We're going to be voting for that in overwhelming numbers.
You support aid to people in distress.
This bill does that.
You're going to be voting no.
We're going to be voting yes.
We think the rural economy is in crisis.
There's important aid in here for it.
Aid, you support it.
We're going to be voting for it.
You're going to be voting against it.
That's just the facts.
You consider legislation one piece at a time, there's not a single thing in here that you oppose.
Except maybe the debt limit extension, which is the same debt limit extension you supported two years ago.
So I urge my colleagues to vote yes and keep the government open, help people in need, help the rural economy, and let us move forward with our work.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the bill and yield back.
The question is, will the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H .R. 10515?
Those in favor say aye.
Those opposed say no.
In the opinion of the chair, two -thirds being in the affirmative, for what purpose does the gentlewoman from Connecticut seek recognition?
Guess what?
I request a recorded vote.
Does the gentlewoman ask?
And nays.
With great surprise, the yays and nays are requested.
The debate you saw just right now was from last night, and it is outdated.
That plan was voted down.
Much of what's going on on Capitol Hill right now is under the surface.
The Republicans are meeting.
The Democrats are meeting.
This is a revenue measure, so it has to start in the House to see whether or not the government gets funded past midnight tonight.
The Republicans are now filing out of their meeting, and when...
We're good to go.
I think?
About a half hour ago, the Wall Street Journal had this report on the latest potential plan for votes.
Republicans float novel idea to avert government shutdown.
House Speaker Mike Johnson planned to huddle with rank and file GOP members on Friday to lay out a plan to avert a government shutdown at midnight while reopening communications with Democrats still steaming after the collapse of a bipartisan deal.
Discussions in the GOP.
Thank you.
Under the approach, lawmakers would pledge to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending next year, but not vote on it now.
President -elect Donald Trump has demanded that lawmakers vote to raise the borrowing cap before he takes office.
That's generally what's going on on Capitol Hill.
Now let's listen to Speaker Mike Johnson.
Have you talked to the President?
Have you talked to the President?
And maybe we will get some more details in just a few moments, according to Speaker Johnson.
In the meantime, those three votes, clean CR, disaster relief, aid for farmers, that's what they are looking at is taking those three votes potentially this afternoon.
Again, it's a revenue measure, so it has to start in the House of Representatives before it gets to the Senate.
Michael Schnell of The Hill.
That's, as you know...
This is all a moving story right now.
It's changing minute by minute, but we want to hear your voices.
Aaron, Tacoma, Washington, Republican.
What do you think about all this, Aaron?
I mean, honestly, we need to get everything passed.
We need to keep the government funded.
There's so much in fighting right now with the Republicans and the Democrats.
I mean, the Dems want constant aid to Ukraine.
Well, at the end of the day, Ukraine is not a U .S. ally.
They're not a part of NATO.
Do we really need to be involved in a lot of these conflicts and a lot of this war?
No, we do not.
So when it comes to government funding, Aaron, how would you like to see the fact that this is all going to happen?
I'd like Republicans and Democrats to find common ground.
I mean, Republicans did find ground, but the Democrats voted it down.
We could have already had this done if it wasn't for the Democrats voting everything down, refusing to hold the vote.
That's Aaron in Tacoma, Washington.
Brenda?
Hi.
What's going through your mind as this happens?
What's going through my mind is that this is the reason the American people voted to oust a lot of the people in Congress.
The biggest problem to this bill is they want to vote themselves a 40 % pay increase.
While telling us that the price of eggs, it's okay that it's gone up, you know, 40%, 50%, they're going to vote themselves in some sliding pork into the bill, and they don't think we're going to read it.
We read it.
We aren't, Elon Musk is not the one that's saying, don't vote for this.
It's the American people, the American people that voted them out for overspending, constantly spending, and spending on everybody but us.
Look at all the North Carolinians that didn't get but $750 if they got it from FEMA.
And you know what?
It's great that Elon Musk is there because he is exposing all of the lies.
And we're sick of the lies.
We're done with it.
We need to move on.
We need to get together like the other gentleman said and come together and agree on a path forward that doesn't include all this anger.
Get rid of all this.
That's exactly what I would like to see.
Well, so far, we have always been...
