Congressional leaders were still trading offers Sunday afternoon on a government funding patch attached to a disaster aid package and a slew of other priorities leaders hope to clear before year’s end.

Those negotiations between Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and their leadership counterparts are down to the wire, ahead of a Friday night government shutdown deadline and Congress’ scheduled break for the holidays. Since the funding measure is expected to be the last major bill Congress passes this year, lawmakers have been eyeing it as a path to clearing several other major policy priorities, including a package to authorize expiring health care programs, a long-sought bipartisan deal to overhaul rules for permitting energy projects and a measure to restrict U.S. investments to China.

Negotiators had aimed to release bill text over the weekend of the measure that’s expected to set a new March funding deadline that pushes the current spending fight into the second Trump administration. But leaders reached an impasse on Saturday over billions of dollars in farm aid, prompting several House Republicans to vow opposition to the entire package if the assistance doesn’t make it into the final bill.

Because conservative House Republicans routinely oppose the procedural vote to tee up passage of funding bills, Johnson is expected to seek fast-track debate with a two-thirds bar for passage.

The legislation is likely to include tens of billions of dollars in assistance for communities recovering from disasters, including Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, exposing lawmakers who vote “nay” to criticism for opposing disaster aid.

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that Pete Hegseth, the president-elect’s secretary of Defense pick, told him that he would release the person who accused him of sexual misconduct from her non-disclosure agreement.

“He told me he would release her from that agreement,” Graham (R-S.C.) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker. “Just think about what we’re talking about — I’d want to know if anybody nominated for a high-level job in Washington legitimately assaulted somebody.”

Hegseth has faced a rocky road toward confirmation on a number of issues, including reports of sexual assault from 2017. He claims to have been “completely cleared” of the allegations.

A statement from Hegseth’s lawyer obtained by the Washington Post said that Hegseth paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault as part of a nondisclosure agreement — but continued to deny the accusations that she made. Releasing the woman from the agreement would allow her to speak publicly.

Graham compared the situation to that of Brett Kavanaugh’s 2018 Supreme Court confirmation.

“Five people accused Justice Kavanaugh of misconduct. Three were outright lies, the other two, I think, were not credible,” he said, referencing Christine Blasey Ford and other accusers. “So we’re not going to let that happen to Pete. You’re not going to destroy his nomination based on anonymous sources.”

When asked if he’s prepared to vote yes on Hegseth’s confirmation at this point, Graham offered a tentative yes.

“I’m in a good place with Pete, unless something I don’t know about comes out,” he said. “These allegations are disturbing, but they’re anonymous.”

Graham added: “He’s given me his side of the story. It makes sense to me. I believe him. Unless somebody is willing to come forward, I think he’s going to get through.”

Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes on Sunday shared his frustration over the lack of information on recent drone sightings in New Jersey, but he also emphasized that he doesn’t believe there is reason to worry.

“There’s a lot of us that are pretty frustrated right now. The answer ‘We don’t know’ is not a good enough answer,” Himes (D-Conn.) told “Fox News Sunday” host Jacqui Heinrich.

At a White House press briefing on Thursday, national security communications adviser John Kirby said there is no evidence that the drones come from foreign adversaries or pose a national security threat, but did not have a conclusive answer to their origins.

Himes specifically called out the Federal Aviation Administration for not taking responsibility to assuage concerns.

“The FAA in particular, which is the agency of jurisdiction through the domestic skies, ought to be out Saturday morning saying, ‘Let’s show you a picture at the number of aircraft, commercial and private and military, that go over New Jersey in any 24-hour period,’” he said, adding that “just putting information out there to fill that vacuum would be helpful.”

Some lawmakers have taken matters into their own hands; for instance, New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim drove around the state with local police to watch the drones himself, posting updates on his social media. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, called for “more transparency” and said “we need a briefing for the members of the Senate to figure out what’s going on here.”

Others, like Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.), accused the Pentagon of lying and claimed that the drones came from an Iranian “mothership.”

Himes dispelled Van Drew’s mothership claim as a conspiracy theory used to fill the vacuum in the absence of information, stating “with confidence” that it’s not the Iranians or the Chinese.

“I’ve spent all of my time as the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee watching what the Iranians and the Chinese do,” Himes said. “And you know what they don’t do is but a bunch of drones that we could easily recover over the continental United States. The Chinese learned that lesson with their spy balloon.”

He added: “The military is amazing at what they do. An aircraft carrier has 6,000 amazing people on it who will defeat the Iranians. What they’re not very good at is identifying if there’s 12 teenage boys in Montclair, New Jersey, flying Walmart drones. The military is not very good at dealing with that.”

