Government shutdown live updates: Congress scrambles to reach funding deal before Saturday

That’s all, folks

As Congress struggled over a deal to keep the government open, the message coming from the beating heart of Trump world was clear-cut: Don’t compromise.

Speakers at a conference of conservative activists here this week said that Trump’s election victory should be a warning to those who try to block his agenda — Republicans and Democrats alike — that they need to give way.

“We don’t need partisanship now; we need hyperpartisanship now,” Steve Bannon, a former Trump White House senior adviser, told a raucous audience gathered at the Phoenix Convention Center for AmericaFest.

Read the full story here.

The Senate gave final passage to a bill early Saturday morning to keep the government open for three more months, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk to end the threat of a government shutdown during the holidays.

The vote was 85-11.

The Republican-controlled House passed the bill hours earlier. Although the final vote technically crossed the midnight deadline to avert a shutdown, the White House said that Biden would sign the bill Saturday and avoid forcing U.S. troops, Border Patrol agents, air traffic controllers and millions of other federal workers to work without pay.

Read the full story here.

Reporting from Washington, D.C.

Just days before the height of the holiday season, a government shutdown could throw hundreds of thousands of federal workers into the lurch by putting future paychecks in jeopardy.

Many workers will be furloughed, while some employees will be required to report to work if their job is considered essential. In both cases, federal employees will receive back pay when the shutdown ends, though new paychecks won’t be generated after the funding deadline lapses on Saturday at 12:01 a.m. ET.

Read the full story here.

Reporting from The U.S. Senate

The Senate is voting now on a continuing resolution to keep the government open until March 14th, 2025. There is a 60-vote threshold, and it is expected to pass.

Speaking on the floor prior to the vote, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said, “Tonight the Senate delivers good news for America: There will be no government shutdown right before Christmas. … After a chaotic few days in the House, it’s good news that the bipartisan approach prevailed. It’s a good lesson for next year.”

This is the last vote of the 118th Congress.

Reporting from The U.S. Senate

The Senate just passed the Social Security Fairness Act, legislation that would eliminate rules that reduce Social Security benefits for those who also receive income from public pensions. Those impacted include nearly 3 million people who work in public service jobs such as firefighters, police officers, teachers, and government employees.

The bill passed in bipartisan fashion, 76-20, surpassing the 60-vote affirmative threshold required.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y, said on the Senate floor: “Tonight, the Senate finally corrects a 50-year mistake by passing the Social Security Fairness Act. Millions of retired teachers and firefighters and letter carriers and state and local workers have waited decades for this moment. No longer will public retirees see their hard-earned Social Security benefits robbed from them.”

Reporting from The U.S. Senate

The Senate will start its final vote to pass legislation to avoid a shutdown shortly.

It is past midnight, but the government will not shut down while the Senate finishes up its votes, the White House confirmed.

The Office of Management and Budget “has ceased shutdown preparations because there is a high degree of confidence that Congress will imminently pass the relevant appropriations and the President will sign the bill on Saturday,” White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Emilie Simons posted on X.

Speaking on the Senate floor tonight, Schumer said that the exact timing for a vote on the continuing resolution hadn’t yet been determined but that it would be passed before the 12:01 a.m. ET deadline.

“Democrats and Republicans have reached — just reached an agreement that will allow us to pass the CR tonight before the midnight deadline,” he said.

Reporting from Washington

A Senate vote on the House-passed spending bill is being held up by discussions over Amtrak nominees, according to Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

Speaking to reporters this evening, Tillis said the time agreement for the continuing resolution is pretty much locked in, with little to no amendments expected, but movement on that bill has been delayed by one Republican senator’s hold on four Amtrak nominees. Tillis would not name the senator.

Schumer wants assurances that these nominees will get voice votes tonight, Tillis said — likely a last-minute demand from the Democratic leader before Congress leaves town for the holidays.

Heading into his office moments ago, incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., stressed that the Senate needs to start voting soon to meet the midnight funding deadline. Asked what’s happening with these nominees, Thune said, “It’s a long story.”

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-VA, obtained unanimous consent via voice vote for funding for the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act 2.0 on the floor tonight.

