Tonight, crisis averted. The House passes a bill to avoid a government shutdown just in time with some major help from Democrats.

Plus, dozens of House Republicans defy Trump's demands what it signals for the rest of his policy agenda and the outsized influence of the world's richest man.

Why one reporter is calling Elon Musk a new kind of oligarch as the 11th hour gets underway on this Friday night.

Good evening once again.

I'm Stephanie Ruhl.

No nightcat this evening.

I think you know why,

because we have got some breaking news. We are just an hour out from the shutdown deadline,

and the Senate has agreed to vote tonight on the funding bill that was rushed through the House.

Earlier today, the lower chamber passed a third version of the short-term spending proposal,

366 to 34. And the only no votes came from Republicans. And House Speaker Mike Johnson and minority leader Hakeem Jeffries

both noted the bipartisan effort that got this thing done. Take a listen. Well, good evening

everybody. We are really grateful that tonight

in bipartisan fashion, with overwhelming majority of votes, we passed the American Relief Act of

2025. House Democrats have successfully stopped extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government.

The continuing resolution included government funding through the month of March,

aid for farmers, and disaster relief. It did not include a very specific and key request

from President-elect Donald Trump,

suspending the debt limit. But NBC News is reporting that Republican lawmakers have committed

to raising the limit in the new year as long as it comes with $2 trillion in cuts to the federal

budget. And to that, I say, good luck. With that, let's get smarter

with the help of our lead off panel tonight.

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