WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans pushed bills targeting Planned Parenthood and curbing some abortion procedures toward House passage Friday, with party leaders hoping the legislation will help mollify fractious conservatives demanding a face-off with President Barack Obama that could trigger a federal shutdown. 
 
 Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during the CNN Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015, in Simi... (Associated Press) 
 
 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., left, accompanied by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Sept.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Neither measure has much chance of becoming law, since Democrats have the votes to block them in the Senate and the White House has threatened vetoes. But Republicans pushed ahead anyway, citing secretly recorded videos showing Planned Parenthood officials casually describing how they provide researchers with tissue from aborted fetuses. 
 
 One of the measures would block Planned Parenthood's federal funds for a year, while the other would inflict criminal penalties on doctors who don't try saving infants born alive during abortions. As Friday's debate raged, it underscored how the fight over abortion could affect next year's elections. It's an emotional hotspot among each side's most loyal partisans and could be pivotal as each party seeks female voters. 
 
 Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., sponsor of the bill imposing criminal penalties on doctors, defended his legislation as he stood beside a poster-sized photo of a scarred, aborted fetus that survived. 
 
 "Our response as a people and a nation to these horrors shown in these videos is vital to everything those lying out in Arlington Cemetery died to save," Franks said. 
 
 Democrats said Franks' measure was unneeded because clinicians allowing born-alive babies to die would face murder charges. They said the GOP legislation had other goals. 
 
 "It's real intent is to further undermine a woman's right to choose," said Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif. 
 
 The anti-abortion activists who secretly recorded the videos say they show that Planned Parenthood is illegally profiting from organ sales. The organization says it's broken no laws and is being maligned by deceitfully edited recordings. 
 
 The White House, in a statement released Thursday evening, said Obama called the shutdown threat "a game of chicken with our economy that we cannot accept." 
 
 It was unclear if House approval of the two bills would help House Speaker John Boehner solve a political Rubik's Cube. The Ohio Republican's twin goals: avoiding a shutdown fight that GOP leaders warn would set voters against the party, while simultaneously appeasing conservatives who might try to oust him as leader for not adequately confronting Obama. 
 
 "Our leaders wave the white flag every time there's a confrontation," said Rep. Mark Salmon, R-Ariz. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said Boehner wants to "implement what the lobbyists want, not what the constituents of our district want." 
 
 At a closed meeting Thursday among House Republicans, leaders unveiled internal polling that attendees said showed most people would oppose a government shutdown — even those who have seen the videos and oppose financing Planned Parenthood. 
 
 Many Republicans argued that the polling showed a shutdown fight would be damaging and unwinnable, especially since Senate Democrats already derailed a bill erasing Planned Parenthood's federal funds. 
 
 "Pounding on the table doesn't turn 54 into 60 in the Senate," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., referring to the number of GOP senators and the number it would take to end Democratic filibusters. 
 
 The bill by Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., would transfer Planned Parenthood's federal money to thousands of government-backed community health centers. Supporters say that would keep women's health care intact, but opponents say those centers are overwhelmed and often far from women who need them. 
 
 Planned Parenthood gets around $450 million yearly in federal payments, mostly Medicaid reimbursements for handling low-income patients, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That's around one-third of the $1.3 billion yearly budget for the organization, which has nearly 700 clinics and provides sexual disease testing, contraceptives and abortions. 
 
 Conservatives' determination to block Planned Parenthood's money has been partly fueled by the race for the GOP's presidential nomination. Several candidates used their Wednesday night debate to urge lawmakers to turn off that funding spigot. 
 
 But spotlighting GOP divisions, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., wrote Thursday to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, one of the presidential hopefuls. Cruz wants Republicans to oppose financing the government unless Planned Parenthood's money is cut off, defending his effort during the debate by saying, "I'm proud to stand for life." 
 
 Ayotte, who faces her own tough re-election fight next year, wrote that she opposed risking a shutdown "given the challenges and threats we face at home and abroad" and asked, "What is your strategy to succeed in actually defunding Planned Parenthood?" ||||| The same Republicans who campaigned on doing away with legislative crises are careening toward government shutdown in less than two weeks with still no concrete plan to stop it. 
 