The legislation reauthorizes funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for pediatric cancer after it was stripped out of the original bipartisan deal on Wednesday. The bill reauthorizes through FY2028 a pediatric disease research initiative within NIH and requires the NIH to coordinate pediatric research activities to avoid duplicative efforts. 

The legislation passed the House in March and has been sitting in the Senate since.

Democrats in the House and Senate have criticized Republicans over the last few days for taking out key provisions from the bipartisan deal, most notably pediatric cancer funding. However, the legislation that passed the Senate tonight is not exactly the same as the language in the original deal and is ultimately less money overall, per Kaine.

The government funding bill is finally in senators’ hands, and members of the upper chamber are currently working to get a time agreement to pass the continuing resolution tonight.

They will need the consent of all 100 senators to speed up the clock and pass a stopgap bill to avert a shutdown by midnight tonight.

“We’re working through the amendment process right now,” Schumer said when asked whether there will be a vote before midnight.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said that it was House Democrats who “successfully funded the government” in a “victory for the American people.”

“House Democrats have successfully stopped extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government, crashing the economy and hurting working-class Americans all across the land,” Jeffries said in remarks after the continuing resolution vote tonight.

Shortly after the funding bill passed the House, Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that he was “grateful” that members of Congress passed the CR.

“We encourage swift passage in the Senate now,” he said. “They need to do their job as the House just did.”

Johnson added that he spoke with Trump and Musk recently as well.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement following the House vote passing the CR that he’s “confident” the Senate will also pass the measure.

“Though this bill does not include everything Democrats fought for, there are major victories in this bill for American families — provide emergency aid for communities battered by natural disasters, no debt ceiling, and it will keep the government open with no draconian cuts,” he said. 

“As I have said, the only way to keep the government open is through bipartisanship,” he added.

The Senate must follow the House and pass the bill in order to send it to Biden’s desk and stave off a shutdown.

The House voted to pass a new bill to fund the government, a step forward in efforts to avoid a government shutdown.

The Senate will have to pass the bill as well.

Biden supports the new bill to fund the government, which Congress is currently voting on, according to the White House.

“President Biden supports moving this legislation forward and ensuring that the vital services the government provides for hardworking Americans — from issuing Social Security checks to processing benefits for veterans — can continue as well as to grant assistance for communities that were impacted by devastating hurricanes,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement.

The House is voting now on the new continuing resolution. While its says it is a 15-minute vote, that is not firm. The House can keep a vote open as long as needed until the speaker decides to close it.

This bill is under suspension of the rules so it needs 2/3 support to pass. If all current 430 members are present, that number of votes needed is 287.

But if just the 410 members who voted yesterday are there, it’s 274.

Democrats are still in their caucus meeting, so this vote could take some time.

As the House prepares to vote in the next hour on the new bill, House Democrats are holding a 5 p.m. caucus meeting to discuss how they will approach the situation, two sources familiar told NBC News.

The House will convene at approximately 5 p.m. to vote on a new plan to fund the government.

It will require a two-thirds majority to pass.

Federal wildland firefighters are bracing to lose their $20,000 retention bonuses if Congress does not act to prevent a government shutdown.

The firefighters have fought for years to establish a permanent pay fix for a job in which some earn as little as $15 an hour for dangerous, backbreaking work.

“These folks deserve a living wage. The future is going to be a tough road ahead,” said Steve Gutierrez, a former member of an elite hotshot crew who left the U.S. Forest Service after 15 years to advocate on behalf of firefighters.

Read more here.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., this afternoon criticized the House for taking Congress to the brink of another government shutdown.

“I don’t care to count how many times I’ve reminded our colleagues and our House counterparts how harmful it is to shut the government down and how foolish it is to bet your own side won’t take the blame for it,” McConnell said in his last floor speech as Senate Republican leader.

He also urged bipartisanship, noting that “getting a legislative outcome in the Senate requires large majorities of people who don’t share all the same views to actually work together toward outcomes where they do see eye to eye.”

“We have a choice: Do nothing, or try to find things we agree on and do them together,” he said.

Reporting from Washington

Trump won’t be sworn in for another month, but a possible government shutdown is raising questions in Washington about how a funding lapse could affect the opening of the next Congress, the certification of Trump’s election and his inauguration.

