GOP House Meets to Discuss Deal

The Hill reports:

With less than 24 hours to prevent a government shutdown, the White House and congressional leaders still had not reached a deal on Friday morning.

The two sides said they had made progress after a Thursday night meeting at the White House, and it appears only a few billion dollars in spending cuts separates Senate Democrats and the White House from House Republicans.

A key moment could come at noon, when the House Republican Conference is set to meet. If there is to be a compromise, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will need to convince his conference that it is the right thing for the party.

It will be a critical test of Boehner's leadership, as the Speaker has been under intense pressure from his members, including the 87-strong freshman class that created the GOP majority, to win as large a spending cut as possible in 2011.

At the same time, Boehner has repeatedly said that a shutdown must be avoided. And, in an argument meant to appeal to his members, who want to reduce government spending, he has said shutting down the government would end up costing taxpayers more than it would save.