US Senate leader Schumer starts moving stopgap funding bill to avert shutdown

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday took the first procedural step toward passage next week of a stopgap funding bill to avert a partial government shutdown that otherwise would begin on Jan. 19.

Schumer did not provide an end-date for the measure during a speech to the Senate.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone)