“I certainly hope we can avoid a shutdown. Looking like it's pretty tough to do but likely we can keep it very, very brief. Both sides need to understand nobody has complete control of the elected government. Neither side is going to get everything they'd like. I'd like to defund Planned Parenthood but I understand Republicans don't have complete control of the elected government. I think what we should do is cut spending as much as we can, get the policy changes we can but move on because there are other bigger battles we ought to be fighting… There’s a sense of enormous frustration. I don't know any of us wants a shutdown. Not that we're afraid of it. We think it's bad policy.”
7:52 a.m.-- If a deal is announced today, it won't happen until afternoon. As NJ reported earlier, House Republicans will meet behind closed doors at noon for a debrief by Boehner on the status of negotiations. The meeting is a crucial step before a deal can be reached because Boehner won’t sign off on any deal until he airs it through his rank-and-file.
7:37 a.m.-- Good morning, everyone. National Journal will be bringing you the latest from the appropriations negotiations as the government looms closer to a shutdown. If you're just tuning in this morning, here's where things stand. Thursday night, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., returned to the White House for a meeting with the president -- their third such meeting this week. At approximately 9:30, President Obama came to the briefing room to tell reporters that no deal had been reached. Staffers would continue working on a deal throughout the night, but Obama said he didn't have "wild optimism" that a deal would be reached. He said he was expecting an answer by morning.
Aides from both camps have identified different sticking points, but the main ones seem to be about $5 billion in additional cuts and a policy rider that would ban federal funding from Planned Parenthood.
Talks continued until 3 a.m., and then broke off for the night. They will resume as soon as aides and members return to the Hill. Obama is expecting an update at 10:30.
Want a primer on the potential political fallout of negotiations so far? Read NJ's Matthew Cooper on the damage that has already been done to both parties.
Catherine Hollander contributed.
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