Let's go back to Capitol Hill.
More members speaking.
But we're not going to let them leave our farmers and our farm families on the field.
We're just not going to do that.
So I believe this is the right path for us to take and the right place for us to start, and we'll see what the numbers are.
And do you feel like Johnson has, with this move, locked up the speakership race for next year?
He's got my vote 110%.
Thank you so much.
Let's hear from Claude in Brookville, Ohio.
Democrats line Claude.
Good afternoon to you.
Good afternoon.
Thanks for having me.
My question is, Republicans are in the majority.
There's 211 Democrats, 219 Republicans, and the balance of 435, I don't know.
But I don't see why they're hollering that the Democrats shut anything down.
They got the majority.
That's it.
Claude, how would you like to see this proceed?
If the Republicans are going to vote it in, let them vote it in.
Let's hear from Alan in Mansfield, Texas, a federal worker.
Hi, Alan.
Good afternoon.
Real quick, from a government employee's standpoint, we can't keep kicking the can down the road with CRs because every time that we get a CR come up, you put...
All the government workers in a panic, thinking we're going to get furloughed, we're not going to get a paycheck, even though we will get a paycheck eventually.
And they need to do what needs to be done from a federal employee's point of view.
Get the funding passed that don't kick the CR down the road continually.
And how would you have that funded?
You need to fund it the way it needs to be funded, however that they deem it necessary.
I don't care if it's Republican or Democrat, but however it needs to get done, needs to get done.
Brian, Minnesota.
Hi, Brian.
Independent.
Hi, how's it going?
How are you?
Not too bad, but at the same point, I'm sick of all politicians pretty much.
When you get about 90 % of them are career politicians that don't care about us, it kind of gets sickening and everything.
Yeah, the Republicans may be in charge of everything, got the numbers and stuff, but at the same point, when you got all these career politicians on both sides that are pretty much corrupt and everything,
that I don't believe anything they all say.
There's about 10 % of all the politicians to begin with that are actually decent people.
That's why I figure we just got to keep going with the decent people, whatever, and stuff.
We should do one bill spending and everything.
They pretty much, you've got Congress has got a slush fund of $17 million that they paid out for hush payments on sex scandals and everything.
We need to hear about that kind of stuff.
Who's doing that and everything.
We need to pretty much pass these things, get money to North Carolina, get money to the farmers.
We got to quit putting in money for stadiums, putting in money for pay raises and all these different things.
And it's like, okay.
If you're going to do this stuff, do it out in the public.
Don't do it behind people's backs and everything.
This is kind of my opinion, and I'm actually a retired federal worker, so I'll let you answer.
Brian, we're just going to listen to your voice.
We appreciate that.
Reporter Jordan Carney tweets out that Scalise asked if Congress is going into the weekend.
Quote, there's still a possibility of a vote today.
Scalise said the conference hasn't made a final decision and is debating going through suspension or a rule.
So we could have the Rules Committee meeting as well to debate the rules on the votes.
Now remember, again, the current plan is three different votes.
A clean, continuing resolution.
Secondly...
Hi.
Thank you for taking my call.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend coming up.
I just want to call to comment on the fact that a lot of Republicans are talking about no deal with Democrats, nothing with Democrats.
And as a queer man, I honestly don't care about the economy.
It can go to hell and I'll be fine, economically speaking.
But I'm for social program and social life and having my life be able to recognize, recognize my living, my true self.
That having these talks that, like, no deal with Democrats, nothing for the Democrats, just seem an insult and sort of like an attack to me personally, even they don't know me.
And I understand that Republicans are very much for Christianity and for people who are Christian.
I understand that.
I get that.
But I just don't appreciate the fact that Republicans are so gung -ho about no deal with Democrats.
And that's all I got to say.
I hope you have a good weekend, and I hope you have a good holiday coming up.
Thank you, Colin.
You as well.
Franklin in Englewood, Florida.
Republican line.
Hi.
How you doing?
How are you?
Good.
My name's Frank, and I agree with the 38 Republicans who had the guts enough to stand up.
And finally take a stand.
The American people voted for a radical change in this country that stopped the spending.
1 ,447 pages of pork spending is not a change.
And we voted for a change.
