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With assists from POLITICO’s Congress team

TICK TOCK: The government will shut down in 11 days if Congress can’t pass a funding patch.

VIBE CHECK: “There’s nothing weaker than sitting back and bitching when you haven’t done anything,” appropriator Steve Womack (R-Ark.) told reporters this afternoon, speaking about the dysfunction in the House.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS ARE MEETING AS YOU READ THIS

House Republican leaders are floating another plan to avert a government shutdown, this one with steeper cuts, during a conference meeting happening right now.

The new plan is similar to the deal negotiated between leaders of the House Freedom and Main Street Caucuses earlier this week, but would include further cuts to spending — funding the government at $1.47 trillion and still including stricter border policies, according to a lawmaker in the room.

It’s still unclear if the plan would have enough support to pass, given unanimous Democratic opposition. Speaker Kevin McCarthy can only afford to lose four votes with full attendance, and Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Cory Mills (Fla.) and Paul Gosar (Ariz.) all said during the meeting they would not vote for a CR, a lawmaker told us.

Leadership has been in near-constant meetings with conservatives and others the past two days, trying to come up with some version of a CR they could pass through the House.

Some lawmakers are feeling more optimistic. Gaetz had said earlier in the meeting that there were seven lawmakers who aligned with him. But Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), who came out against the previous deal, pushed back, saying Gaetz didn’t speak for him, according to a lawmaker in the room.

“I think we’re going to be able to move forward in a productive way,” Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) said as he came out of the meeting.

Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) echoed that sentiment, telling reporters that there was “lots of progress” being made. Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry (R-Pa.) said much the same.

That’s not to say Republicans aren’t in chaos. At one point, McCarthy began writing ideas on a white board, asking members in real time if they would commit to supporting them, according to a lawmaker in the room.

— Olivia Beavers, Jordain Carney and Daniella Diaz

GOOD EVENING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Wednesday, Sept. 20, where we hope you find a suitable way to celebrate National Queso Day (your Huddle host is a Texan).

HOW DOES CONGRESS GET OUT OF THIS?

A government shutdown seems pretty much inevitable. That’s become a rare point of agreement between Republicans and Democrats.

Now the question is how Congress will get itself out of the jam.

Each one of the potential paths has serious obstacles. Let’s play out the three main possibilities:

1. The Senate jams the House. The upper chamber takes the lead and passes a short-term funding bill, or CR, followed by the House approving it with Democratic votes. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer indicated he’s waiting on Speaker Kevin McCarthy to go first on a CR, but that could change next week as we get closer to a shutdown.

The major problem: McCarthy is going to resist this scenario as long as he can. Certain conservatives have made it clear they’ll force a vote to boot him from the speakership if he works with House Democrats to avert a shutdown.

2. The Problem Solvers solve a problem. The bipartisan 60-plus member group has a proposal to prevent a government shutdown and have been showing it to members Wednesday. The group’s members plan to formally vote on endorsing it by the evening.

The goal would be to craft a bill so popular that it wouldn’t be a problem for McCarthy (highly unlikely), or to force it to a vote via a procedural maneuver, possibly via a discharge petition (we’ll expand on that lower).

The major problem: Right now, it doesn’t seem like there’s any stopgap bill that would get Democrats and conservatives on board.

3. Lawmakers could plow ahead with a discharge petition. That allows the minority party to force a vote on the floor even if it doesn’t have buy-in from Republican leadership. All it takes is a majority of the entire House to sign on.

The major problem: The timing is tricky. According to House rules, a discharge petition would need at least 30 days to ripen in committee — which means the shutdown would be going on for weeks before this becomes an option. It’s unclear if there’s any loophole to shorten that delay. Plus, Republicans would be reluctant to sign on to any measure led by Democrats.

“There’s no denying it’s an option,” Womack said in an interview.

Don’t miss: Sarah, Nicholas, Olivia and Jordain looked into this scenario more closely in a story that published earlier today.

One last option: The House and Senate unite and pass all 12 appropriations bills and prevent a government shutdown — as well as fund the government for the next year. They land on President Joe Biden’s desk late on Sept. 30, and he signs them into law with one minute to go until a shutdown. Just kidding!

— Daniella Diaz, with contributions from Sarah Ferris and Nicholas Wu

NEARING A DEAL ON THE SENATE’S SPENDING PACKAGE

Senate Republicans say they’re inching closer to an agreement to get the upper chamber’s three-bill spending package back on track after several setbacks in the last week.

They’re hoping to speed up votes on a swath of amendments and final passage of the nearly $280 billion measure. Reminder that it won’t do anything to thwart a shutdown.

Still, time is running very short to reach an agreement, with the Senate slated to leave Thursday and be out Monday for Yom Kippur. At some point, the upper chamber will have to pivot ASAP to a stopgap.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the chamber’s top GOP appropriator, said Republicans are “down to only a couple of holds” — referring to senators who are impeding swift passage — with Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) demands now satisfied.

Johnson wanted his anti-government shutdown legislation to receive an amendment vote. But Collins said similar legislation from Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) has made the cut at a 60-vote threshold, satisfying the Wisconsin Republican. Johnson, for his part, does sound content.

“I think the ball’s in the Democrats’ court,” Johnson said about reaching a time agreement to start voting.

One hold to watch: Collins said Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) is demanding that his legislation related to credit card swipe fees receive a vote, calling it a “very controversial and significant” bill that hasn’t been through committee and isn’t germane to the spending package. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) are also co-sponsors of that measure.

A potential agreement on amendments and passage would follow yet another wasted day. Earlier, Republicans rejected a procedural vote aimed at waiving the Senate’s rules to get around the conservative blockade.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that vote was “disappointing, but it is not the end of the process ... Democrats want to reach an agreement with our Republican colleagues that will pass the minibus and make up the time lost because of Senator Johnson’s obstruction.“

— Caitlin Emma, with an assist from Burgess Everett

Did someone say Congress is off the rails?

A picture is worth a thousand words: There’s a metaphor for this somewhere…

Update for anyone following along: The Senate dress code debate continues.

QUICK LINKS

Senate braces for possibility of stiffing Zelenskyy, from Burgess Everett and Ursula Perano

Schumer takes on Tuberville’s blockade, teeing up votes on top military picks, from Connor O’Brien, Joe Gould and Lara Seligman

TOMORROW IN CONGRESS

The House is in session.

The Senate is in session.

THURSDAY AROUND THE HILL

9 a.m. Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.) will introduce the No Budget, No Pay Act. (House Triangle)

4 p.m. Reps Suzanne Bonamici and Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) will host a virtual child care town hall. Register here.

TUESDAY’S ANSWER: Magin Sanchez correctly guessed that 1952 is the last time partisan control of the House flipped in a presidential election year.

TODAY’S QUESTION from Magin: Which former Senate Majority Leader previously worked as a school teacher of mostly Mexican-American children?

The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to [email protected].

GET HUDDLE emailed to your phone each evening.

Follow Daniella on X at @DaniellaMicaela.