WASHINGTON – With the agenda for a postelection lame duck session of Congress already stacked high, congressional leaders are considering lightening the load by punting much of the remaining budget work of Congress to next year.

At issue are the annual spending bills funding the day-to-day operations of government. The Sept. 30 end of the budget year is rapidly approaching but the appropriations bills are far behind schedule.

GOP aides say House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio supports the idea of a six-month stopgap spending bill that would pile the stack of unfinished business into the lap of the next Congress and whoever wins the White House in November.