With Congress approaching a government funding cliff at the end of September, key Senate Democrats signaled they want to take the threat of a government shutdown off the table. “We certainly want to avoid a government shutdown, and Democrats have been very clear about that,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told NOTUS on Wednesday. Van Hollen was one of the Democrats last year who blocked GOP attempts to reopen the government during the record-breaking shutdown. House Republicans passed a short-term funding package that would kick the shutdown deadline to December. Republicans need the support of at least seven Senate Democrats to pass any government funding package to avoid a filibuster.