"Congress Releases 6 Spending Bills to Avert Shutdown Threat"

Congressional leaders have released a package of six spending bills in an effort to avoid a partial government shutdown, with hopes to complete votes on the package this week and continue negotiations on the remaining six annual spending bills before a March 22 deadline. The package represents less than 30% of the discretionary spending Congress aims to approve for this year and includes key policy wins for conservatives, but some House Republicans are critical of the changes and have been divided on recent short-term funding extensions.