1.   A previous six-week stopgap budget expires on Friday.

2.   The government compiled the stopgap budget because the ruling coalition has been prevented from voting on a full-year budget bill.

3.   The stopgap budget also requires Diet approval, but lawmakers are expected to go along with it.

4.   Parliament likely will pass a stopgap budget to keep the government running while it considers the complete budget.

5.   It took four stopgap budgets that stretched until mid-August before the logjam broke.

6.   Legislatures in North Carolina and Tennessee are considering stopgap budgets to keep government going in July.

7.   In the meantime, a stopgap budget is going through parliament, but the formal budget is unlikely to be approved before mid-April.