The lack of certainty has led President-elect Donald Trump to take to social media, calling for the government to shoot the drones down if they don’t know what they are.

Himes accepted that security is essential: “It’s absolutely the federal government’s job to make sure that nobody is flying a drone over Edwards Air Force base and the CIA headquarters in Virginia to take to new surveillance or worse.”

But he emphasized that drones are easy for anyone, American or adversary, to purchase at a local Walmart and that sorts of recreational usage is “probably not going to be a Department of Homeland Security problem to solve.”

When asked if he has any concern that the drones might be a state actor preparing for a future attack, Himes said he felt there was no threat.

“Frankly, Jacqui,” he said, “our adversaries that would wish us harm have billion-dollar satellites over our heads right now that are capable of doing what we do to them, which is observing. You know what they’re not going to do? They’re not going to put technology over Newark, New Jersey, that can fall out of the sky and we would capture it.”

Mike Johnson’s speakership appeared to be on life support seven months ago. Now, even his biggest antagonists are preparing to back him as the party enters the second Trump era.

It didn’t happen by accident — Johnson’s been working diligently behind the scenes to solidify support. According to interviews with roughly a dozen lawmakers, his improved fortunes are attributable to three main factors, all things he’s played an active role in: Bringing his defectors into the fold and hearing them out, punting a huge funding fight into early next year and securing President-elect Donald Trump’s endorsement.

That last one was particularly key, and Johnson, knowing that was the case, had aligned himself closely with Trump for months. Once the president-elect endorsed the speaker in November, most of Johnson’s opposition gradually melted away. Hard-liners considering a long-shot bid against him have now opted against it, wary of crossing the president-elect. At this point, Johnson says he and Trump talk constantly — and their continued alignment will have huge impacts not only on the speaker’s future, but also on the GOP’s ambitious legislative agenda.

“I would vote for him today,” said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who mounted symbolic challenges to Kevin McCarthy for the speakership and voted to advance an ouster effort against Johnson earlier this year. “I just don’t think we need a distraction right now at this point. He’s been more accessible for me to talk to and bellyache and moan to.”

Two of the three Republicans who tried to force a vote to boot Johnson in May, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), now say they’ll support Johnson in January. Gosar told POLITICO that he would vote for Johnson but added, “I just think he’s got to take some stuff further.” The third lawmaker in that group, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), said he is still making up his mind.

“I’m still talking to Mike Johnson about that,” Massie said in a recent interview.

Johnson isn’t totally in the clear yet, given he’ll have almost no room for error in January. No Democrats are going to help him, which means he can have only one Republican vote against him and still become speaker. And beyond Massie, there’s still a few who either aren’t tipping their hand or are undecided on backing Johnson, like Reps. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) and Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.).

Still, despite some of their colleagues keeping their options open, four conservatives told POLITICO that they don’t expect any Republican to oppose Johnson on the floor.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a speaker’s race. … Right now, he has overwhelming support and he’s supported Trump,” said Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), adding that “something fairly egregious” would have to happen for Johnson to lose. And he thinks that’s unlikely.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who opened the door to opposing Johnson earlier this year, added that House Republicans are “ready to move forward. I don’t think there’s an appetite to have a speaker fight. People like Mike.”

He also acknowledged what has been a yearslong problem for leadership rebels: “Who are you going to get? Who wants it?”

While conservatives had weighed putting up a symbolic challenger to the speaker in an internal conference vote last month, they ultimately backtracked after they secured a deal on the conference’s internal rules. After that, Johnson received unanimous backing from his party to be the GOP speaker nominee — a once-unthinkable feat. Trump, who showed up before the meeting, backed him just ahead of the vote.

After that vote, momentum kept moving in Johnson’s favor. Greene kept the door open to backing Johnson for the full floor vote, before publicly saying earlier this month that she intends to support him. The speaker had met privately with Greene to discuss her role in the conference, with the Louisiana Republican saying he wanted her to be more involved. She was later given a prominent post leading a subpanel that will work with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, though Johnson and the House Oversight chair deny the GOP leader was involved in that decision.

Johnson, during an interview on “The Bret Baier Podcast,” said that he wasn’t worried about the Jan. 3 speaker race, adding: “Look, we have a unified conference. I’ve talked with every single individual at great length. … I think we’ll have a smooth transition, a smooth election as speaker.”

There are still some traps remaining that Johnson will need to avoid.

Conservatives are still watching closely to see how Johnson handles a Dec. 20 government funding deadline, including the details of any disaster aid money. If Johnson had agreed to a mammoth end-of-year spending bill, known as an omnibus, it could have sparked conservative ire at the worst time for the speaker. Though some members of the right flank voted against a huge defense policy bill last week, Johnson included enough conservative wins that he kept blowback to a minimum.

