Will there be a federal government shutdown? Sen. Roger Wicker doesn't think so

A looming government shutdown may not be imminent, one senator from Mississippi said.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, believes members of Congress can work through their differences to avoid a government shutdown in October. The senator was in Hattiesburg recently to speak to area business leaders during an Area Development Partnership luncheon.

"We're way ahead of schedule, which makes me think we can avoid these continuing resolutions or omnibus bills, where we put everything together and people are unhappy about one particular part or the other," Wicker said.

"The encouraging thing is the House and Senate have gotten their national defense bills passed before the August break. A lot of times it's passed in September and the fiscal year ends Oct. 1."

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Other indicators are the work being done on spending bills that are due in the coming weeks.

Congress is on break until mid-September. Once lawmakers return to Capitol Hill, the House and Senate will be in session for roughly three weeks until the Sep. 30 deadline to pass a federal budget.

"Appropriations bills are ahead of schedule, so to me, that is a really good sign that we will not have a shutdown," Wicker said. "But anything could happen."

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On Oct. 1, a new fiscal year begins. If lawmakers cannot push through 11 out of 12 separate spending bills, the country will face a government shutdown. Congress passed just one before the August recess.

That isn't anything to worry about, according to Wicker.

"Things could happen, but all of the signs point toward doing it the right way this year," he said.

Lawmakers could pass a continuing resolution, which would avert a shutdown and fund the government at current levels until an agreed-upon date. But with a deeply divided Republican-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate, it is unclear whether lawmakers can avert a shutdown in time.

"It does take conciliation," Wicker said. "There's a Republican majority in the House and a Democratic majority of one in the U.S. Senate, and of course, we have to get a bill that the president will sign or override a veto, which is difficult."

The outcome is even murkier with some Republicans from the House Freedom Caucus, a group of the most conservative lawmakers, either openly welcoming a shutdown or dismissing concerns about one.

"We don't need a shutdown," Wicker said.

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USA TODAY reporters Ken Tran, Rachel Looker and Miles J. Herszenhorn contributed to this story.

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This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Sen. Roger Wicker believes federal government can avoid shutdown