(Radio Iowa) – Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says he’d support a bill that would essentially outlaw government shutdowns. The law would automatically extend spending if an agreement isn’t reached by midnight on September 30th when the federal fiscal year ends.

A small group of House Republicans are refusing to support a short term spending bill and are ready to force a government shutdown to secure deeper cuts in the federal budget. Grassley says there are practical and political costs to shutting down the federal government.

Grassley has been a member of congress during every government shutdown in U-S history. The very first government shutdown happened in 1976, when Grassley was a member of the U-S House. Grassley was a U-S Senator in 2013 when the federal government shutdown for 16 days as Republicans protested President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

Grassley made his comments during a recent appearance on the Iowa Press program on Iowa P-B-S.