Welcome to meet the press now. I'm Ali Vitale in Washington, where we've got breaking news as Congress scrambles to avoid a government shutdown.

Just moments ago, two key Republicans who've been huddling

with Speaker Johnson for much of the day left his office and told reporters they've reached an

agreement. We don't yet know the details of that agreement or whether President-elect Trump has

blessed the deal. But two sources familiar with the negotiations tell us Democrats were not part of it

and they are not yet

on board. It comes, though, after a bipartisan agreement to fund the government through March,

which 24 hours ago seemed headed for passage, was killed amid a backlash among conservatives

and President-elect Trump, who then demanded a total overhaul of that deal and added a new

demand of lifting the debt limit

too. That issue was not a major part of the negotiations to fund the government originally,

and there are a number of Republicans who are actually vocally opposed to raising it.

The sudden turn of events left Speaker of the House Mike Johnson scrambling and facing the

ire of his conference amid the reality that with a narrow Republican majority in the House Mike Johnson, scrambling and facing the ire of his conference amid the

reality that with a narrow Republican majority in the House and a Democratic-controlled Senate,

he needs Democratic help to pass, well, anything. Today, Democratic leadership making it clear,

they believe this is Republicans' mess to clean up. Thanks to Republicans, we're less than 48 hours away from a Christmas shutdown.

As they try to piece things together, they should remember one thing.

The only way to get things done is through bipartisanship.

This reckless Republican driven shutdown can be avoided.

If House Republicans will simply do what is right for the American people

and stick with the bipartisan agreement that they themselves negotiated.

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