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Under current law, government funding expires Friday at midnight, when the last short-term spending bill expires. The Senate agreed by voice vote and without debate Thursday to extend that deadline through Wednesday Dec. 16 to allow more time for talks. The House was expected to follow suit Friday, but Ryan allowed that even more time might be needed. (Werner, 12/11)

Congress is poised to pass a stopgap spending bill to avert a Friday shutdown and keep the government running five more days as a standoff intensifies over controversial add-ons included in the year-end budget deal. As Democrats resist dozens of GOP-led efforts to rollback women’s reproductive health services, halt environmental regulations to fight climate change and undo financial services reforms approved after the Great Recession, they were backed by top White House officials in private meetings this week. Democrats are instead pushing to include their own priorities, including lifting a ban on federal gun violence research. (Mascaro, 12/10)

A top House Democrat suggested Thursday that the party's support for a year-end government spending bill will hinge on Republicans' willingness to end a decades-old ban on nearly all federal gun-violence research. Democrats on Wednesday delivered to the Republicans an omnibus spending proposal that eliminates the so-called "Dickey amendment," a perennial rider that's effectively blocked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from researching gun violence. (Ferris and Sullivan, 12/11)

Congress is getting closer to delaying a tax on expensive employer-sponsored health plans, imperiling a levy that was a key revenue source and cost-control measure in the 2010 health law. Bipartisan support for killing or suspending the start of the so-called Cadillac tax, which is scheduled to take effect in 2018, is growing. With President Barack Obama saying he would veto an outright repeal, lawmakers are pushing to postpone the tax for two years. (Armour and Rubin, 12/10)

Backers argue the projected $91 billion in revenue created by the tax over the next decade is essential to funding the law and keeping healthcare costs in check. “A two-year delay, I’m concerned, turns into a permanent delay,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.). “It was one of the key areas of cost containment, and in a state like mine where we’re still trying to get Medicaid expansion, and state legislators say the federal government’s not going to keep the existing commitments, when you take away one of the substantial pay-fors for healthcare reform, you strengthen their case.” (Sullivan, 12/10)

The Cadillac tax is so unpopular that the Senate voted 90 to 10 last week to repeal it outright as part of a larger bill aimed at dismantling the Affordable Care Act. Both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) voted to repeal the tax. (Pianin, 12/10)