WASHINGTON: The Senate's top Democrat signalled Tuesday he would support a Republican plan that funds nearly the entire US government through September but limits the agency overseeing President Barack Obama's immigration action.
The deal would set up a potential battle early next year over Obama's controversial order that shields up to five million undocumented immigrants from deportation.
But it crucially would resolve a simmering budget battle in coming days and avert a perilous government shutdown, as Vice President Joe Biden warned Republicans not to use last-minute budget negotiations as leverage against Obama's unilateral action.
"I think that's a mistake for the country," Biden told AFP in the US Capitol.
Lawmakers must strike a spending deal by December 11 in order to avoid a government shutdown, which would begin the following day if Congress does not act.
Some conservative House Republicans are urging party leaders to put up a fight over the next nine days by finding ways to rein in Obama's executive order.
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