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Chances of a government shutdown at the end of the month are growing as Republican leaders face mounting pressure from conservatives determined to use a must-pass spending bill as leverage in the fight over Planned Parenthood. Senior Republicans, intent on avoiding a partial government shutdown, plan to bring a raft of antiabortion measures up for votes in the House and Senate this month in hopes of channeling conservatives’ anger over videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing fees for procuring fetal tissue for medical researchers. (Peterson and Armour, 9/16)

With just seven legislative days until the government shuts down, House and Senate Republicans both privately discussed delaying the fight over Planned Parenthood’s funding until the budget reconciliation process, according to multiple sources in both meetings. Government funding runs out Sept. 30, and dozens of conservative House Republicans want to use the upcoming legislative debate to cut off federal funding for the women’s health group. (Sherman and Bade, 9/16)

Talk of a government shutdown has again absorbed Washington – two years after the government was shut down for 16 days when conservative Republicans used a routine spending bill to try to stop the Affordable Care Act from taking hold. This time the issue is abortion, as conservative Republicans are vowing to strip funding for Planned Parenthood from bills to fund the government in the new fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. Here are some basics. (Hughes, 9/16)

Hoping to prevent the Republican uproar over the Planned Parenthood videos from snowballing into a government shutdown, GOP leaders are turning to one of Planned Parenthood’s most implacable foes: the National Right to Life Committee. (Fram, 9/17)

The only two viable potential replacements for John Boehner as speaker of the House say they back the Ohio Republican and will oppose any effort to remove him from power. But other high-ranking Republicans are testing the waters should the embattled speaker be forced out. ... Boehner’s tenuous hold on power, exacerbated by conservative demands to cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood, has set off some jockeying for position in the upper ranks of the House GOP hierarchy should he fall. ... However, Boehner does face serious internal challenges, as even his closest allies openly admit. A small pocket of roughly two dozen conservatives — led by members of the House Freedom Caucus — have threatened to try and remove the speaker if they don’t get what they want on a government funding bill by the end of this month. GOP leadership prefers to defund Planned Parenthood as part of the budget reconciliation process. (Sherman, Bresnahan and Palmer, 9/17)