8.57pm: Is it all over? The National Journal has what is says is news of a deal that has been reached: the Republicans to drop defunding Planned Parenthood in return for a further $1bn in cuts, and further emergency financing to keep government going:
Numerous GOP and Democratic sources on and off Capitol Hill tell National Journal that the outline of the deal is as follows: up to $39bn in cuts from the 2010 budget, $514bn in spending for the defense budget covering the remainder of this fiscal year, a GOP agreement to abandon controversial policy riders dealing with Planned Parenthood and the EPA, and an agreement to pass a "bridge" continuing resolution late Friday night to keep the government operating while the deal is written in bill form.
House appropriators' staff began meeting in Speaker John Boehner's office about 7.45pm EDT, a sure sign of preparing floor action for another stopgap spending bill, the seventh in a process that began last year when Democrats failed to pass the necessary spending bills to fund the government for this fiscal year.
The proposal under review could form the basis of an agreement on a six-month continuing resolution that averts a government shutdown of longer than a few days. The prospective measure would cut spending by about $39 billion from current levels, two aides said. It would not include a ban on federal funding for Planned Parenthood, but part of the arrangement would likely be an unspecified and symbolic procedural step intended to give Boehner and conservatives political cover on the issue, the aides said. Democrats appear to have accepted an increased level of cuts in exchange for the GOP dropping the rider.
