The congressional task force investigating the first assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump scheduled its first hearing for next Thursday, ostensibly focused on failures related to the “Secret Service’s Reliance on State and Local Law Enforcement.”

The panel has requested reams of documents and interviews as it ramps up its probe into the July attack on Trump, though it hasn’t yet announce witnesses for next week’s hearing. The task force has a mid-December deadline for issuing a report and legislative recommendations based on its findings.

The bipartisan task force was created by a vote of the full House with a limited purview on the July 13 assassination attempt, but the House is expected to soon act to expand the panel’s authority to include last weekend’s apparent attempt on Trump’s life. Its lawmakers were briefed Wednesday by the Secret Service after the latest incident and members praised its handling of the latest incident.

Lawmakers widely expect Speaker Mike Johnson will put a spending bill on the floor next week that has widespread Democratic support — funding the government into December without a GOP voting proposal.

Johnson himself isn’t indicating what his Plan B is after his proposed spending plan, which paired government funding through March with a Republican plan to require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote, failed on the House floor Wednesday night. Fourteen GOP members voted against it.

Five Republicans familiar with the internal discussions indicate that the House’s ultimate landing spot is inevitable anyway: They’ll have to vote next week on a “clean” bill to fund the government into December, forcing Johnson to lean on Democrats to avoid a shutdown that would kick in on Oct. 1. Many House Republicans — including those tasked with funding the government — increasingly expect that he’ll soon greenlight that plan. That prediction is also shared by House Democrats and multiple senators.

That means GOP leadership would be ignoring a demand from former President Donald Trump to shut down the government unless Republicans get their non-citizen voting bill, also known as the SAVE Act.

The Republicans familiar said their expectation is that the December funding bill will be on the House floor by mid-week — though they stressed that they hadn’t heard that from Johnson directly. Still, there is a growing consensus that Johnson is headed that way, with some predicting that the speaker wanted to put distance between Wednesday’s floor vote failure and announcing the new plan.

One of those Republicans, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, predicted that the House would vote on a short-term government funding measure into December by the middle of next week, adding: “I can’t see a scenario where shutting the government down makes any sense whatsoever — functionally or politically.”

Appropriators in both chambers have floated Dec. 13 as a possible end date for the bipartisan funding patch, which would set up yet another pre-holiday standoff over government funding, although no final decisions have been made.

There are already signs that bipartisan talks are underway, setting up the type of short-term funding deal that would avoid a government shutdown.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that she had a call with Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young on Thursday afternoon. She added that she expects bipartisan, bicameral talks to begin in earnest after Johnson’s setback on Wednesday.

“At least we’re talking now,” she said.

In case those talks go sideways and Johnson fails to move first, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer moved to tee up procedural votes as soon as Monday on a vehicle that could become a bipartisan stopgap spending bill. That gives Schumer the option of starting a funding bill in the upper chamber, rather than waiting for the House to send over legislation.

“Both sides are going to spend the next few days trying to figure out the best path remaining for keeping the government open,” Schumer said on the floor. “By filing today, I’m giving the Senate maximum flexibility for preventing a shutdown.”

While there’s broad agreement about a December end date for a forthcoming funding patch, both sides will have to sort through any potential add-ons. Those could include billions in disaster aid requested by the White House and possible money or spending flexibility for the Secret Service following two assassination attempts against Trump.

Senate Republicans are aware of Johnson’s predicament, given dozens of his own members are likely to vote against the final stopgap spending bill. They’ve been loath to move too quickly or look like they are jamming him — a move that would vex some House Republicans.

But GOP senators have also increasingly hinted they hope he can pass a Plan B.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican, told reporters before the failed House vote that if Johnson’s original plan fell short, he expected they would move to another plan.

Asked what that could be, he added: “They move a shorter-term without the SAVE Act on it, I assume. … We’ll see.”

Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have repeatedly stated that a government shutdown would be a bad thing for the party just weeks before voters cast their ballots in November. But efforts to protect his more vulnerable members may put him in the crosshairs with his more conservative wing, which has raised questions about his political future.

Some conservatives are still pushing for Johnson to go instead to a six-month funding bill without the GOP voting proposal attached — but that, as other Republicans acknowledge, likely won’t earn the necessary Democratic backing to pass.