The short answer: probably not much.

That’s because the employees and functions that support the constitutional duties of the president and Congress — as well as life and property — are exempted from lapses in service.

Read the full story here.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Republicans at the end of their closed-door meeting that they’d vote on a government funding plan in the next hour and a half, according to two lawmakers in the room.

“We’re going to the floor within the next 90 minutes,” the speaker told them.

The vote on the funding package, which also will include disaster aid and a farm bill, will be the last of 2024. And lawmakers are anxious to get back home for the holidays.

The House is expected to vote this afternoon on a package that will include the continuing resolution, a farm bill extension and disaster and agriculture relief. The bills will not be separated, as outlined in the previous plan.

The package will likely be put on the House floor under suspension of the rules, requiring a two-thirds majority vote — meaning Johnson will need Democrats to pass the package. 

Johnson, who already spoke to President-elect Trump once today as NBC News reported, is expected to brief Trump on the new plan before a vote is called.

The Smithsonian advised this afternoon that they have enough prior-year funds to remain open for at least five days if the government shuts down tonight.

House Republicans leaving the closed-door meeting appeared confident they could vote today on a short-term spending bill, disaster aid and farm bill package — and no debt limit.

They would likely vote under suspension of the rules, which means Republicans would need Democratic support.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., came out of the conference meeting and expressed confidence that there won’t be a government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow.

“We have a unified Republican Conference. We have unanimous agreement in the room that we need to move forward. I will not telegraph to you the specific details of that yet,” he said.

“We will not have a government shutdown and we will meet our obligations for our farmers who need aid, for the disaster victims all over the country, and for making sure that military and essential services and everyone that relies on the federal government for a paycheck is paid over the holidays,” he added.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., came out of the closed-door GOP conference meeting and said Republicans are considering two options to fund the government.

The first would be that the House would pass a short-term bill under the suspension of the rules and the other would require a rule that would then lead to floor votes on disaster aid, farm relief and a short-term bill to keep the government funded.

Norman, a member of the House Rules Committee, said his panel may meet at midnight tonight to vote on such a rule if Republicans pursue that option.

He said Speaker Mike Johnson was inside the conference meeting asking rank-and-file members for a “show of hands” to gauge support for each option.

Norman, however, said a lot of Republicans were missing from the meeting and as a result, Johnson has “a job cut out” for him.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., briefly emerged from the ongoing closed-door House GOP conference meeting and said that there could be a “technical shutdown” as no final decisions have been made but a vote is still “possible” tonight.

He said that the most likely plan is to move the three bills, including the continuing resolution, separately but added that they are still discussing what to do about Trump’s debt limit demand.

“It wouldn’t necessarily be in this package,” Scalise added. “The debt limit was taken out because the Democrats walked away from that last night.”

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., told MSNBC after stepping out from the closed-door GOP conference meeting that there could be a shutdown but that it would last no longer than the weekend.

“There may be a technical shutdown over the course of the evening or the weekend,” he said. “Those generally don’t mean anything. I mean, nobody gets furloughed. Nothing really happens to shut down the government if there is a few-hour lapse.”

Johnson also criticized Congress for delaying the passage of a funding package.

“If we did our work a month ago or six months ago or 10 years ago, we wouldn’t be in such an uncomfortable position today,” he said.

If the government shuts down there will be a swift and major impact on millions of people in the U.S., particularly in underserved areas, who will have no access to primary health care. About 32 million people across the country are served by community health centers, regardless of their ability to pay.

Federally funded community health centers are non-profit clinics that receive grants from the Health Center Program of the Health Resources and Services Administration. If the grants end, the centers will have no funding for employees or medical care. The Community Health Center Fund provides about 70% of federal money for health centers.

Community Health Centers represent the largest primary care network in the U.S. Health centers have been in existence for nearly 60 years and care for 31.5 million patients nationwide, the vast majority of whom are low-income and need a place to go for affordable care. 

In the event of a government shutdown, eligible Social Security recipients shouldn’t expect to see lapses in their payments.

