Fiscal disaster scenario during shutdown sends GOP scrambling for new spending plan

Congress is running out of time to avert another fiscal crisis in the middle of the current government shutdown standoff — and it’s leaving Republicans with few options other than to try to extend federal spending levels that existed under former President Joe Biden.But the debate over how long to extend those levels is already dividing Republican lawmakers, making for a potentially messy fight on the horizon even before the current fiscal standoff ends.Asked if Republicans would need to consider another extension of the most recent federal spending levels — which have been mostly unchanged si