Government shutdown updates: Biden signs stopgap funding measure

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy huddled with Republicans behind closed doors Saturday morning -- where he is expected to make another plea for his party to unite around a short term solution to keep the government funded.

During Friday night's meeting, McCarthy told members they had few options:

1. Pass his measure that failed on the floor
2. Vote on a stopgap measure with aid for disaster relief
3. Pass the bipartisan Senate bill they all hate
4. Shutdown the government.

As of this morning, Republicans are zeroing in on option two.

Republicans are now considering whether to take up a stopgap measure that would keep the government funded for 45 more days with funds for disaster aid tied to it. No Ukraine aid. Nothing on the border. But that could change.

Why the disaster aid? Disaster aid is a priority for Democrats. McCarthy would likely needs their votes (there are several Republicans who said they'd never vote for a short term bill). If he puts it on the floor -- he would be daring Democrats to vote against it.

To make matters even more complicated, a short term solution could only create even more problems for McCarthy.

Several hardline Republicans say they would vote to oust McCarthy as Speaker if he worked with Democrats on any deal. And that is likely if they go down this path.

-ABC News' Rachel Scott

Leaving a more than two-hour contentious GOP conference meeting, Speaker Kevin McCarthy is now floating a two-week, clean short-term funding bill with no attachments.

"I think if we had a clean one [CR] without Ukraine on it, we could probably be able to move that through. I think if the Senate puts Ukraine on there and focuses Ukraine over America, I think I think that could cause real problems," McCarthy said Friday.

McCarthy said "I think we can solve that" if the Senate sends a clean short-term measure with no Ukraine aid or any other attachments.
This is a significant change in position from McCarthy on the eve of a potential government shutdown.

"If they produce a clean ability to keep the government open while we finish our work and have gotten to our [appropriations] bills. I think we can solve that," he said.

McCarthy said if the Senate sends over its current proposal, then "it's probably leading to a shutdown."

The speaker claims he proposed to put a clean short-term funding bill on the floor but said "Democrats won't vote for it."

"So that would be a shutdown," he said.

McCarthy acknowledged "there are no winners in a government" but the conference is continuing to "work through trying to find a way out of this."

"I think it's productive that we keep the house open while we finish our work," he added.

-ABC News' Lauren Peller

A government shutdown would be detrimental to the State Department's efforts on the world stage, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference Friday afternoon.

"Our work would clearly be affected by this. It would make it harder to do everything we do to try to advance national security. So, we urge Congress not to take this step," Blinken said.

Asked if he would view a continuing resolution that didn't include supplemental funding for Ukraine as a suitable compromise, he didn't answer.

"I'm not going to comment on the specifics of legislative arrangements. That is up to the members of Congress," he said.

--ABC News' Shannon Crawford

A partial government shutdown would hurt military recruitment -- as well as its members, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday.

Military recruitment, which is already suffering, would take a hit in a shutdown and send a "horrible message to young people" and deter them from enlisting, Kirby said.

"Young people … graduating high school here, you know, in the spring, they can be forgiven for thinking, 'Maybe that's not where I want to go. Why would I want to sign up and do that dangerous work, when I can't even guarantee that there's going to be a paycheck for it?'" Kirby said.

While Kirby said there is patriotism and a sense of duty in serving in the military, he said a shutdown hurt service members.

"You start missing a couple of paychecks when you're in active-duty service to the nation, and it starts to hurt. You can't buy groceries, or as many, anyway. Bills are tougher to pay, rent and mortgage payments are tough to cover."

If the government shuts down, an estimated 3.5 million federal workers would have to go without pay – about 2 million of which are in the military.

ABC News' Ben Gittleson