Happening Now: House to vote on plan C to avert looming government shutdown

The House is set to vote on the third version of a spending bill to keep the government’s lights around 5 p.m. Friday with the shutdown deadline just hours away.

The new proposal is reported to include government funding through March as well as disaster relief and farm assistance after days of turmoil on Capitol Hill as lawmakers work to craft a deal to avoid shutdown.

“We will not have a government shutdown,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on Friday. “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 who relies upon the federal government for a paycheck gets paid over the holidays.”

Johnson unveiled a bipartisan funding deal on Tuesday evening, which was torpedoed Wednesday after President-elect Trump and his close allies urged GOP lawmakers to tank the plan. Trump called for Congress to take up a debt ceiling hike, which was not mentioned at all in the first plan — a request many lawmakers took as a surprise.

On Thursday, Johnson presented Plan B to lawmakers, nixing dozens of measures and including new language about the debt limit. Trump backed the new plan, but it failed to pass the House after all but two Democrats and a total of 38 Republicans opposed the bill.

Democrats fiercely opposed the revamped deal, calling for a return to the original bipartisan plan. Several Democratic lawmakers have continued this call on Friday.