Conservatives balk at GOP plan to avert government shutdown

FILE: Rep. Mark Meadows (Photo by US Government – http://meadows.house.gov/sites/meadows.house.gov/files/wysiwyg_uploaded/Official%20Photo.jpg, Public Domain)

WASHINGTON — Hard-line conservatives are threatening to scuttle Republican leaders’ plans to prevent a weekend government shutdown, saying GOP leaders now lack the votes to push their proposal through the House.

The setback comes as a deal between President Donald Trump and Congress to protect young immigrants from deportation also remains distant.

Republican leaders are racing against a Friday deadline for pushing a short-term spending bill through Congress. If they fail, federal agencies will start shutting their doors over the weekend — an election-year debacle that GOP leaders and many Democrats are eager to avoid for fear of alienating voters.

North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, the leader of the Freedom Caucus, says its members want added money for the military in the short-term spending bill.