Others dismiss the idea that Johnson is in danger. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), the former Interior secretary during Trump’s first administration, said the speaker and president-elect are working in lockstep on legislative goals, including Johnson’s spending plan.

And others are still declining to say how they plan to vote on Jan. 3 as they negotiate their own positions next year.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) publicly threw his hat into the ring for Rules Committee chair last week, a position Johnson selects unilaterally. The Texas conservative declined to discuss how he would vote next month, noting that “we’re still working through how we’re organized” but added they were having active discussions in a “positive way.”

“I expect that we’re all going to be united come Jan. 3,” Roy added. “Mike has been good about working with all of us.”

Retiring Utah Sen. Mitt Romney said he was astonished how badly Democrats misread the electorate in the 2024 elections.

Speaking in a wide-ranging interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Romney said, “I look at this last election. Uh, I shake my head as I look at our Democrat friends. How could they have so badly misread the public mood?”

Romney, who in 2012 was the last Republican presidential nominee other than Donald Trump, cited inflation — “Do you not see what people are seeing when they go to the grocery store?” — as something Democrats did not recognize as a big problem for Americans. He also mentioned immigration and gender issues as other areas where he thought President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party did not accurately gauge public perceptions and feelings.

“The Democrats have badly misread the direction of the country and the attitude of the country,” he said. “And President Trump took advantage of that, as well he should.”

He saw trouble ahead for the Democratic Party.

“Look, the Republican Party has become the party of the working class, middle class voter, and you’ve got to give Donald Trump credit for having done that,” he told host Jake Tapper. “Taking that away from the Democrats.”

The 77-year-old opted not to run for another term in the Senate; Republican Rep. John Curtis won the open seat. Romney gave a farewell speech on the Senate on Wednesday. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell praised his “long and honorable career on the national political stage.”

Romney has been one of the Republicans most critical of Trump over the last decade. Speaking to Tapper, Romney declined to say who he voted for this year for president.

“There’s a wonderful thing we have in this country,” he told Tapper, “which is the secret ballot. So I’m not telling you who I voted for in 2024.”

GOP Sen. Thom Tillis warned Sunday that pressure campaigns to push President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees through Congress “run a lot of risks,” including the possibility of backfiring on its very purpose.

“If anything they could create a structural problem for future nominees if they overreach,” Tillis (R-N.C.) said on “Fox News Sunday.”

More than a handful of Trump’s picks for his Cabinet have faced sharp skepticism over their character or qualifications or both, including Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard and Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. His original choice for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, already had to bow out.

Republicans will have 53 seats in the next Senate, enough to guarantee confirmation for appointees as long as Republicans stick together. Because of that, pressure campaigns are being mounted by Republicans lawmakers and third party organizations alike to get the nominees confirmed.

“A lot of these are third parties that are making money from the fund-raising campaigns, to put some ads in there but double digit percentages are going into their pockets,” Tillis said. “Here’s what I would tell them: If they really support President Trump’s nominees they should stand down and let the nominees win on their own merits and I think most of them will.”

One such third party supporting the nominees is Heritage Action, a conservative think tank that released an advertisement Friday attempting to “ensure the Senate conducts a swift confirmation process,” according to their social media post.

The North Carolina senator questioned the intention of such advertisements, but emphasized that he believed they are not coming “directly out of Mar-a-Lago.”

“It’s coming out of groups, sometimes they have good behavior and other times they’re out there to make some change and get their name out there as an activist organization,” he said. “I think that’s not doing the president a very good service.”

He added that the nominees need to be prepared to answer tough or even “unfair” questions, referencing the 2018 Brett Kavanaugh hearing for his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Nothing is sacred — family, past experiences, personal experiences, high school yearbooks. The nominees need to get ready and they need to answer these questions to the satisfaction of the Republican members minimally,” Tillis said.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi underwent hip replacement surgery, her spokesperson announced Saturday, after being hospitalized for an injury while traveling in Luxembourg.

The surgery was “successful” and the 84-year-old “is well on the mend,” the spokesperson, Ian Krager, said in a statement.

The California Democrat was hospitalized Friday while traveling in Luxembourg to the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. In the statement, Krager said Pelosi “is grateful to U.S. military staff at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center at Landstuhl Army Base and medical staff at Hospital Kirchberg in Luxembourg for their excellent care and kindness.”

Although she stepped aside from House Democratic leadership in 2023, Pelosi remains one of the most influential people in the party. In November, she won reelection for her 20th term.

“Speaker Pelosi is enjoying the overwhelming outpouring of prayers and well wishes and is ever determined to ensure access to quality health care for all Americans,” Krager said.