I'm a middle -class American union person at that.
And we want a change.
This is ridiculous.
If the American people were to conduct our checkbooks in our homes the way government officials are conducting our government checkbooks, we would be bankrupt and we would be put out of our homes.
This America needs to change and it needs to change now.
I thank God for representatives like Marjorie Greene and Chip who have the guts to stand up and...
And stand in the faces of rhino Republicans and radical Democrats that want to fund stupid stuff instead of getting our checkbook right and instead of getting our country back on the right track.
We can't afford to allow the next three generations that are coming up underneath us to inherit this mass $36 trillion bill.
It's totally ridiculous.
I'm fired up about this.
I voted for this.
And I want a radical change like millions of other Americans want change in this country.
It's not going to be business as usual.
Two questions to you, Franklin.
Number one, do you think Mike Johnson should be speaker in the next Congress?
I like Mike Johnson.
I know he's a born again Christian, but he sure is seemingly looking a little bit on the weak side.
He needs to stand up.
I understand what his motives are.
I know that he's in a trick bag.
You know, I know he's in the middle of a trick bag trying to get this thing through, but he's got to take a stance.
He's got to support the president, and the president's got to support Chip.
I can't understand that one, but no, I think Mike is probably going to end up getting replaced.
I'm not, you know, I think he's acting a little bit on the weak side.
He needs to show a little more backbone, but I do respect the guy, but I think some of the pork...
For him to pass 1 ,447 pages of pork billing and pass it all to say vote for this, I got a problem with that.
I got a problem with Mike on that.
All right, that's Franklin in Englewood, Florida.
James is in Jacksonville, North Carolina, a federal worker.
Good afternoon, James.
Good afternoon.
Yes, I'm calling in about the government shutout.
I worked for the Marine Corps from 1974 to 2005.
Great outfit.
And they also, we've had quite a few government shutdowns during that period, especially in the 90s when Clinton was in.
And that's a game they play.
There's nobody winning federal government that's not going to get paid.
After your central personnel, you're going to work.
If you're not, you go home and have a holiday.
So they're making a big deal like it's so bad.
Trust me.
That's James in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
Thank you for calling in.
Well, Ralph Norman, a Republican from South Carolina, talked to reporters just a little bit ago.
Here he is.
We've got two options.
It's far better than what we had.
Option A is a clean CR.
B is broken down into disaster relief, farm, and then a CR.
So we're going to decide now which one to go with.
If I had to bet, I would bet it's option B, the three, on the rule.
What about the debt limit issue?
Under option B, what would the timeline for that be?
I'm sorry, if you do a rule, how long does that take?
And then vote.
Like at midnight?
And you would support you and your...
I'll support that.
We've got to support both of them.
And then vote tomorrow during the day or does it take longer than that?
No, in the morning.
And did Johnson indicate when he plans to make a decision here?
I think now.
And did he say which one he's chosen?
He's going to do it.
I don't know.
He's got to make calls.
Because there are a lot of people that haven't read.
But it's a good day.
A lot better than what we had.
Is there a plan to pass on Republican support alone, or are Dems getting involved?
Well, if you do it on the suspension, you need Democrats.
If you do it on the rule, 50 % plus one would be Republicans.
And you're supportive of both?
Both.
Which one did you say it was more like?
Are you expecting a rule or suspension?
I don't know.
It's two different.
It's a binary choice.
So hold on.
So you'll support...
Why were you opposed to the original package then?
It had the funding for the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
It had molasses training.
That bridge is still in there.
I don't think so.
I don't think the bridge is in there.
I think that's out.
When would you expect that to come up?
Like, is there a deadline for that?
That was Representative Ralph Norman, Republican of South Carolina from a little bit earlier.
We also heard from Mike Johnson a few minutes ago live.
He says he will be updating reporters and all of us shortly on what the plan is for the Republican Congress to move forward.
In the meantime, we're taking your calls, hearing your voices on a potential government shutdown at midnight.
Representative Mike Thompson, Democrat of California, tweeted this out.
Elon Musk.
Blue up a bipartisan government funding bill suggesting we cut funds for health care clinics, childhood cancer research, veteran benefits, and more to fund tax breaks for billionaires.
