Johnson. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Talks on a year-end health care package are teetering amid concerns about loading extra provisions on to a CR, but appear to be not dead yet, sources said Thursday afternoon.
Driving the news: At one point on Thursday, multiple sources pointed to Speaker Mike Johnson's office as not wanting to go forward with a larger package and to just do a bare-bones extension of expiring health programs for the length of the CR.
- But more recently, there are efforts to restart the talks.
- "In the last 20 minutes since Johnson's office made that statement there are some last-ditch efforts to save it," said a source familiar with the talks.
- Johnson's office declined to comment on negotiations.
- As we reported earlier, Republican and Democratic negotiators had narrowed some differences, though community health center funding was still a sticking point.