Instead, Democrats have signaled they would support a stopgap funding bill into December and would likely help provide many of the votes to pass the legislation. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Thursday he hadn’t spoken to Johnson that day or after Wednesday’s failed vote, though staffers were communicating with each other.

“The next few days will be determinative as to whether we can find the common ground necessary to fund the government, avoid a shutdown and meet the needs of the American people. This should not be complicated,” he said.

The Senate passed a nearly $2.9 billion emergency funding bill by voice vote on Thursday to keep veterans benefits flowing over the next few weeks, as the Department of Veterans Affairs warns of a far greater funding hole.

With President Joe Biden’s likely signature, the measure is expected to head off payment delays for benefits veterans are expecting by the first of the month.

While the bill passed both the House and Senate with bipartisan support, Republicans have accused the Biden administration of budget “mismanagement” and chided the VA for suddenly warning lawmakers this summer of a $15 billion shortfall through next fall.

Bill breakdown: The measure includes about $2.3 billion in extra cash for military pensions and almost $600 million for “readjustment” services meant to ease the transition from military duty to civilian life, including education and training.

The bill also orders the VA’s inspector general to investigate the cause of the shortfall and report back to Congress.

What’s next: The VA still anticipates a funding gap of about $12 billion over the next year, as the department continues to serve more veterans and provide extra benefits following a 2022 law that expanded benefits for veterans exposed to toxic substances.

That extra funding could become a flash point in negotiations this month as lawmakers hatch a stopgap plan to head off a government shutdown come Oct. 1. If Congress doesn’t include the extra $12 billion the Biden administration is seeking, the VA funding debate is then expected to spill into “topline” funding negotiations when congressional leaders hash out overall totals for the fiscal year about to kick off.

If Speaker Mike Johnson has settled on a new plan for funding the government, he still isn’t talking about it publicly.

His six-month stopgap spending plan — linked with legislation requiring proof of citizenship for voting, known as the SAVE Act — failed on the House floor Wednesday night as the Republican conference remains divided over government funding.

“And so now we go back to the playbook. We’ll draw up another play, and we’ll come up with a solution,” Johnson told reporters immediately following the vote. “I am already talking to colleagues about many ideas. We have time.”

Government funding is set to run out on Oct. 1. And House business is scheduled for just seven of the days remaining before that deadline. Confidence remains high on Capitol Hill that a government shutdown will be averted, but the path forward is unclear.

Top GOP appropriators have been urging Johnson behind the scenes to consider a shorter three-month stopgap spending bill without divisive policy add-ons. But so far, even House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) has not been clued in on what options Johnson is weighing.

“I’ll wait to see what he thinks we ought to do next. He never talked about a Plan B,” Cole told reporters Wednesday evening. “He’s got several options, but he hasn’t told me what option he wants to proceed with next because he very much hoped this would work.”

Johnson finds himself in a familiar position, likely having to rely on Democrats to help pass spending legislation like he did back in March. That’s because a subset of his conference have said they won’t be supporting any short-term spending bill.

On the other side of the aisle, House Democrats still won’t entertain another stopgap bill with GOP policy priorities attached.

“We need a spending agreement consistent with the top lines of the fiscal responsibility act that allows us to complete our work by the end of this calendar year,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Wednesday night.

Senate action ahead: Cole did warn that his colleagues who voted down the spending bill and citizenship voting combo Wednesday “opened the door for the Senate” to act.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is expected to move as soon as Thursday to set up votes on a Senate-crafted spending bill next week. The procedural votes on that could begin Monday.

And yet: There are still significant doubts that the Senate will swoop in and take the lead. Schumer may get the ball rolling, but is still expected to wait to see what the House can accomplish.

“The Senate will do what they do, but I believe it will originate in the House,” House Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said Wednesday.

The Trump factor: Former President Donald Trump continues to call for Republicans to shut the government down unless the proof of citizenship for voting legislation is attached to a short-term spending bill.

Cole is sure Johnson won’t go down that path.

“I’m very confident we’re not going to let the government shut down. He’s never let that happen, and he’s taken a lot of criticism from some people when he has had to make those decisions,” he said.

Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.