But because staffing levels at the agency may be lower than normal, processing times may be extended for the duration of the shutdown.

Johnson and Trump have spoken about a so-called plan C to avert a government shutdown, which involves three-part vote, and the president-elect has chosen to remain silent on it, a source familiar with his thinking said.

Trump’s stated position, to either abolish the debt ceiling entirely or suspend it until 2029, is still his preference. 

“Johnson should have listened when the president-elect told him this a month ago, and in every conversation since,” the source said.

Trump may be willing to take a “win” on a funding deal that cuts a significant amount of what he sees as “pork” in a process that has allowed his team to gather a lot of intel about where votes are on both sides for dealing with the debt limit next year, the source said. 

Just 31% of CDC staff will continue working in the event of a government shutdown, according to the agency’s contingency plan. Under a shutdown, the agency will continue its emergency response to urgent disease outbreaks and collecting data reported by states and local hospitals.

But technical assistance to states and local hospitals would cease during a government shutdown. The agency’s research and response to public inquiries about health-related issues would also halt.

Heading into the closed-door GOP Conference meeting in the basement of the Capitol, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., indicated she’s dissatisfied with House Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership.

“I don’t know what’s going on and really that’s part of problem,” she told reporters. “Zero communication from leadership to the membership. Something should change before Jan. 3.”

Asked how frustrated she is with Johnson, Malliotakis said, “How does it sound?”

Longtime Washington residents may be accustomed to the unsightly scourge of trash piling up around the National Mall and outside of Smithsonian museums during federal government shutdowns. 

Images of trash piles have been compelling symbols of one impact of past government shutdowns, when the National Park Service was unable to pick up trash at their shuttered sites.

During the last prolonged government shutdown in 2019, D.C.’s local government dispatched extra staff to help keep garbage cans empty and pick up trash at federal sites, but there’s no word from D.C.’s Department of Public Works about whether they plan to do so again in the event of another long shutdown.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at the briefing this afternoon that President Joe Biden has been in contact with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and is receiving regular updates on government funding talks.

“His team has been in touch with members, congressional members from both sides of the aisle, and certainly, he will continue to stay updated,” she said.

Jean-Pierre also called on the House speaker to come to a solution to fund the government before the shutdown deadline, saying “this is their mess that they created.”

Staff carry bags of food from Potbelly into a House GOP meeting as lawmakers scramble to avert a government shutdown.

About 45% of employees at the Department of Health and Human Services will be furloughed if the government shuts down, while the remaining 55% will continue working in some capacity, the agency’s contingency plan says.

At the National Institutes of Health, providers will continue to care for patients at the facility’s clinical center and it will admit new patients when “medically necessary.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that a deal can be made with Democrats if Republicans remove the debt ceiling from a final measure.

“There is probably a set of trade-offs that can come out to be issues to be delegated, if you will, to next year. That’s the art of negotiation,” he added.

Merkley said the “poison pill” of the debt ceiling “cannot be there, and other key things like disaster relief, it’s essential that we get that done.”

“It’s essential that we not shut down the government,” he said, adding about the GOP bill that failed in the House last night, “I’m not at all surprised that 38 Republicans voted against it, but now we are stuck while we’re waiting for the House to proceed.”

The food safety net, which includes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), child nutrition programs, and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), is allowed to continue dispersing benefits in the event of a government shutdown, according to a 2024 U.S. Department of Agriculture contingency plan.

But, the contingency plan adds that if funding for these programs runs out during the shutdown, “then program operations for the above programs would cease.”

It’s not clear how long it would take for funding for these programs to run out, but last September, ahead of another possible shutdown that was averted, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told NPR that WIC benefits could run out “within a matter of days” and predicted SNAP could continue as normal for about a month into a shutdown.

Head Start, a federally funded preschool program for disadvantaged children, would be without federal funds for the duration of a shutdown. Local partners who receive grants from Head Start could continue operating by using funding from other sources, but plenty of other Head Start preschool programs could be shuttered for the duration of the shutdown.

The short answer is, it depends. According to a National Park Service contingency plan published in March, parks or facilities that can be locked or secured during non-business hours will be closed for the duration of a government shutdown. 