 It’s not that Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) leadership team is hiding their best hand. They have no trick up their sleeve, no ace in the hole — pick your cliché. Nearly everyone in House and Senate leadership recognizes a simple reality: At some point in the next two weeks, they will move on a bill free of provisions to strip Planned Parenthood of its government funding. It just depends how long it takes, how painful it is and whether Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) team stumbles into their second government shutdown in three years. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 Twelve days remain until the government runs out of money, but the House and Senate are scheduled to be in session for just a fraction of that time. The showdown over Planned Parenthood is the epitome of crisis-fueled legislating. Senior Republican lawmakers and aides increasingly believe that the funding fight will come down to three-day dash – Sept. 28 through Sept. 30, the final day of the fiscal year. 
 
 Asked Wednesday when his colleagues would get a glimpse at his bill to fund the government, Boehner said, “At some point.” 
 
 Several House Republicans lawmakers said they don't expect to vote before the week of Sept. 30. The House is only scheduled to be in session three days that week before the government runs out of money. 
 
 To top it off, the endgame will almost certainly result in a referendum on Boehner’s speakership. He's favored, but not guaranteed, to survive. But if he does it will be in a further weakened state. 
 
 The path the funding fight will take is not yet clear to either Boehner or McConnell, according to senior aides to both men. But it’s shaping up to be extraordinarily messy. 
 
 Top aides to McConnell and Boehner have been in close contact, discussing who will move first to pass a funding bill in their chamber. But the House has been paralyzed with indecision. A pack of House Republicans – mostly on Steve Scalise’s (R-La.) whip team – are worried about the expectations that will be set by passing a funding bill that strips funding from Planned Parenthood, only to relent in the end. Yet other forces in the conference want a vote on such a continuing resolution – and it’s possible, yet hardly certain, that GOP leadership will set one up for next week. 
 
 House Republicans want to be first to move a funding bill, but McConnell is setting up his own process – a sign of how slow the House has been to take action. 
 
 McConnell is nearly certain to bring up a so-called CR to fund the government next week that includes the language to defund Planned Parenthood, but Democrats will block its consideration. McConnell will then move a funding bill free of legislative riders. Republican leaders believe conservatives, like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will block it, but McConnell will be able to send it to the House by Sept. 29 at the latest. The Senate's plan could be put on hold if the House gets its act togther, aides caution. 
 
 The House is also trying to send other anti-abortion measures to Obama’s desk and are considering standalone bills, including one to defund Planned Parenthood that would ride alongside the government funding bill, but not impede its passage in the Senate. If the House hasn’t passed a "clean" bill by Sept. 29, it will have one day to avoid a government shutdown by passing the Senate’s bill, or a comparable measure. 
 
 “At some point in time you have to face reality,” said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), a member of the Appropriations Committee who is close to Boehner, speaking about the need to pass a clean bill. “People say, ‘Oh, you didn't even try to do x.’ There are some things you can't do. We tried to repeal Obamacare 50-some odd times in the House and guess what? It didn't work. We probably should have figured that out after two or three.” 
 
 House Republican leaders, meanwhile, are working behind the scenes to try to calm the troops. McCarthy and Scalise have privately told Republicans that they will try to use the majority-vote reconciliation process to deny funding to the women’s health group — they say that is the best way to get a bill to President Barack Obama's desk. GOP leaders have urged anti-abortion groups to speak out against a shutdown. 
 
 At a closed party-wide meeting at the Capitol Hill Club on Thursday morning, GOP leaders presented lawmakers with an internal National Republican Congressional Committee poll showing overwhelming public opposition to shutting down the government to stop funding Planned Parenthood. The poll, conducted in 18 swing districts by the GOP firm The Tarrance Group, showed 64 percent of respondents would not favor a shutdown to try to stop the organization’s federal funding, compared to 30 percent who favor shutting the government. Among those who had seen videos allegedly showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing fetal tissue sales, 55 percent did not favor a shutdown, while 37 percent thought it was the right move. 
 
 “We want to be more strategic because I think we are on more solid ground right now than we have before in raising these issues,” Rep. John Shimkus said (R-Ill.), who has a long record opposing abortion rights. “But there are some that say, 'Not a penny.' So, leadership is trying to work it out.” 
 
 While much of this fight is about the government’s purported support of abortion, there’s a hefty anti-Boehner sentiment that’s spurring the opposition to the leadership’s plans. After Congress clears a clean government-funding bill, Boehner and McCarthy aides expect a hard-line conservative to put forward a motion that would, if successful, force the Ohio Republican from the speaker’s chair. 
 
