U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks with the media ahead of the vote to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., April 7, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Republican in the U.S. Senate said on Tuesday he hoped to reach agreement “in the next few days” on a bill to fund the government through Sept. 30, saying it was too soon to talk about a short-term fix to avert a government shutdown at midnight on Friday.

“We’re hoping to reach an agreement in the next few days on how to process the entire bill through September 30th,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters. “I don’t want to speculate about whether that can actually clear this week.”