House Speaker Paul Ryan holds media availability – watch live
House Speaker Paul Ryan will take questions from the press in one of his final media availabilities before leaving Congress. The appearance — scheduled for 10 a.m. ET — comes a day after Ryan delivered his farewell address, lamenting America's "broken politics" but holding out hope that the nation's "complex problems are solvable... if our politics will allow it."
The Senate late Wednesday approved a stopgap spending measure that will keep the government open until February without President Trump's requested $5 billion for a border wall. The spending measure now goes to the House of Representatives, and it has to be signed by Mr. Trump.
It was unclear how many House members would return to Washington for votes after Republicans lost the majority in the midterm election. Some 70 members missed Wednesday's session, almost as many Democrats as Republicans.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said Mr. Trump's political base "will just go crazy" if he signs a bill without wall funding. He warned it will be tougher to win the money next year when Democrats control the House. He said supporters of the president "believe it's a promise that he's been telling them that he will keep."
With Republicans sour on the spending package, passage could depend on Democrats.