Republicans are bending to the whim of a billionaire looking out for only himself.
Gwen Moore, Democrat, Wisconsin.
The Republican scheme is clear.
Slash Medicare and Medicaid, forcing seniors to pay for tax cuts, benefiting the wealthy.
Perry and Englewood, Florida, independent line, what do you think about the discussion we're having today and the potential of a government shutdown?
Yeah, high C -SPAN for taking the call.
I think the separate bills make good sense.
Farmers and disaster relief money, that should be a no -brainer for either party.
The rest of the spending, the general government spending, they should divide out and make it date -specific so that we...
We can pass a bill.
They can pass a bill for today, the 20th of December, through when the new government takes over on January 20th.
And as far as spending past that into March, this Congress shouldn't even be voting on that.
Somewhere around the 7th of January, I believe, the new Congress gets sworn in, and they should be passing
Well the current plan that the Republicans are looking at would fund the government through March.
At this point, early march, Eric is in Allen Washington, Republican Line.
Good afternoon, Eric.
Hi, thanks for taking my call.
So i'm a disabled veteran.
I'm also retired from federal service.
Two years ago NAVY Shipyard in Brimerton Washington, and I had to retire because of my health.
I like how they're breaking down these separate bills.
They should have been doing this years ago.
I don't support trying to throw all this pork in.
It's basically either the Democrats or the Republicans both saying, if you don't give us this pork, we're not going to let you pass this other stuff.
Whatever happened to the will of we, the people, the mandate was set on november 5th.
It was clear to both Republicans and Democrats what we, the people, want.
We're tired of this.
You want Mike Johnson out of there?
I like the guy because he's a man of God.
I know he's in a tough spot.
He's being pulled from every different direction.
But look, when it comes down to it, you took that position for a reason, and you knew you had to stand your ground on certain things.
If I was there, I would say, if you don't like how I run this...
If you don't like the decisions I'm making, I'm supporting what's good for we the people, then get rid of me.
I wouldn't want to be in that job if they didn't support that.
So it all comes down to we the people, what's best for the people.
If you can spend hundreds of billions of dollars of our taxpayer dollar to go support wars in Ukraine and all this other stuff, and yet our people in North Carolina are living in tents and they're starving and our veterans are becoming homeless.
And our farmers can't even afford to put food on our table.
They can't afford to do their own work because of this.
And I'm all for a clean CR.
So how do we do that?
We shut it down if that's what we need to.
I know the Democrats are throwing a fit and they're saying the shutdown is because of Republicans.
But I'm going to tell you something.
These three bills that are on the table right now, just like yesterday when they voted no, it was everything that the Democrats had already agreed to.
So what's the problem?
If you don't have anything to hide, go ahead and support this.
Vote yes on it.
And then let's fight the battles later on.
It's about we the people.
That's all I got to say.
So, Eric, if not Mike Johnson, who would you like to see as speaker?
Do you remember what happened about a year ago when Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the speakership?
Yeah, and it caused more infighting than anything.
You know, like President -elect Trump said, if Mike comes in line and he does what he was hired to do or what he was voted in to do, then he should be able to stay as Speaker.
I would say the same thing.
But, you know, I...
People say, well, Elon Musk or Vivek Ramaswamy, you know, I'd rather have somebody in there.
You don't have to be a member of Congress to be a speaker.
And so maybe that's what you need to be.
If Elon was in there, I like him better on Doge just because they can't touch him.
You know, he's the richest man in the world.
They can't buy his vote.
They can't, you know what I mean?
So, but at the same time, he doesn't have any government experience.
and maybe that's what we need in there too you know people like me who have never had i was president of the union at the shipyard so i had some political background but i i can't stand politics right but maybe we need somebody in there that is like layman terms type things uh blue collar person to go in there and say i'm going to support All right,
Eric, thank you from Allen, Washington.
We appreciate your time this afternoon.
Annie Greyer of CNN is reporting this, that it's looking like the House GOP will bring forward one vote, not three votes, but one vote that includes spending package, CR, disaster aid,
farm and farm bill extension.
This vote would require two -thirds of those present and voting, aka lots of Democratic support.
Major caveat, though, Speaker Mike Johnson still needs to talk to Donald Trump about it.