 Republican leaders do not expect the so-called motion to vacate, first filed by North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, to succeed. They say they would handily defeat it if it came to the floor. "Team Boehner," as it is called internally, is not actively preparing for the vote by whipping support in the GOP conference. 
 
 But some of his allies privately say they have informally secured assurances from Democrats that they would support keeping Boehner as speaker, or vote present, which would lower the vote threshold. If all Democrats voted present, Boehner could win with as few as 124 Republicans. Recently, Boehner has even told some Republicans privately he would like to run for another term as speaker. 
 
 Those looking to oust Boehner have not put forward an alternative to serve as speaker, and senior GOP leadership aides say the hardliners have no alternative for when the Senate and president reject their plan to defund Planned Parenthood. For example, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said Florida Rep. Daniel Webster could be the next speaker because he got “12 times as many votes as Kevin McCarthy.” McCarthy did not campaign for the job earlier this year. Webster garnered 12 votes total. 
 
 “The Sept. 30 crisis is a crisis of our leadership's making,” Massie said. “They refuse to pass appropriations bills. Even the CR is not the way the government is supposed to be run. The American public knows that. What we need to do is get back to regular order.” 
 
 --John Bresnahan contributed to this report 
 
 
 
 Authors: ||||| Photo Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leaders on Tuesday took the first steps to avert a government shutdown by scheduling a vote on a temporary spending measure that would keep agencies functioning through Dec. 11. 
 
 The move marked an important breakthrough, even though Democrats were certain to block the spending bill because of a provision cutting off federal financing for Planned Parenthood. 
 
 Ultimately, the Planned Parenthood provision, prompted by the controversy over the use of aborted fetuses in medical research, is expected to be dropped from the Senate’s spending bill. That would allow the underlying legislation to move forward with bipartisan support and set up a larger showdown over spending between Republican leaders and President Obama later this fall. 
 
 Still, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, urged Democrats to adopt the measure and accused them of pushing the country to the brink of a government shutdown when the fiscal year ends Sept. 30, in a bid to strong-arm Republicans into accepting spending increases. 
 
 “They think it’s the only way to force America to accept their demands for more debt and more bureaucracy,” Mr. McConnell said. “But that’s not what Americans want. Americans want Democrats to now work with us responsibly to help our country get out of the situation that they, in fact, have engineered.” 
 
 As for Planned Parenthood, Mr. McConnell said the group would lose financing for one year, while $235 million in savings would be redirected to community health clinics. 
 
 The Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, complained that Republicans were wasting time. “This vote on Planned Parenthood this Thursday is another rerun vote,” he said, adding, “How many times does the Republican leader need to return to this same show vote?” 
 
 The spending fight is the latest in an increasingly tense stalemate between the most conservative wing of the House and Republican leaders in both chambers who wish to keep the wheels of government churning through the next election, and who fear that a shutdown would hurt the chances of electing a Republican to the White House next year. 
 
 Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 Abortion has become a flash point in Congress in recent months. On Tuesday, Senate Republicans failed to advance a bill that would have banned abortions after 20 weeks, legislation the House has approved. 
 
 The fight has posed the greatest threat yet to John A. Boehner’s leadership as House speaker, with some Republicans saying they will try to oust him if Planned Parenthood does not lose its funding. 
 
 Other members of the House leadership have played down that possibility. 
 
 If stripped of the Planned Parenthood language, the Senate spending measure will probably win approval in the House with support from Democrats. But House Republican leaders are trying to convince reluctant members that the issue of Planned Parenthood funding is not urgent because the group has received all of its appropriated funding for the year and would not be receiving new funds until April. 
 
 Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 Some Republicans are hoping this will be enough to keep some of their colleagues from demanding a vote to take away money from Planned Parenthood. 
 
 “I don’t think the folks that are demanding this realize that all the money that would go to the groups has already been disbursed,” said Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma. “History teaches us that is a very counterproductive tactic to pursue.” 
 
 He added: “I have a 100 percent pro life record. I just don’t think we should be involved in this.” 
 
 Not every member buys that line of reasoning. “No thanks,” said Representative Mick Mulvaney, Republican of South Carolina. “I think the last thing we need is more smoke and mirrors.” 
 
