Congressional leaders are talking about kicking the government shutdown deadlines further into March, as part of a broader deal to finalize funding bills as a partial funding lapse looms at week’s end.

A spokesperson for Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday night that leaders would only resort to a stopgap funding patch as part of a larger agreement to finish some of the 12 spending bills. Already negotiators are out of time to finalize bill text for the four measures set to expire just after midnight on Saturday morning, if Johnson is going to remain committed to giving House lawmakers three full days to read bill text before a passage vote.

“Any” continuing resolution “would be part of a larger agreement to finish a number of appropriations bills, ensuring adequate time for drafting text and for members to review prior to casting votes,” a spokesperson for the speaker said in a statement.

Top lawmakers have for days been kicking around the idea of punting to March 22 on any funding bills that aren’t close to being finalized over the next week, while potentially resorting to a shorter punt for the measures they can finish in short order.

“We’re working as hard as we can to get them done. Democrats are willing to do a CR to give us the time,” Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told reporters Tuesday night.

Negotiators are nearing a final compromise on the four bills set to expire at the end of this week, when funding would lapse for the departments of Transportation, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs and Energy, as well as Housing and Urban Development. Several of the other eight funding bills are close to being finalized too, while measures like the Homeland Security funding bill are still plagued by typical partisan disagreements, according to appropriators.

Many Republican senators are openly saying a negotiated settlement will be necessary to end Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia, as Speaker Mike Johnson resists a vote to send additional aid to the key U.S. ally.

“The reality at this point that we have to confront is that that war ends with a negotiated settlement,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “And the question is — when they finally figured that out — when we finally get to that point, who has more leverage — [Russian President Vladimir] Putin or Ukraine?”

It’s a position that was unpopular just months ago, as many lawmakers declined to discuss the possibility that Ukraine might have to give up something, including territory, to end the war. But Rubio isn’t alone now. Other lawmakers, like Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), suggested a negotiated settlement is the most likely outcome regardless of whether the U.S. sends more aid to Ukraine, which he’s opposed.

“Washington always seems to be a few months behind the reality on the ground,” Vance told POLITICO. “[I think there’s a] stalemate probably indefinitely and hopefully that leads to some sort of settlement where Ukraine gets to keep its country and the killing stops.”

The comments, now more than two years after Russia originally invaded Ukraine, reflect a view in many quarters of the GOP that Ukraine’s odds of winning the war outright are low. And, in the meantime, there’s growing Republican resistance to sending the allied country unconditional aid.

“It looks like it could go on for a long, long time,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.). “That looks like a line that would take an immense amount of money and time to move off of where it is.”

Republican House leaders have so far refused to call a vote on additional aid to Ukraine amid reports its troops are running low on ammunition against Russia. Some in the Senate GOP are urging that chamber to move expeditiously to send in reinforcements.

“If the House is going to come up with their own compromise, then do it. But don’t just stall this whole thing out,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). “Do something.”

Lead Republicans on the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden on Tuesday subpoenaed Attorney General Merrick Garland for records related to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation.

“The Justice Department has closed its investigation into classified documents, but the Oversight Committee and Judiciary Committee’s investigation continues,” Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), who issued the subpoena alongside Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), said in a statement.

Hur, in a report released earlier this month, found that criminal charges related to Biden’s handling of classified documents wouldn’t be warranted even if DOJ lacked an internal policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. The report added that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency,” but it didn’t “establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Hur is scheduled to testify about his investigation next month before the Judiciary Committee, and Republicans are eager to ask him about the report’s descriptions of Biden. That includes a line that says Biden would be perceived in any court proceedings as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”

The subpoena comes after House Republicans requested information earlier this month about Hur’s investigation. That includes any records, including recordings, related to Biden’s interview with Hur’s team. They also want classified documents identified in the report related to Ukraine, and any communication between the Justice Department, Biden’s personal counsel and the White House about the special counsel report.

House Republicans are investigating Biden’s handling of classified documents as part of a sweeping impeachment inquiry that has largely focused on the business deals of Biden’s family members.

Republicans, in Tuesday’s letter, said that the Justice Department hadn’t offered a timeframe for when it would turn over the requested records, or a commitment that it would give GOP investigators everything they are requesting.

Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte told Republicans in a Feb. 16 letter obtained by POLITICO that the Justice Department was “working to gather and process materials responsive” to their requests. That process, according to Uriarte’s letter, would require a classification review and sharing material with the executive branch to determine if it would “assert any confidentiality interests.”

