Ending government shutdowns by forcing Congress to finish spending bills in a more timely manner is the goal of new legislation from U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley.

Annually, Congress must pass a number of spending bills and send them to the president. But if those bills aren’t passed by the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year, the federal government can shut down. Government shutdowns have occurred a few times in recent years.

Putting an end to that by requiring Congress to stay in session until the spending bills are finished is the objective of the bill introduced by the Iowa Republican.

“It costs money to shut the government down and costs money to open it back up,” Grassley said in a written statement. “Government is a service to the people, and harmful shutdowns deprive taxpayers of the services they rely on and pay for.”

He said the bill introduced by himself and U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, “prevents these unnecessary shutdowns from taking place and it forces lawmakers to act responsibly and find reasonable government funding solutions.”

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa, is a co-sponsor of the bill.

The bill is called the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act. It states that if the spending bills are not done by Sept. 30 each year, all members of Congress must stay in Washington, D.C., and work until those bills are completed.

The bill provides for temporary spending measures called continuing resolutions that would be in place for 14 days at a time if there is a lapse in government funding. Those measures would fund the government at the levels of the previous fiscal year.

A version of this bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives as well.

The bills await action by Senate and House committees.