The Secret Service on Wednesday briefed members of a bipartisan House task force on Sunday’s apparent second attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump — with leadership of the panel praising the agency’s handling of the Florida incident.

Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), the chair of the panel, and Jason Crow (D-Colo.), the task force’s top Democrat, said they believed the Secret Service had made adjustments and that Trump on Sunday received a level of security with was “commensurate” with what a president would receive.

“It’s our understanding that after July 13 that President Biden ordered the Secret Service to provide the same level of security to both Vice President [Kamala] Harris and to former President Trump that would be a presidential level security — commensurate with what the president would receive — and that that security is being provided,” Crow said, though he caveated that beyond a security “package” there are other levels of security that inherently travel with the president.

Kelly echoed that, adding that lawmakers were told during their briefing that the Secret Service had “made adjustments” and that the agency’s “awareness is heightened.”

It’s the first briefing with the Secret Service for the full task force since Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt in Florida. The task force has also requested a briefing with the FBI.

“It’s incumbent upon us to look everywhere we can,” Kelly added.

The task force was established earlier this year to investigate the July 13 assassination attempt at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. But Speaker Mike Johnson said this week that the scope of the task force, which was narrowly crafted, will be expanded by the House to include the latest incident. That is likely to take a House vote unless they can get consent to skip that step.

Beyond the briefing, Kelly said that the task force is talking about going to West Palm Beach for a site visit. Though the whole task force has not scheduled a trip, POLITICO first reported on Tuesday night that individual members of the panel are planning trips down to Florida.

Former President Donald Trump is once again urging House Republicans to shut down the government unless they can pass a GOP proposal tacked onto the current short-term spending plan that requires proof of citizenship in order to register to vote, mere hours before a floor vote.

“If Republicans don’t get the SAVE Act, and every ounce of it, they should not agree to a Continuing Resolution in any way, shape, or form,” he wrote on his Truth Social social media platform. “BE SMART, REPUBLICANS, YOU’VE BEEN PUSHED AROUND LONG ENOUGH BY THE DEMOCRATS. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN.”

It’s hardly the first time Trump has drawn such a red line — which congressional Republicans seem prepared to ignore. A growing swath of the conference has acknowledged that Congress is all but guaranteed to pass a short-term spending bill by the Oct. 1 shutdown deadline that will fund the government until after the November election.

But his latest public pressure campaign comes just hours before Speaker Mike Johnson is set to force a vote on his plan to link the voting proposal to a six-month stopgap government funding bill.

Johnson and his leadership team spent the weekend and early this week trying to sway holdouts. As of late last week there were roughly 10 GOP no votes, and several other lawmakers were undecided — meaning the final number of Republicans who vote against the plan could grow.

But that plan is expected to fail given opposition from defense hawks, as well as a band of conservative Republicans who oppose any short-term spending bill. In addition to the “no” votes, Republicans are also expected to have members absent, decreasing their pool of potential yes votes.

Trump has been urging House Republicans for weeks to shut down the government if they can’t pass their voting bill — something that is a nonstarter in the Democratic-controlled Senate and appears unlikely to even be able to pass the House.

And even as Trump pressures lawmakers in his own party, some of his allies aren’t publicly embracing trying to shutter the government just weeks before the election.

Asked if he would follow Trump’s urging, Johnson told reporters earlier that “see what happens with the bill.”

“We’re on the field in the middle of the game, the QB is calling the play and we’re going to run the play,” he added.

Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.

Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team spent the weekend trying to shore up support for his short-term government funding plan. But it is still expected to fail when it comes to the floor on Wednesday.

If it fails, it will highlight publicly what some House Republicans have been saying privately for days: They can’t pass any government funding bill on their own and will ultimately need to team up with Democrats to pass a short-term measure, likely into December.

One GOP lawmaker, granted anonymity to speak candidly, questioned how Johnson’s plan could get 218 votes, noting it would be rejected by the Senate anyway and predicting that Congress will “wind up where everybody suspects we wind up”: with a short-term funding bill into December.

But how close is the House GOP conference to accepting that legislative reality? The lawmaker quipped: “I think if you’ve got psychedelics and a bottle of tequila you might get closer.”

