to begin the 2014 fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1, hundreds of thousands of non-essential federal employees will be furloughed.

Politico reported that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and his conference are currently trying to see whether there is support for a one-week measure, which would buy lawmakers more time to settle their differences. McConnell, who is up for re-election next year, angered the tea party wing when he backed away from a filibuster of the budget bill that defunded Obamacare last week.

“Despite the Democrats’ refusal to work with the House to solve the problem, Republicans are working to protect the troops, prevent a shutdown, and find solutions to the difficulties caused by Senate Democrats’ delays,” Don Stewart, a spokesman for McConnell, told Politico.

But Democrats say they aren’t buying it.

“That is not happening,” a Senate Democratic aide told International Business Times on Monday about the one-week solution.

At 2 p.m. Monday, the Senate will reject the House Republicans' proposal calling for a delay of the Affordable Care Act for one year and for repealing a medical-device tax that is part of "Obamacare."

President Barack Obama plans to call congressional leaders Monday to discuss the latest logjam, but he still hopes a deal will be hammered out before the midnight deadline. In a press conference on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney blasted Republicans for the impasse and repeated attacks on the health care law, saying, “They are obsessed with refighting an old battle from a couple of Congresses ago.”