Navigating the US shutdown threat

The US house and Senate find themselves on sharply divergent paths in a high-stakes spending battle, just days away from a deadline that could force wide swaths of the government to grind to a halt for the fourth time in a decade. The democratic-controlled senate is poised to vote on a bipartisan stopgap funding bill, a temporary measure to keep the government running past the impending midnight deadline on Saturday. This move is aimed at providing negotiators more time to reach an agreement on full-year spending. Meanwhile, in the republican-controlled house of representatives, speaker Kevin McCarthy is facing an internal rebellion. He's pushing ahead with four full-year spending bills that reflect conservative priorities but have little chance of becoming law. It's a showdown that could have widespread consequences.