Government shutdown stay updates: Republicans search for last-ditch effort to fund the nation via Christmas

Speaking to CNN’s Manu Raju just now, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had this to say about the state of play:

“Extreme MAGA Republicans are marching America to a painful government shutdown that will crash the economy and hurt working-class Americans because they would rather enact massive tax cuts for their billionaire donors than fund cancer research.”

His counterpart in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, is meanwhile urging Speaker Johnson to revert to the original bipartisan stop-gap funding deal he had agreed to before Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s intervention.

“If Republicans do not work with Democrats in a bipartisan way very soon, the government will shut down at midnight. It’s time to go back to the original agreement we had just a few days ago. It’s time the House votes on our bipartisan CR,” Schumer said.

“It’s the quickest, simplest and easiest way we can make sure the government stays open while delivering critical emergency aid to the American people. If the House put our original agreement on the floor today, it would pass and we could put the threat of a shutdown behind us.

“Our agreement would keep the government open, provide emergency aid for communities battered by hurricanes and other natural disasters, support our seniors, support our doctors, nurses, rural hospitals, and protect our farmers from the dairy cliff. As I said, the only, only way to get anything done is through bipartisanship.”

But the White House Office of Management and Budget, for one, appears to have given up all hope.

The MAGA Colorado congresswoman has been speaking to CNN and has this excuse to offer on the president-elect’s behalf.

“I think President Trump was possibly sold a bad bill,” she said.

“I voted for it because we do want to do that. But unfortunately, I didn’t want to see what we saw last night.

“I did not want to see a failure on the House floor for the first demand that President Trump is making.

“And so now we are working to get something that will not fail for the president.”

Fox and Friends host Lawrence Jones insisted on Friday that Trump is “not bothered” by Democrats trolling him by claiming that “first buddy” Elon Musk is the “real president” and insisted instead that the president-elect authorized Musk’s recent tweets because “they’re in lockstep.”

Justin Baragona has more.

The Biden administration is canceling federal student loans for another 55,000 workers through an existing program known as Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

The Education Department’s announcement on Friday targets teachers, nurses, service members, law enforcement officials and others who have reached eligibility through the program, which promises to erase loans after 10 years of work in government or non-profit jobs.

The $4.28bn in relief is expected to be the final round of public service loan forgiveness before Joe Biden leaves office in January.

After failing to deliver his promise of widespread loan cancellation, Biden has instead focused on expanding loan relief through programs that were created before his presidency.

Congress is scrambling to avoid a government shutdown before funding runs dry Friday night at midnight.

Thirty-eight Republicans voted against a proposal backed by President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday night to keep the government funded and raise the debt ceiling.

This came after Trump waded into the debate over the funding deal following repeated outbursts from his newfound confidant Elon Musk.

Speaker Mike Johnson must now find a deal that can keep Trump and the conservatives in his own conference on board, that can win the support of a significant number of House Democrats, that can find support in both the Democratic Senate and White House and that, at the same time, allows him to retain the speakership.

No simple task.

Here’s Gustaf Kilander’s report.

Peter Mandelson is expected to be announced as UK ambassador to the United States while Sir Keir Starmer prepares for the Trump presidency.

The prime minister is said to believe Lord Mandelson has the trade expertise and networking abilities to bolster the UK’s interests during a delicate period for relations with the US.

Lord Mandelson, 71, last served in government 14 years ago when Gordon Brown was prime minister.

Here’s Jabad Ahmed and Kate Devlin with a guide for the unitiated.

A small group of senators are already holding “secret” talks about a bipartisan bill to increase security on the border, according to a report.

The border is the number one priority for Trump, who has already urged Senate Republicans to move swiftly to push through a border package next year.

GOP senators promised to move quickly on the package, using the budget reconciliation to get it done.

But the bipartisan group of senators, including at least two Democrats from Trump-voting states, have also been involved in conversations about a border bill that could secure the 60 votes necessary to pass, according to Axios.

Rhian Lubin has more.