“We have already begun this process. The Department is committed to responding to the committees’ requests expeditiously, consistent with the law, longstanding Department policies and principles, and available resources,” Uriarte added.

Top Senate Republicans are calling for a full impeachment trial for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, despite its doomed prospects.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Tuesday afternoon that a trial “would be the best way to go forward.” And Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said that the Senate needs to hold a trial and that “people need to be held accountable.”

But many Democrats aren’t looking to hold a thorough trial, with even centrists like Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) saying they would support a quick dismissal. The Senate majority isn’t interested in furthering the GOP narrative about the Biden administration’s failures at the southern border.

Dismissing the trial only takes a simple majority and would effectively kill the House’s long-coming impeachment effort in mere minutes. If a trial proceeds, the outcome is a foregone conclusion: Democrats will vote to acquit Mayorkas.

The Senate is still waiting for the House impeachment managers to deliver the formal articles against Mayorkas, which narrowly passed the lower chamber. Those are not expected this week, as government funding negotiations dominate Congress’ schedule.

Ursula Perano contributed to this report. 

Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow said for the first time Tuesday that she’d rather continue punting on the farm bill than strike a deal with Republicans to limit climate funding and social safety net programs.

The parties have been at an impasse in the farm bill talks for months now over those and other competing priorities. Stabenow (D-Mich.), who is retiring at the end of this Congress, has increasingly argued in private that her legacy is contingent upon protecting climate funding in the farm bill, in particular, as well as anti-hunger programs, according to three people familiar with the talks.

At a White House anti-hunger event Tuesday, Stabenow made her starkest public comments yet on the fate of the farm bill, telling an audience of nutrition advocates that she wouldn’t agree to any GOP plans to limit future updates to the Thrifty Food Plan, which serves as the basis of the country’s leading anti-hunger program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

“I’m not going to do it. So, if that means we continue the policies of the 2018 farm bill, which were pretty good if I do say so myself, then that’s okay,” Stabenow said.

Republicans note their plans to limit updates to the Thrifty Food Plan wouldn’t impact current SNAP benefits for the more than 40 million low-income Americans who rely on the program.

“That’s okay with me, because we’re not going to go backwards on feeding people, and we’re not going to go backwards, by the way, on the climate conservation money that we also have there that is so critical,” Stabenow added.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack nodded in agreement as he sat next to Stabenow, calling her “tough.”

As POLITICO has reported, Stabenow has reached out to vulnerable House Democrats and urged them to oppose House Agriculture Republican proposals to repurpose some climate and other agriculture funding to pay for farm support programs and other bipartisan priorities in the farm bill.

House Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) aims to advance a farm bill through his committee in the coming months. The current farm bill authorization expires at the end of September.

Rep. Nancy Mace is shopping around a nonbinding resolution expressing “strong support” for in vitro fertilization, according to an email from her legislative director obtained by POLITICO — just as Democrats are pushing a bill with concrete protections for the practice.

The South Carolina Republican’s office is asking fellow House members of both parties to sign on to the resolution by Thursday, which she’s doing “in light of the Supreme Court of Alabama’s ruling that has jeopardized access.” The effort comes as Democrats in both chambers push for a vote on a bill that would enact federal protections for IVF, overriding any state restrictions.

Mace’s resolution praises IVF as a “safe, reliable, and effective” practice that “allows for more couples to achieve pregnancy” and warns that “the ruling by the Supreme Court of Alabama, and any substantially similar ruling or statute, will result in fewer pregnancies and fewer children being born.”

The document also “calls on elected officials at all levels of government to proactively pass legislation to protect access to fertility care” — something Senate Democrats plan to do Wednesday by calling for unanimous consent on their IVF bill. Republicans are expected to block the legislation, something any one senator can do under the expedited procedure.

Mace’s office did not immediately respond to questions about whether she also supports that effort. Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), the House lead on the Democratic bill, made clear in a statement Tuesday that she didn’t feel Mace’s effort went far enough.

“Their non-binding resolution could not have prevented what happened in Alabama, nor stop any other state from taking steps to ban fertility treatments. If they’re actually interested in protecting IVF — as they state in the final line of their resolution — they are more than welcome to co-sponsor my existing bill, the Access to Family Building Act, which would do exactly that,” Wild said.

Mace co-sponsored a bill in 2021 that would have granted legal personhood to fetuses from the point of conception with no protections for IVF, but she did not co-sponsor the current version of the bill that was reintroduced in 2023.

