Article snippet: Republicans are floating multiple options to prevent a partial government shutdown set to begin one week from Saturday. Sen. MORE (R-Ala.), the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said several ideas had been “floated around” ahead of the Dec. 21 deadline. “There’s a lot of possibilities,” Shelby said. None have been taken to the White House, he added. MORE has threatened to force a shutdown if he does not get legislation providing $5 billion in funding for his wall on the Mexican border. Trump said he would accept blame for a shutdown during a heated and public discussion with Democratic congressional leaders this week that was widely seen as undercutting congressional Republicans in their negotiations with Democrats. Shelby outlined several ideas that would keep the government open for a short time and allow talks on a longer deal to continue. One idea would be to fund the government through the day after Christmas, which would allow people to go home for the holidays. “You could move it to the day after Christmas, that way people get to go home. That’s one scenario that’s been floated around,” he said. Another option, according to Shelby, would be to fund the government through Jan. 3, the last date Republicans will still have control of both the House and Senate. He also suggested a longer funding bill that would keep the government open through the first two months of the year. “We’ll see what we do,” Shelby said. “The other [option] is to move it unti... Link to the full article to read more