So, we're looking at a potential of three votes.
We're now, Annie Greyer is reporting, potentially one vote this afternoon.
Lori, Townsend, Massachusetts, a federal worker.
Hi, Lori.
Hello.
I've been a federal employee for over 38 years, and I've never seen the likes of what we're seeing right now.
And it just becomes a point where it has to stop being political and what's best for the country.
The last caller that said that we need somebody for the blue -collar worker and he mentions Elon Musk makes no sense to me.
There should be people in there that are voted in.
And I don't remember ever seeing Elon Musk on a ballot for anything.
And as a federal employee, I am willing and will not get paid for the Congress to do the right thing.
And it just, I'm tired of them holding Whether or not they're going to approve the CR or the budget as a political tool.
And it's people that they're impacting and they don't care.
That's been made perfectly clear.
Lori, you said you were a federal worker for 38 years.
This is not the first time you've been through this looming deadline, is it?
No, and it's never been as consistent.
I remember we would go years and years and years, and it was never getting up to the deadline, whether or not they're going to approve a budget.
There used to be civility, and now it's party before country, and it's really sad to see.
And I don't know why you just mentioned that I guess Johnson has to talk to Trump before he even proposes this.
Well, that's what Annie Greyer of CNN is reporting, yes.
That was from her tweet.
Well, I mean, he's not the president yet.
And I don't know why they're kowtowing to him before he's even...
I mean, the same thing happened with the border bill.
And, you know, if they could agree on something and now they're just pulling it back, it's just sad.
I'm really sad to see it at this point.
But I am happy.
I'm not happy.
I'm willing to forego whatever paychecks I need to for Congress to do the right thing for the American people.
We should not be raising that debt ceiling so that Trump can go and give away all those tax breaks or whatever he has planned.
It's so contradictory.
Dems are expecting to caucus once Hakeem Jeffries talks to Speaker Johnson.
Leader Jeffries told frontliners in a meeting today he'd like to get this resolved today.
Gary is calling in from Marlton, New Jersey, Independent Line.
Gary, give us your thoughts on what's going on.
Yes, hi.
Thank you for taking my call.
I'm a 70 -year -old who receives Social Security.
This shutdown business has been going on for quite some time, and it's used for political theater for both sides.
And there needs to be some way, some mechanism to make it stop happening.
But of course, that's not easy to do.
So, I mean, I hear that it causes disruption, chaos.
The people suffer if there's a shutdown.
The image of politicians suffers.
it's really not good at all in any way and so what can we do to uh make this not happen anymore and i hear they somehow we need a little more pressure on the politicians because they're the ones that responsible and they're going to stay in office no matter what happens for two years their jobs are secure for two years at least so what else could we do to put pressure on them besides threatening their jobs well one idea is i hear that they get paid the federal People in Congress get paid even if there is a shutdown.
So they feel no pressure at all financially with a shutdown.
So I think that would give them a little more pressure if they don't get paid if there's a shutdown, just like all the other federal workers.
I think that would put a little extra pressure on them because election -wise, they're secure for two years.
They're not going to get fired.
Their job is secure.
So we need some way to put a little squeeze on them.
Now, would they pass a bill to make that happen?
If they really are motivated to stop this from happening, make them feel a little extra pressure to avoid a shutdown by not getting paid themselves.
That's a suggestion I have.
Because this keeps going on and on.
And they all say, oh, we've got to stop doing this.
We don't like it.
It's disruptive and chaotic.
Yeah, it is.
It gives them a bad image.
The people suffer.
The country suffers.
What can we do to stop it?
Thank you, Gary, in Marlton, New Jersey.
Reporter Max Cohen is tweeting out that House Democrats seem somewhat open to the new Johnson funding proposal, whether that's the three votes that we discussed earlier or the one vote that Annie Greyer of CNN is saying is a potential.
But there's widespread agreement that they're waiting for any guidance from Hakeem Jeffries first.
There's a frustration.
That their wins from the first CR are gone.
That was last night's vote that went down.
But acknowledgement that no one wants a shutdown.
Ryan, Louisville, Kentucky.
Louisville, Texas.
Sorry about that.
Republican line.
No, that's my fault.
I got cut off.
