Congressional negotiators are racing to reach a government funding agreement by a March 14 deadline to avert a shutdown, as several key factors strain bipartisan talks. The government has been operating on stopgap funding measures and fiscal 2024 spending levels since last September.

Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are struggling with a key question as they stare down a fast-approaching deadline to fund the government: How do they fund federal agencies that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk want to dismantle?

Growing calls among hard-line House conservatives to incorporate cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) into a developing government funding bill are complicating efforts to avert a shutdown two weeks ahead of the looming deadline.