By John Dempsey, WLS-AM News

(CHICAGO) West Suburban Republican Congressman Peter Roskam was on WLS Tuesday morning, expressing confidence there will not be a government shutdown at the end of the week.   Roskam told “The Big John and Ray Show” that the Republicans who control congress will be able to avoid a shutdown.

“I hope so.   I mean, what a ridiculous thing.   I represent a constituency that says, ‘Look.  It’s a pretty conservative group.  Don’t spend money you don’t have.   Don’t create regulations when the free market can handle it.   And don’t shut things down for no reason at all.’   My hope and my expectation is, cooler heads prevail at the end of the day and we get through this thing.”

The Associated Press is reporting that bipartisan bargainers are making progress toward a budget deal to prevent a partial federal shutdown this weekend, a major hurdle overcome when President Donald Trump signaled he would put off his demand that the measure include money to build his border wall with Mexico.

Trump and the Republicans are seeking tax cuts, but Roskam told WLS he is confident any tax cuts will not contribute to the deficit.

​”The proposal that we have in the House says that the tax cuts have to pay for themselves and you can do that.   It sounds impossible but it’s not.   In other words, you can lower these overall tax rates and broaden the tax base out.   That is you bring more things under consideration within the tax code and you can end up to the point where it is–quote–‘revenue neutral.'”

If a budget is not passed by Saturday, federal agencies would have to close unless lawmakers pass a $1 trillion spending bill financing them or legislation keeping them open temporarily while talks continue.

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