 By getting the procedural gears turning on Tuesday, Mr. McConnell effectively cut off the possibility that Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican and presidential candidate, could single-handedly force at least a short-term shutdown. 
 
 Mr. Cruz, a primary force in the fight that led to a government shutdown in 2013, has been threatening to block any spending measure that included continued financing for Planned Parenthood, a position that he reiterated in a statement posted on Twitter on Tuesday. 
 
 Senate aides cautioned that while Mr. McConnell had initiated a process that would avert a shutdown before the close of the fiscal year, there was no guarantee that the House would be willing to simply follow the Senate’s path. 
 
 Mr. McConnell will be helped by the fact that Mr. Cruz’s Senate colleagues showed little interest in joining what many described as a futile effort, given opposition by Senate Democrats and President Obama. 
 
 “I don’t know what Senator Cruz is trying to accomplish,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who is also a presidential contender. “No one has convinced me that there is a way to defund Planned Parenthood with President Obama in power. And the one thing I will say is the last time we followed Senator Cruz’s lead in shutting down the government, it blew up in our face. One kick of a mule is usually enough.” 
 
 Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, voiced similar frustration in a letter to Mr. Cruz last week in which she accused him of urging Republicans to engage in an unwinnable fight. 
 
 In a new twist, some House Republicans have turned their attention to their Senate Republican colleagues, who say that they could pass a spending bill to defund the abortion provider immediately if only Senate Republicans would change their rule and end the filibuster — removing the need for 60 votes to get to legislation. 
 
 Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California and the majority leader, said last week, that “If the Senate would simply change a rule,” then Congress could pass a bill to defund Planned Parenthood. 
 
 Most Senate Republican rejected that idea, particularly concerned that if Democrats were able to regain control of the chamber in 2016, they could then pass their agenda with a simple majority vote. 
 
 “House conservatives should be the most interested members in Congress of keeping the Senate filibuster,” said Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, who is a strong defender of Senate rules. “Because without it and with Hillary Clinton, Democratic majorities could abolish all the right-to-work laws, raise taxes, have more gun control, fewer abortion restrictions and make every city a sanctuary city.” 
 
 The temporary spending measure would finance the government at a rate roughly equivalent to $1.02 trillion annually, complying with discretionary spending limits for 2016 that were previously agreed to by Republicans and Democrats. 
 
 It includes several adjustments for new or emergency programs, including $700 million for fighting wildfires and financing to ease a backlog of disability claims by veterans. 
 
 The measure also includes provisions to address increased demand for federal loans to private businesses through the Small Business Administration, and to prevent any delay in the launch of the joint polar satellite, a joint project of NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. ||||| The U.S. House of Representatives voted Friday, Sept.18 to defund Planned Parenthood for a one-year period. The vote was 241-187, with nearly all Republicans and two Democrats supporting the legislation. (Reuters) 
 
 This story has been updated. 
 
 The House passed two abortion-related bills Friday, including one that would strip federal health-care funding from Planned Parenthood for one year, but it remains unclear whether the votes would appease conservatives who have threatened a government shutdown over the organization. 
 
 The votes followed months of intense focus on Planned Parenthood prompted by undercover videos released by an activist group claiming they show violations of federal laws prohibiting the sales of fetal tissue for profit and restricting certain abortion procedures. Planned Parenthood has denied any wrongdoing and claimed the videos have been unfairly manipulated as it has fought off attempts to end its federal support. 
 
 But neither bill is likely to become law as Senate Democrats have filibustered similar measures, and President Obama has indicated he would veto both bills. 
 
 That’s why the move is unlikely to stave off growing fears of a government shutdown on Oct. 1. Since House conservatives know the bill to defund Planned Parenthood is unlikely to be enacted, they’re unlikely to back off their desire to attach it to a must-pass government spending measure to keep the government open. But again, neither Senate Democrats nor Obama will accept such language, triggering the standoff. 
 
 Nonetheless, House Republicans hoped to appease conservatives with the abortion-related votes. 
 
 One bill passed Friday, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, would impose criminal penalties on medical personnel who fail to aid an infant born after an attempted abortion. The other, the Defund Planned Parenthood Act, imposes a one-year moratorium on federal funding for the group, which Republicans say will allow for a thorough investigation of its practices. Any funding, supporters said, would be redirected to clinics that do not offer abortions. 
 