Parks that are harder to “close” or secure, “meaning that due to their physical characteristics it is impossible or impractical to restrict public access,” will have limited staffing levels that will vary by the size of the park.

But according to the contingency plan, if a government shutdown begins on a Saturday, the National Park Service has a 48-hour period to begin implementing closures and changes, meaning parks may not be closed yet this weekend, for the first two days of the shutdown.

The contingency plan also states that agency workers involved in law enforcement, emergency response, coastal protection and surveillance, fire suppression and several other fields may continue working for the duration of the shutdown.

House Republican leaders are scrambling to come up with a plan to avert a government shutdown hours ahead of a deadline that would force U.S. troops, border patrol agents, air traffic controllers and millions of other federal workers to work without pay during the holidays.

Just three days ago, bipartisan House and Senate leaders struck an agreement to keep the government’s lights on, but Trump and Musk killed the deal, insisting at the 11th hour it needed to extend or abolish the debt limit to make way for his agenda next year.

A backup plan — endorsed by Trump and Musk — then went down in flames on the House floor, tanked by Democrats as well as 38 Republicans who objected to the debt extension.

Embattled Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who is fighting to keep his leadership job, is now moving forward with Plan C. It calls for breaking up the larger package into three separate parts — government funding until March 14, disaster aid and a farm bill extension — and having lawmakers vote on them individually on the floor, according to two Republican sources familiar with the plan. A debt limit extension would not receive a vote, the sources said.

Read the full story here.

Johnny Jones, a Transportation Security Administration officer and union official at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, fears that a government shutdown could be financially devastating for his family and his rank-and-file members.

“They’d have to go to work every day without pay, and they don’t know how long that’s going to last,” said Jones, who lives in Fort Worth with his wife and kids. “It’s an embarrassment.”

TSA employees are considered essential workers, which means they are required to stay on the job if the federal government shuts down. But their paychecks would be frozen, dealing a financial blow to workers at the height of the Christmas travel rush.

“The majority of our rank-and-file live paycheck-to-paycheck. But it’s the holidays, so these guys have already spent their savings buying Christmas gifts,” Jones said. “The politicians are going to be the real Grinches around here.”

Jones, 46, said some of his union’s members are already talking about returning or pawning holiday presents so they have enough cash to get them through a shutdown. He is considering “liquidating some assets” at his home, including his car and his kids’ video game consoles.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters as he left a meeting with House Democrats that “the lines of communication have been reopened” with Republicans on the government funding bill.

When asked about the possible new version of a bill, Jeffries said he could not comment without seeing it. 

“I can’t comment on a plan when there’s no plan in front of me to evaluate,” he said.

The debt ceiling is the legal limit set by federal lawmakers for how much the U.S. can borrow to pay its bills. Once that limit is reached, it can trigger a government shutdown because the U.S. is unable to pay its bills unless both chambers of Congress pass a bill to raise or suspend the debt ceiling.

In 2023, lawmakers on Capitol Hill and President Joe Biden reached a deal to temporarily suspend the debt ceiling through Jan. 1, 2025. 

The debt ceiling had limited effects on House and Senate leaders’ deliberations this month on a government funding bill, but yesterday, Trump and Vance said in a statement that they expected Congress to address the debt ceiling before the end of Biden’s term.

The looming federal government shutdown doesn’t appear to be having an impact on markets today. As of midmorning, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by more than 1.4%, or more than 615 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are also trading up by around 1.5%.

The shutdown would come on the heels of a volatile time for the Dow, with the index snapping its longest 10-day losing streak since 1974 yesterday. Some lower-than-expected inflation data released today is also likely helping to fuel today’s pop.

After the Democratic Caucus meeting this morning, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, D-Fla., said on MSNBC that Democrats are on the same page as they work to avoid a shutdown.

“We heard from leader Hakeem Jeffries and our senior members, who are all unified and focused on making sure that we can take care of the needs of the American people based on the votes that we take before the government shuts down,” she said.

House Republicans, shuttling in and out of the speaker’s office, say they’re likely to huddle as a full conference to assess the new plan formed by their leadership.

