“And we also need to avoid having a continuing resolution, by that I mean a stopgap bill that just puts government on automatic pilot for the whole year. On to the stopgapCongress regularly approves a stopgap spending bill in September to gain more time to complete negotiations on the full-year appropriations bills. Last year, in the lead-up to the presidential election, lawmakers approved a stopgap bill in September that funded the government through mid-December. Speaker Johnson took a go-it-alone approach on a third stopgap spending bill, leaving Democrats completely out of the negotiations and jamming the Senate with the legislation. The dilemma over forcing a shutdown or helping Republicans pass a stopgap bill will resurface for Schumer in the weeks ahead as he tries to navigate another shutdown deadline amid unified GOP control of Washington.