 Congress must pass a budget before Sept. 30, or it faces partially shutting down the government for the second time in two years. Here's how we got to another potential shutdown. (Jayne W. Orenstein/The Washington Post) 
 
 [Wary of shutdown, GOP leaders try to refocus abortion debate] 
 
 “Most people think that is common sense,” said Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), sponsor of the defunding bill. “If there is reason to investigate, then there is reason to withhold taxpayer dollars during that period of time. The American taxpayer has been clear for a very long time that they do not want federal funds spent on abortion.” 
 
 Democrats pointed out that Planned Parenthood has long been prohibited from spending federal money on abortions, thanks to appropriations riders dating back to the 1970s. And in a floor debate Friday, they called the bill an attack on women’s health care and noted that other health-care providers would be unable to absorb all of Planned Parenthood’s hundreds of thousands of patients. 
 
 “This bill is dumb, it’s foolish, and it’s mean-spirited,” said Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.). “The bill is based upon lies and exaggerations. If you want to have a truthful debate, then let’s talk about the 400,000 Pap smears, the 500,000 breast exams, the 4.5 million STD and HIV tests that Planned Parenthood does each year.” 
 
 [Sign up for The Daily 202, The Washington Post’s new political tipsheet] 
 
 Planned Parenthood’s affiliated clinics are together the country’s largest provider of abortions. But they also perform other women’s health and family planning services, which are funded through Medicaid and Title X federal grants totaling about $450 million a year. 
 
 The organization decried the vote Friday. “These bills are a callous attempt to insert politics into women’s health, and we’re grateful that the Senate and the president will stop them from becoming law,” said Eric Ferrero, a spokesman for the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. 
 
 Republicans and Democrats sparred over the undercover videos, which have been released by the Center for Medical Progress over the course of the summer. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) called them part of a “coordinated, broad-based smear campaign full of distortions and misinformation.” Key context was edited out of the videos, she said, including footage of exculpatory comments from Planned Parenthood executives. 
 
 During the second round of GOP debates, Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said "shame on us" if lawmakers don't stop a bill from passing that funds Planned Parenthood. (CNN) 
 
 But Republicans said the videos spoke for themselves and lambasted Democrats for trying to undermine their content: “If they want to send one taxpayer dime to Planned Parenthood after watching them, shame on them,” said Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Tex.). 
 
 The votes broke down mostly along party lines, with the Planned Parenthood bill passing 241 to 187 and the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act passing 248 to 177. 
 
 While public attention has been focused on the Planned Parenthood bill, anti-abortion activists believe the vote on the survivor protection bill, sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), could be even more politically significant in the long run. 
 
 Democrats say current law is already sufficient to prevent the abuses that activists fear, and they pointed to objections from medical groups, such as the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which said the bill represents “gross legislative interference into the practice of medicine.” But activists believe those opponents have assumed an extreme position that could become a liability in future campaigns. 
 
 “The votes this afternoon are evidence of just how wedded to the idea of abortion on-demand, at any time, for any reason, that the Democratic Party has become,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, noting only five of 188 Democrats voted in favor. “Where is the compassion and concern for ‘the little guy,’ the abortion survivor, whose heart is beating and alive?” 
 
 The bills were brought to the House floor amid in order to create leverage with President Obama and congressional Democrats given the nearing deadline to fund the government. But neither have indicated a shutdown would force them to blink. 
 
 The Senate took an August test vote on a Planned Parenthood defunding bill, which fell well short of the 60 votes necessary to advance controversial legislation. Senators are expected to take a procedural vote Tuesday on a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy in a related effort to demonstrate the political hurdles facing any bill restricting abortion rights. 
 
 On the House side, GOP leaders have sought to tamp down demands to link Planned Parenthood funding to the spending deadline. They have made both political and practical arguments: In a Thursday morning meeting at Republican National Committee headquarters, party leaders presented polling numbers showing Republicans would be blamed for a shutdown in key battleground districts. And they told members that due to the vagaries of federal appropriations and funding cycles, the kind of short-term funding bill that is likely to pass ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline would do little to affect Planned Parenthood. 
 
 “In the short term, you might feel better, but the money’s already out the door,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), an Appropriations Committee member and leadership ally. “Let’s do the hearings. Let’s find out what the case is. Let’s try to craft something that’s a little more nuanced and precise than just, ‘if you don’t do what we want, we’ll shut down the government.’ “ ||||| Congressional leaders agreed late Friday to a compromise that will keep the federal government funded for the remainder of the fiscal year — averting a government shutdown less than an hour before it was set to start. 
 
