Initial activity on the federal budget for fiscal 2014 suggests another contentious fight in the works and possibly another threat of government shutdown and a stopgap funding measure come October.

The GOP-led House and Democratic-controlled Senate are far apart on budget resolutions at this time.

The Republican-led House of Representatives approved a $967 billion discretionary spending cap for fiscal 2014, deepening the “sequester” cuts that took effect this year. This year, federal discretionary spending is capped at $986 billion.

The Democratic-controlled Senate is aiming for a higher level of spending at $1.06 trillion for fiscal 2014, according to Reuters.

The large gap--about $100 billion--between the two budget approaches suggest another round of sharp disagreement and delays in passing a budget. The White House threated to veto “draconian” cuts.

A senior Republican aide told Reuters that a stopgap funding bill likely would be needed to avoid a government shutdown on Oct. 1.

Meanwhile, the House approved spending bills for the Veterans Affairs (HR 2126) and Homeland Security departments (HR 2217).