Pennsylvania progressive Rep. Summer Lee has bowed out of a speaking engagement with a Muslim group after intense backlash about other speakers’ antisemitic and homophobic comments.

Lee canceled her appearance at an event for the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim group.

“Yesterday, when it was publicly reported, I learned of previous statements made by other speakers at this event I was scheduled to attend this weekend,” she wrote on social media.

“I wanted to join this event with other members of Congress and elected officials to support our Muslim neighbors, in the Commonwealth and across the country, who are desperate to be heard by their own elected officials and feel supported at a time of rising anti-Muslim hate and violence,” she added. “I do not condone or endorse any of the other speakers’ previous comments.”

Jewish Insider reported earlier this week on prior remarks, including antisemitic comments, from other scheduled attendees at the event. Lee’s decision to pull out was first reported by Pittsburgh public radio station WESA-FM.

CAIR came under fire recently after its executive director, Nihad Awad, gave a November speech saying he was “happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land.” Awad later said those remarks were taken out of context and improperly applied to the Israel-Hamas war.

Lee is one of the most vulnerable progressives up for reelection this year. She has been vocal in her calls for cease-fire in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. She has voiced support for Palestinian civilians as Israel’s military operations in Gaza continue. Lee has been endorsed by J Street, which often functions as a pro-Israel counterweight to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

One of Lee’s Democratic challengers, Bhavini Patel, had called on Lee to not participate in the CAIR fundraiser. Patel earlier criticized the first-term congresswoman for accepting campaign donations from pro-Palestinian activists who have made antisemitic remarks about Israel.

Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick went even further, calling for Lee’s resignation from Congress.

Speaker Mike Johnson made “unequivocally” clear that he wants to avoid a government shutdown during a private Tuesday meeting with President Joe Biden and other congressional leaders, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

With just four days to go until federal funding partially runs out, congressional leaders emerged from the meeting with the president optimistic they could avoid a shutdown, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters at the Capitol that the meeting focused mainly on keeping the government open, “which I think we all can agree on.”

But the White House sitdown also featured an “intense” component focused on Ukraine, Schumer said.

“We had said to the speaker, get it done,” said Schumer, who just returned from Ukraine. “It’s in his hands.”

The congressional leaders also discussed border security, which the Senate tried to tackle earlier this year before Republicans blocked a bipartisan proposal. Schumer said he told Johnson that Congress “can’t tarry” further on aiding Ukraine following the GOP rejection of the border bill.

A growing number of Senate Democrats said they support dismissing the upcoming impeachment trial for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — a move that would effectively end the trial within minutes.

A motion to dismiss the Mayorkas impeachment articles would only take a simple majority to pass in the Senate, where Democrats hold 51 seats. Even some Democratic centrists are already for dismissing the trial altogether, voiding months of work over in the Republican-controlled House.

“Absolutely,” retiring Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said on whether he’d support a motion to dismiss. “Immediately that should be done. It’s ridiculous.”

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who is one of Republicans’ top targets in November, also said he’d support a motion to dismiss, arguing there are better ways for the Senate to use its time.

“I think it’s much more important to keep the government open,” Tester said. “Much more important to secure the southern border.”

The results of the trial — if it goes forward — are considered a foregone conclusion. Senate Democrats have dubbed the Mayorkas impeachment as a sham and are eager to get it off their plates as quickly as possible. The House narrowly passed the impeachment articles, which accused Mayorkas of breach of public trust in his handling of the border and refusing to comply with the law.

“I’d be glad to see a motion to dismiss,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). “The Mayorkas impeachment is nothing but political theater from a Republican Party that can’t do any real legislative work.”

Several Senate Republicans have also cast doubt on the merits of impeaching Mayorkas, though conservatives have pushed for a full trial and have made it clear they’ll blast Democrats for skipping through it.

Despite Democrats’ confidence that they have the votes to dismiss the trial, they’re still warily watching the House. Republican impeachment managers have not yet sent over their impeachment articles, which would kick start the trial in the Senate. It’s unlikely the articles are sent over this week amid a mess of government funding negotiations, according to a source familiar.

Once the House sends over its impeachment articles, a trial could bog down Senate proceedings until leaders move to dismiss it or shunt it to a committee.

It’s not yet clear if Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would support a motion to dismiss or other measures that could stump the length of the Senate trial. If a trial does occur, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) is slated to preside.

“I certainly would support a motion to dismiss because it’s just very, very political,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), the No. 3 Senate Democrat. “And we’ve got so many important things coming up.”

Burgess Everett contributed to this report.