WASHINGTON — The Alabama Legislature’s Republican leaders are pushing the U.S. Senate to avert a potentially “devastating” government shutdown, set to start Wednesday.

In a letter to Senate Republican and Democratic leadership, exclusively obtained by Alabama Daily News, GOP state lawmakers on Friday urgently called for the U.S. Senate to pass the GOP-led seven-week stopgap funding bill that keeps spending levels flat.

“The bottom line is that Alabama – like every other state — relies heavily on federal funding to serve its citizens, and these are not chips Congress should be bargaining with,” the letter reads.

Signees include Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, and Sens. Greg Albritton, R-Range, and Arthur Orr, R-De

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