U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, said the political bickering over the federal budget isn’t expected to end any time soon.

Durbin said Friday he thinks Congress will have to approve another temporary budget to avoid a government shut down. The federal budget is set to expire at the end of this week.

Republicans in the U.S. House have proposed cutting billions of dollars including to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which also contributes money to WBEZ.

“It is an issue. And it’s become a political issue,” Durbin said. “I got on the plane last night to fly back to Chicago and a man walked up to me and said, ‘I have two words for you: de-fund NPR.’ And I said, ‘You gotta be kidding.‘”

Durbin said the government’s funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has virtually no impact on the country’s deficit. He said Republicans’ other proposals are non-starters, too.

“We need to move to a different level of negotiation,” Durbin said.

House Republicans say the cuts are need to combat the country’s estimated $1.5 trillion budget gap.