As of late last week, roughly 10 GOP members were poised to vote no on Johnson’s spending bill that pairs funding the government through March 28 to a Republican proposal requiring proof of citizenship in order to vote. There are also several other on-the-fence GOP lawmakers, suggesting opposition could grow when the bill comes to the floor.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), in a lengthy X post this week, accused Johnson of “leading a fake fight,” and that his current government funding plan is “already DOA this week.”

“Speaker Johnson needs to go to the Democrats, who he has worked with the entire time, to get the votes he needs to do what he is already planning to do,” wrote Greene, who has vowed to oppose the bill.

House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) also said he is still a “no” on the bill.

Some Republicans are hoping that once the bill fails on the floor Wednesday, it will force Johnson and the rest of the conference to turn to a backup plan. Johnson punted a vote on the bill last week, but some Republicans believe it needs to come to the floor and fail to show its supporters they don’t have the votes.

Johnson, however, told reporters that he wasn’t currently contemplating a Plan B and wasn’t “having any alternative conversations. That’s the play.”

Johnson gave no indication during a closed-door leadership meeting on Tuesday that he was contemplating alternatives, two people familiar with the meeting said. And Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said during the same meeting that he had flipped some members, one of them added.

Emmer told POLITICO after the meeting that “we’ve moved some people.”

Democrats, meanwhile, are preparing to go on offense against Republicans for bringing the government to the brink of a shutdown just weeks before the election. In private meetings this week, Democratic aides have begun crafting their message: Republicans are choosing Project 2025 — the controversial policy plans drafted by conservative think-tanks and Trump allies — over keeping the government open, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) was tapped on Tuesday night to become the next leader of the Freedom Caucus, after the ultra-conservative group was forced to pick a new leader in the wake of the previous chair’s primary loss.

The Freedom Caucus had narrowed it down to Harris or Rep. Andy Biggs — a decision first reported by POLITICO last week. But members of the group were informed Tuesday night, shortly before they were scheduled to convene to pick their next leader, that Biggs had bowed out of the race, five Republicans familiar with the matter confirmed.

That cleared the way for the group to tap Harris to succeed Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) as chair, after the Virginia Republican formally left the post last week following a primary defeat that became official last month. He was ousted by a challenger who was supported by former President Donald Trump and some fellow Republicans inside the conference. Harris was named as chair by acclimation during the group’s Tuesday night meeting, one of the Republicans said.

Harris will serve through the end of 2024 — meaning the group will have two leadership elections in a matter of months. There has been talk of letting whoever won the election this week take over the rest of Good’s term that runs through 2025. Instead, the group is effectively punting a longer-term decision on leadership until after the presidential election. Harris at that point could run for the longer term with one member predicting that it would be a “given” that he would get it.

Those who wanted Harris, an appropriator, viewed him as a new path forward for a caucus that has remained largely divided over which procedural tactics to use for leverage and when to use them.

Harris had also previously expressed interest in leading the group last year, but the top spot ultimately went to Good. While much of the public focus has been on Biggs’ push for chair in recent weeks, Harris has been talking to members of the group about his interest, one person familiar with the outreach said.

Meanwhile, Biggs would have normally been termed out for the role under the group’s rules, Good’s early resignation created a loophole for the chair emeritus. And even by late last week, the group’s leadership board had narrowed their list down to the two conservative Andys, POLITICO first reported. Other Republicans have also been floated as names for when the group holds its next full election, including Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.).

Some of the members viewed Biggs, who was among eight Republicans who voted to oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, as a more status-quo choice for leader. Members of the group had also floated him, as well as former Chair Scott Perry (R-Pa.) as placeholders to get the group through the November election and the current funding fights.

Good’s defeat also marked an embarrassing moment for the rebel-heavy group, which cares about its brand as well as perceptions about its strength. Naming a new leader allows them to begin to move on, including putting their focus on the upcoming spending fights.

Good lost to state Sen. John McGuire (R-Va.), a former Navy SEAL who got the backing of McCarthy allies as well as Trump, who took issue with Good backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis early in the presidential primary. Good’s district leans Republican, and McGuire is heavily favored to win the general election in November.

Good, meanwhile, is expected to remain a member of both the Freedom Caucus and in the House until the end of his term.