| House Democrats were skeptical of an emerging Republican-led funding deal as they walked into a closed-door caucus meeting Thursday afternoon, meaning it's almost certainly doomed on the House floor, with less than 36 hours to go until a shutdown deadline.
"The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious. It's laughable. Extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said to reporters as he walked into the meeting.
Speaking privately to members of his caucus minutes later, Jeffries told lawmakers: "I'm not simply a no. I'm a hell no," according to three people familiar with his remarks, granted anonymity to speak about the meeting. The vote on the bill is scheduled to come up via a process called suspension, which means it needs to meet a two-thirds vote threshold to pass. If Democrats are roundly against it, it will fail on the floor — leaving Congress without an obvious solution to avoid a shutdown.
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