 House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) announced the deal just before 11 p.m. The agreement came together in a few frantic hours at the near-deserted Capitol, with a midnight deadline looming. 
 
 “I’m pleased that Senator Reid and I and the White House have been able to come to an agreement that will, in fact, cut spending and keep our government open,” Boehner said at an impromptu news conference, mentioning Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). 
 
 Shortly after, President Obama read a statement from the White House, pointing out that the Washington Monument, seen lit up over his shoulder, would be open as usual on Saturday. 
 
 “Today, Americans of different beliefs came together,” Obama said. He said the cuts would be painful but necessary to maintain the country’s fiscal health. “We protected the investments we need to win the future.” 
 
 To keep the government running through Friday, lawmakers approved a short-term spending measure overnight — the Senate at 12:20 a.m. and the House at 12:40 a.m. — and said the final agreement should be approved next week. 
 
 If that happens, the measure would cut $37.8 billion from the federal budget through the end of September, congressional aides said. 
 
 Democrats had wanted to cut billions less: they assented to the larger figure, and in return Republicans dropped a demand to take federal funds from the group Planned Parenthood, according to aides in both parties. 
 
 However, Republicans did win the inclusion of a policy rider that forbids public money from going toward abortion procedures in the District of Columbia, a restriction that had previously been enacted when Republicans held power in federal Washington. The deal also adds money for one of Boehner’s favored projects, a program that provides low-income District students with money to attend private schools. 
 
 After 11 p.m., Reid described the negotiations briefly in a speech on the Senate floor. 
 
 “We didn’t do it at this late hour for drama, we did it because it’s been very hard to arrive at this point,” Reid said. “Both sides have had to make tough choices. But tough choices is what this job’s all about.” 
 
 The cuts, if enacted, would add up to the largest budget reduction for federal agencies in U.S. history. Some conservative Republicans had pushed for much more and grumbled about the compromise Friday. 
 
 But this was still a compromise made on their terms — and a sign of their power. Inside a few months, an ascendant Republican Party has managed to impose its small-government agenda on a town still largely controlled by Democrats. 
 
 “It’s all that one-half of one-third of the government can hope for,” said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), emerging from a caucus meeting after the deal was struck. “In democracy, you compromise.” 
 
 The budget agreement is not yet law. On Friday, there simply wasn’t time to make it legal before midnight. 
 
 Some conservatives have signaled that they would be unhappy with any compromise that offered a smaller spending reduction than the $61 billion the GOP-led House had passed. 
 
 Cutting “$61 billion was just a modest first step,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), co-chair of the conservative Republican Study Committee. He said he would vote “no” on the stopgap measure, signalling his displeasure that Boehner had settled for less. “You need to stay focused on getting the victories in the smaller things so you can get victories in the bigger things later.” 
 
 But it’s unclear how widespread such unhappiness will be inside the GOP. Already, many Republicans have called for the party to finish this fight, and focus on a much more ambitious one over the 2012 budget. This week, the House Budget Committee approved a plan that, over 10 years, would save $6 trillion. 
 
 The fight over the 2011 budget “is the first bite of the apple,” said Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the budget committee chairman and the architect of that proposal. “We want to get billions in savings and then we want to move on to get trillions in savings.” 
 
 On Friday, Obama, who had called congressional leaders to the White House three times in the previous two days to hash out an agreement, played a less public role in the debate. Aides said he spoke on the phone to Boehner twice and Reid at least once, as well as huddling with his own advisers. 
 
 He canceled a Friday morning speech in Indianapolis on energy and later in the afternoon opted against a family trip to Williamsburg as a shutdown loomed. 
 
 With an agreement, Congress seemed to have resolved a battle that had been brewing since last fall’s elections. As the shutdown ticked closer, it had transfixed and partially paralyzed a vast federal bureaucracy. 
 
 If the government had closed, it would have meant closures at national parks and federal agencies, a halt to trash pickup in the District, and furloughs for more than 800,000 governments workers. Just preparing for that had slowed federal business to a crawl in the last week. 
 
 Now, officials said, museums should re-open in the morning, and government workers should come to work as scheduled. Washington should continue as if nothing happened. 
 
