President Biden on Thursday said he\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0believe the federal government will shut down this weekend, despite mounting resistance from Republicans on a spending deal to keep \u2026<\/b>
\nPresident Biden on Thursday said he doesn\u2019t believe the federal government will shut down this weekend, despite mounting resistance from Republicans on a spending deal to keep the federal government open. \u201cLook, I don\u2019t believe that will happen,\u201d Mr. Biden told reporters. \u201cWe have everything in place to be able to make sure there is not a shutdown unless some individual\u2026 decides to be totally erratic, and I don\u2019t think that will happen. So I don\u2019t think there will be a shutdown.\u201d Mr. Biden added that he has spoken with Sen. Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican. When asked if there would be a government shutdown on Friday, Mr. Biden responded, \u201cno.\u201d He also asked reporters how they could ask \u201csuch a silly question\u201d when pressed on how he would prevent a shutdown from happening. Congress has until the end of Friday to pass a bill that would keep the government funded and avoid a shutdown. But a group of conservative Republicans are pushing back on the stopgap measure, demanding a simple majority vote in the Senate to defund Mr. Biden\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine-or-test mandate for businesses. Mr. McConnell on Thursday also said there would not be a shutdown, adding that such a move would not get \u201can outcome\u201d the dissenters sought on the vaccine mandate.<\/p>\n