Following his meeting with John Boehner and Harry Reid, President Obama told reporters that he’s “not yet prepared to express wild optimism” that a deal will be made, “but we’re further along today than we were yesterday.”
Obama said that by “some time early in the day” on Friday he hopes to tell the American people “that a shutdown has been averted.”
“That’s what I hope to be able to announce tomorrow, but there is no certainty,” he said.
Conventional wisdom: There is a tentative, tacit agreement on a deal, as of tonight. A Republican source tells NRO they “would be surprised” if this wasn’t the case. However, nothing is likely to be made official until Boehner can sell it to the GOP conference. There are indications that this won’t be as difficult as many have been predicting. House Republicans are scheduled to meet at noon on Friday, at which point they will have less than 12 hours to avert a government shutdown.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are drafting their own version of a one-week CR to fund the military through September 30.
UPDATE: Democratic sources are saying that Planned Parenthood funding is the last major sticking point.