Article snippet: House Republican leaders are moving ahead with a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open for a few more weeks, even as they struggled on Wednesday to secure the necessary GOP votes for the plan. Members of the House Freedom Caucus and the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) huddled separately with Speaker midnight if Congress doesn’t intervene. In an encouraging sign for Ryan and his top lieutenants, Freedom Caucus Chairman MORE (R-N.C.) said several members of his group flipped from “no” to “yes” after striking a deal with leadership on a temporary reauthorization of a surveillance program that is also included in the tentative spending patch. But defense hawks were still unhappy that the continuing resolution (CR) won’t include a full year of funding for defense, though it’s unclear if there will be enough opposition to sink the bill. “I think there are a lot of people who are going to spend their time MORE (R-Fla), a member of HASC, said coming out of Ryan's office. “We just had this great moment on tax reform.” GOP leadership has been scrambling to avoid a government shutdown just days before the holidays. They outlined a strategy to the conference Jan. 19 and holding a separate vote on a massive $81 billion disaster aid package. But the strategy was quickly thrown in doubt as it became clear House GOP leadership did not have the votes to get the bill through the chamber. “I don’t think what they’re whipping right now will get 218 [votes]. I don’... Link to the full article to read more