Budget-cutting Republicans pressured President Barack Obama and Democrats to accept a proposal to trim $4 billion of federal spending over the next two weeks by eliminating programs that Obama has also targeted, in an effort to avert a government shutdown, according to Reuters.

With government funding due to expire on Friday, Congress must act this week to avert a shutdown of everything from bankruptcy courts to passport offices.

“This week, Democrats will have an opportunity to show that they’ve gotten the message,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told Reuters. “They can show they agree the time has come to change the status quo.”

The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the proposal today, and the Senate is likely to pass the measure afterward, a Democratic aide said. Democrats have indicated they will go along with the plan, and the White House said a shutdown is unlikely.

Obama yesterday said at a White House meeting with state governors that states could tailor their own solutions to health-care reform in 2017 if they fulfill the goals pushed by his reform package.

“If your state can create a plan that covers as many people as affordably and comprehensively as the Affordable Care Act does – without increasing the deficit – you can implement that plan,” Obama told the governors. “And we’ll work with you to do it.”