The specifics of that plan are being kept close to the vest, as details remain in flux. The same is true of the conference huddle itself: The timing hasn’t yet been provided to members, and given the fluidity of the funding talks, a full conference meeting could get scrapped altogether. For now, however, such a huddle is very much on the table and expected by members.

If there is an extended shutdown, military pay and civilian pay will halt. Without a deal on Capitol Hill, troops will miss their end-of-month paycheck during this holiday season. Military reservists drilling after Dec. 20 will not receive pay for those drills, and federal civilians who are required to work during a shutdown will not be paid either.

Death benefits will also cease during a government shutdown, so if any deaths occur after one begins, the Defense Department could not pay out benefits until Congress passes a continuing resolution or an appropriations bill.

Several Defense Department actions would continue under a government shutdown. For example, military personnel on active duty — including reserve component personnel on federal active duty — will continue to report for duty and carry out assignments. 

Military retiree benefits are paid from a trust fund and thus could continue during a shutdown. However, retiree pay may be slowed due to the lack of personnel working to process payments.

In a post on X yesterday, TSA Administrator David Pekoske warned that “an extended government shutdown could mean longer wait times at airports,” throughout the holiday season even though TSA agents and air traffic control workers are expected to continue working throughout a shutdown.

This is partially because absenteeism among TSA agents tends to rise during a government shutdown. In 2018, during a government shutdown, the absentee rate among airport screeners peaked at 10%, compared to the average 3% absence rate during regular periods of operation.

The Library of Congress’ buildings will be closed to the public and researchers if the government shuts down, it said in an advisory.

All public events will be canceled, the advisory said. “Also, all inquiries and requests to the Library of Congress web-based services will not be received or responded to until the shutdown ends.”

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, said Democrats are ready to negotiate on a funding bill and addressed a comment from Rep. Ana Paulina Luna, R-Fla., earlier today saying Republicans are “not cutting deals with Democrats.”

“There was an agreement, and so we’re waiting, ready, willing and waiting to engage in negotiations,” Lee said. “But you heard what the congresswoman just said, they don’t care. They don’t want to.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in floor remarks this morning that he wants Republicans to return to the original agreement that was negotiated in a bipartisan way with Democrats.

He warned that if Republicans don’t work with Democrats, the government will shut down at 12:01 a.m.

“It’s time to go back to the original agreement we had just a few days ago,” Schumer said. “It’s time for that. It’s time the House votes on our bipartisan CR. It’s the quickest, simplest and easiest way we can make sure the government stays open while delivering critical emergency aid to the American people.”

Schumer added, “If the House put our original agreement on the floor today, it would pass, and we could put the threat of a shutdown behind us.”

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said the Rules Committee will meet soon to move forward on a government spending plan. 

Norman, a member of the committee, said the panel has to give an hour notice before meeting, and that the notice will go out soon. 

When asked if he will support the plan, Norman said yes, but he would not provide details. 

The House currently does not have authority to bring up a rule on the floor the same day it is approved by the Rules Committee. There are procedural work-arounds for this that the House will have to use if Republicans plan to bring the new plan forward on a rule.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., called on Trump to come to Washington to help negotiate a funding package.

“I think that’d be wonderful,” he said in an interview on CNN. “Clearly, the president, incoming president, has some strongly held opinions about what he’d like to see in this package.”

Lawmakers are working to avoid a government shutdown before the deadline after a bill backed by Trump failed in the House. NBC News’ Ali Vitali reports on what could happen next.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., told reporters outside the speaker’s office that Republicans aren’t negotiating with Democrats to avert a shutdown.

“We’re not cutting deals with Democrats. We’re going to work it out here. I do not believe that government is going to be shutting down,” she said. “But you guys will see some great stuff very similar to President Trump’s plan yesterday.”

She suggested that Republicans were close to another deal, but Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., said: “Anyone who’s telling you there is a deal is a little ahead of themselves.”

House Democrats are planning to meet at 10 a.m. today to discuss government funding, according to an invite obtained by NBC News.

Democrats overwhelmingly voted against a bill last night that would have temporarily funded the government. As many as 38 Republicans voted against the bill as well, leading to the measure falling far short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval, per the rules of fast-track processes.