So explain to me what's going on again.
I know there's three parts to it and one other part.
There's a potential of three votes.
One is a clean, continuing resolution.
Okay, gotcha.
Which of those plans is in the works?
That's not the point.
My point is, what are the people think?
I'm one of the 49 .9.
If you voted for Trump, you're a part of the 49 .9.
Trump, I see you.
Elon, I see you.
The Vets, I see you.
I see your plan.
I understand you want to raise the debt ceiling, but what I'm thinking in my mind, you want to give the rich more money, which I understand.
How can you get businesses if you don't fund the businesses?
I get it.
Alright, Ryan in Louisville, Texas.
We'll leave it there and talk to Leonard in McVeightown, Pennsylvania.
Federal worker.
What kind of work do you do, Leonard?
Okay.
What do you think about what's going on in Washington right now?
Okay.
Thank you, sir, for calling in.
Dorothy in Omaha, Democrat's line.
Dorothy, you're on C -SPIN.
Okay.
I've got more of a question.
And do you know, does the president have the power to do an executive order to not pay Congress if they can't get this done?
Like your caller Gary was talking about, I think they will be encouraged if they don't get their paycheck.
They'll be encouraged to do the work for the American people.
That's Dorothy in Omaha.
Darrell's in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Republican.
Hi, Darrell.
Hello, thank you for taking my call.
Basically, I'm all in favor for that one vote for those three items of keeping the government open, the disaster people, disaster in North Carolina, and the farmers.
I think that's the way they ought to go, and that would be my vote for the people.
Why do you support...
Well, because as the Republican speaker there had made mention, these are all the things that they have got in common with the Democrats.
They are all for all that, which was brought out.
What the Democrats are opposed to about even voting on the good stuff is that the other stuff is not in there.
And just like the representative said, Don't vote no on this bill because what it doesn't have.
Vote on it because what we have in common.
Thank you, sir, for calling in.
Let's hear from Dawn, a federal worker in Napa, California.
Hi, Dawn.
I'm a federal worker, or was, I'm a retired, and I actually have a solution to this problem.
I don't know if Congress will ever vote it in, but here it is.
The solution is no fundraising until they get their budgets done.
That's it.
That's all I have.
That's Dawn in Napa.
And finally, let's hear from Daniel in Scranton, PA, Democrats' line.
Daniel, go ahead.
Hi.
Yeah, hi, how are you?
Just a short observation here.
I think that if they go with the single vote, that is a genuine slap in the face to Elon Musk, our unofficial president, and Trump.
But I think also what it is, and I can't prove this right now, but if this is anything like it usually goes, Constituents are emailing.
Constituents are calling.
Okay?
And these Congress people are feeling that pressure.
And you saw that yesterday with Anna Luna sitting there and promising her constituents that, you know, eventually the FEMA funds will come through even though they won't be in this way.
The only reason she did that, I believe, is because she knew that her constituents were literally banging on her door saying, man, if you don't vote this way, you can forget about us.
And it just really shows you, and C -SPAN's a testament to this, get involved.
Get involved.
Be courteous.
Don't get me wrong.
You don't call a congressperson and abuse them.
But you call them and you say to them, look, this is really important to me.
I'm your constituent, okay?
And I don't care about Elon Musk.
I'm living in a hotel room, in a FEMA hotel room in northern Florida, and I'm not going down without a fight.
That's all I wanted to say.
Have a good day.
That's Daniel in Scranton, PA.
Well, most of the action on Capitol Hill is beneath the surface at this point and it is changing minute by minute in some cases as we learned here on the air today where we had three votes coming and then a potential one vote coming and we should be hearing from Speaker Johnson at some point this afternoon with an update and we will certainly bring that to you live.
In the meantime though, let's look back.
You know, how can I not be nervous?
Absolutely.
It would affect my district, but also, like, this is the piece that I continue to say to my constituents back home, whether they voted for Trump or not.
It is not good for the country to have billionaires.
Call in the shots.
Just imagine, if you would, let's do a little thought experiment here.
Can you imagine if George Soros or Warren Buffett had ever weighed in via tweet on what we were doing here?
It's outrageous.
You know, and it's so far beyond the pale that people don't really know how to wrap their heads around it.