House GOP Eyeing 2 Voting Plans on Spending

House Speaker Mike Johnson, emerging from a GOP conference meeting Friday to hammer out a last-minute agreement to keep government operations running, said the conference is "united" and he does not believe that there will be a government shutdown after midnight.

"We have unanimous agreement in the room that we need to move forward," the Louisiana Republican told the press, reports NBC News. "I will not telegraph to you the specific details of that yet."

But the Louisiana Republican added that lawmakers will reach an agreement that 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."

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters Friday that there is still the possibility of a vote later in the day, when asked about whether a vote would be held this weekend.

He did not rule out the possibility of a "technical shutdown" but insisted that lawmakers could "stave that off" with a vote Friday night.

Scalise said the most likely plan is to move bills to extend the government funding until March, approve farm and disaster aid, and approve an addition after a demand from President-elect Donald Trump to extend the debt limit by two years.

However, lawmakers are still discussing what should be done about the debt limit part.

"It wouldn't necessarily be in this package," said Scalise. "The debt limit was taken out because the Democrats walked away from that last night."

House Republicans are discussing two plans for voting on legislation to keep the government open, GOP sources said on Friday.

One plan would be to bring back a bill proposed and rejected Thursday night that would have combined a three-month extension of government funding and $110 billion in farm and disaster aid while leaving out a section that President-elect Donald Trump reportedly demanded to extend the debt limit by two years.

The other option would be to vote for the three-bill plan under a single rule.

Meanwhile, according to a report from Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman, Republicans now have an agreement that says they will raise the national debt limit by $1.5 trillion in their "first reconciliation package," while promising to cut $2.5 trillion in net mandatory spending.

The options would include either a continuing resolution until March, or rules for votes on the resolution, disaster relief, and a farm aid package, Sherman reported on X.

The House has until midnight to approve a plan to avoid a government shutdown. Their second funding proposal was defeated Thursday night, hours after a proposal championed by Johnson, R-La., was nixed following opposition from House Republicans, Trump, and X owner Elon Musk, one of the heads of Trump's planned Department of Government Efficiency.

Early Friday, Johnson said Republicans had reached a "plan C" to avert the shutdown.

While Democrats and a handful of Republicans nixed the second bill Thursday night, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" Friday that Democrats could reach a deal if Republicans agree to remove the debt ceiling from their final proposal.

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

Merkley called the debt ceiling a "poison pill" and said it can't remain in the legislation.

"Key things like disaster relief, it's essential that we get that done," he said.

It's also essential that the government not be shut down, Merkley said.

"I'm not at all surprised that 38 Republicans voted against [Thursday night's bill] but now we are stuck while we're waiting for the House to proceed," he added.

Meanwhile, a source told NBC News that Johnson and Trump have spoken about "plan C," which would involve a three-part vote, and that Trump has decided to remain silent on the talks.

"Johnson should have listened when the president-elect told him this a month ago, and in every conversation since," said the source, adding that Trump may be willing to take a "win" on a deal that cuts what he sees as "pork."