A shutdown is slated to begin if a deal is not reached this evening.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement this morning that she’s “ready to stay” in Washington through Christmas because she said Democrats won’t let Elon Musk “run the government.”

“Put simply, we should not let an unelected billionaire rip away research for pediatric cancer so he can get a tax cut or tear down policies that help America outcompete China because it could hurt his bottom line,” she said. “We had a bipartisan deal — we should stick to it.”

The spending bill that House Republicans proposed and failed to pass last night had stripped out funding for child cancer research.

The original bipartisan agreement would fund the government and provide disaster relief to various communities across the country, Murray said.

“The American people do not want chaos or a costly government shutdown all because an unelected billionaire wants to call the shots — I am ready to work with Republicans and Democrats to pass the bipartisan deal both sides negotiated as soon as possible,” she said.

If both chambers of Congress are not able to agree on a deal to pass a funding bill as the clock ticks down to midnight, the government will officially shut down at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow.

Before Trump weighed in Wednesday to tank a bipartisan deal on a continuing resolution, it seemed that both chambers were set to vote on and pass a stopgap bill that would have kept the government open through March 14.

Trump said that if the government is to shut down, it should happen while Joe Biden is still president.

“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under ‘TRUMP.’ This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.

Trump and his allies are responsible for House Republicans’ decision to abandon the bipartisan deal that had already been negotiated to fund the government.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La, said as he entered the Capitol that House votes are expected this morning. 

“So y’all stay tuned, we’ve got a plan,” he said. 

Freedom Caucus members and other conservatives like Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., have already entered his office. 

Vice President-elect JD Vance, still a senator from Ohio, has also arrived and entered the speaker’s office through a back door.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social account overnight that Congress should either eliminate the debt ceiling or suspend it until after his presidency. 

“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling. Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President,” he said on his Truth Social account just after 1 a.m. 

Trump had called for getting rid of the debt ceiling during a phone interview with NBC News yesterday.

It was government shutdown season in Washington, and all through the House, many creatures were stirring — most notably Elon Musk.

Lawmakers in Congress were expecting a glide path to the holidays. They had a bipartisan deal that would keep the government funded and send them all on their merry way back to their districts. 

But then they got a taste of what the next four years might be like with Donald Trump back in the White House and Musk, the world’s richest man, wielding enormous power over the political process. 

On Wednesday, Trump — with help from Musk — effectively killed the funding legislation put together by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., a 1,500-page bill packed with the byproduct of the traditional horse-trading that generally defines congressional dealmaking.

Read the full story here.

The House rejected a bill late yesterday to keep the government funded temporarily after Republican leaders reneged on an earlier bipartisan deal and made modifications to appease Trump, Musk and an internal GOP revolt. The vote was 174-235, with one Democrat voting present, falling far short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass it under a fast-track process. NBC News’ Brie Jackson has all the details on “Early TODAY.”

A continuing resolution — often referred to as a “CR” in shorthand — is a stopgap funding measure that temporarily funds the government at current levels for a set amount of time. 

Each year Congress is expected to fund the government by Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year. If it fails to do so, the House and the Senate are also allowed to authorize a continuing resolution to temporarily keep the government operating at previously-approved levels.

In October, both chambers approved a continuing resolution, setting Dec. 20 as the new deadline to fund the government. Earlier this week, House and Senate leaders unveiled the text of a fresh continuing resolution that they hoped to pass on a bipartisan basis to fund the government at current levels through March 14.

Their hopes to pass the deal were dashed after Trump, Vance and tech mogul Elon Musk spoke out against the bill, tanking GOP support for it.

In the event of a government shutdown, all nonessential government functions hit the pause button and the federal government is unable to pay federal employees. Hundreds of thousands of employees could be furloughed for the duration of the shutdown, while others would work without pay.

During a 2013 government shutdown, 850,000 federal employees were furloughed. 

The military and federal public safety employees, such as TSA agents and air traffic control personnel, are usually “excepted” from being furloughed and continue to work through a government shutdown. Each federal agency has a contingency plan for how to operate during a shutdown.

Other “essential” functions of the government — such as sending out Social Security checks and payments for Medicare and Medicaid — are expected to continue during a government shutdown.