SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Senate passed a bill Thursday evening that would avoid a government shutdown at the end of the week. However, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) was suggesting, before the vote, that Congress wait until after the first of the year.

Lee thinks Congress should hold off on discussing the government’s long-term funding challenge until after the Republican-controlled House takes office.

A plan by Sen. Lee

Instead, Sen. Lee has come up with his own-short term plan even as the Senate is talking about a stopgap measure to provide funding for the government through next week.