US House may consider bill to fund government for a week: source

The U.S. House of Representative could move soon to consider a bill to fund the government for a week to avoid a shutdown at midnight on Friday and buy time to strike a deal for a long-term funding plan, a House Republican source said on Wednesday.

A one-week bill would give lawmakers "a little breathing room" to complete negotiations on broader legislation, the source said.

Democrats have said they would support a weeklong extension only if a deal on a longer-term plan was close to completion, and a senior House Republican suggested that was the case.

"We could get there today, we are not very far away," Representative Tom Cole, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, told reporters.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan and Amanda Becker, writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)