Live Updates: Government Shutdown Threatens, Trump Transition News

House Speaker Mike Johnson is holding a key meeting with Republican lawmakers crucial to advancing a funding deal as he looks for a way out of the looming shutdown.

The meeting will include Republican members of both the House Appropriations Committee and the House Freedom Caucus. Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris walked in around 11 a.m. ET along with his conservative colleague Chip Roy. Separately, Budget Chairman Tom Cole entered the speaker’s suite.

Johnson spent the morning sitting with his two deputies, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Majority Leader Tom Emmer.

When Emmer entered Johnson’s office for the same meeting, he declined to provide details.

When asked where the talks are headed, Emmer said “forward” but did not answer whether the House will vote today – or whether the speaker’s team is coordinating with President-elect Donald Trump’s team on a plan.

Other key stakeholders who attended the meeting included Republican Reps. David Valadao and Stephanie Bice, who serve on the Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Dusty Johnson, who was instrumental in negotiating farmer aid.

The state of affairs: Earlier Thursday, CNN reported that GOP leaders are discussing a plan that includes a “clean” ongoing solution and a “clean” lifting of the U.S. debt limit with disaster relief and farm aid.

A continuing resolution or “CR” is the temporary spending bill that would allow the federal government to remain open, and a “clean” resolution would contain minimal or no additional policy provisions agreed upon through the policy dealmaking process.

The situation remains extremely uncertain.

When Cole walked into Johnson’s office, he said he still hadn’t seen a deal done.