 This budget fight involved just a tiny fraction of the $1 trillion-plus that Congress doles out every year. But the timing was more important than the numbers. This was the first battle since Republicans took the House of Representatives, promising to pare back government spending and deficits. So Republicans — led by Boehner, in his first intense engagement as a leader — were determined to stand their ground in their first fight. 
 
 Democrats, on the other hand, still hold the Senate and the White House. In the Senate, Democratic leaders were determined not to be outmaneuvered by Republicans. And in the White House, President Obama seemed interested in cementing his role as a calm mediator, a CEO. 
 
 And none of them wanted to be the first to blink. That might have set a damaging precedent for future fights with higher stakes, over the decision to raise the national debt limit, and to pass a 2012 budget. 
 
 Their brinksmanship lasted even into Friday, the last day before a shutdown that would likely have damaged both parties’ political fortunes. 
 
 Democrats used the day to repeatedly bash the other side for refusing to budge on an issue tied to abortion. 
 
 “The House leadership, with the speaker, have a very clear choice to make, and they don’t have much time to make that choice,” Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said in an afternoon news conference. “They can keep their word and significantly cut the federal deficit, or they can shut down the American government over women’s access to health care. If that sounds ridiculous, that’s because it is ridiculous.” 
 
 On the Republican side, Boehner emerged repeatedly to reiterate the same message: there was no deal yet. 
 
 “Most of the policy issues have been dealt with,” Boehner said Friday afternoon. “The big fight is over the spending.” 
 
 As the debate went on, frustration bubbled on both sides. Reid said the drawn-out negotiations had even provoked an outburst from Vice President Biden as a White House talking session hit snags Thursday night. 
 
 “Joe Biden wasn’t flustered,” Reid said when a reporter described Biden that way. “But he was damn mad.” 
 
 A key sticking point, aides said, was the argument about federal funding for groups such as Planned Parenthood — which was really an argument about abortion. 
 
 Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion provider. In accordance with federal law, none of the money it gets from the government funds abortions. But the organization receives millions of federal dollars for non-abortion services for low-income people, including breast exams and Pap smears, cholesterol and blood pressure screenings, family planning and contraceptives. 
 
 Conservatives have questioned the integrity of the group and argued that even if federal funding does not pay for abortions, it frees up other money that does. 
 
 In lieu of a provision defunding Planned Parenthood, Republicans this week proposed an alternative that would change the way funding for women’s health programs is distributed, according to senior congressional aides. 
 
 Instead of providing the money in federal grants to groups such as Planned Parenthood, the funds would be sent to states in the form of block grants. It would be up to state governments to distribute those funds to health groups. 
 
 Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who co-chairs the Pro-Life Caucus, said the original legislation stripping Planned Parenthood of all its federal funding would have been a blow to the group’s abortion efforts. 
 
 He said that one-fourth of all abortions in the United States were performed at the group’s clinics and that its services for women were minimal compared with community health centers that focus on helping the poor. 
 
 “You would think this is about women’s health care,” Smith said dismissively of the Democratic arguments. “It’s about abortion.” 
 
 Staff writers Perry Bacon Jr. and Felicia Sonmez contributed to this report.
– Twelve days remain in the fiscal year, and the threat of a second government shutdown in three years remains very much in play. The big problem remains a showdown over funding for Planned Parenthood, with conservative Republicans who are upset about recent undercover videos demanding that the group lose all federal funds. With the clock ticking, party leaders still have "no concrete plan" to avoid the shutdown, reports Politico. One possibility is to pass a temporary measure before the end of the month to allow more time for negotiations in the fall, but that's not a slam dunk—because House conservatives demand that even such a continuing resolution block Planned Parenthood funding, reports the Hill. They're also threatening to try to oust John Boehner—who opposes abortion and Planned Parenthood but doesn't want to hand Democrats a potential gift in the form of a shutdown—as speaker if he backs down. The AP sees a possible way out of what it calls this "political Rubik's Cube." House leaders are pushing through a number of abortion-related measures, including one that passed today to defund Planned Parenthood for a year. The measures stand virtually no chance of becoming law, but leaders hope they will be enough to mollify the conservative rank-and-file. It "remains unclear" whether that will be the case, however, notes the Washington Post. Lawmakers are in session only five more days until the deadline, and about the only safe bet is that the drama will go down to the final day, if not hour.