Congressional leaders are unveiling their plan to avoid a partial government shutdown by the Friday federal funding deadline.

House Republicans released the 1,547-page text of a short-term extension of fiscal year (FY) 2024 government funding levels to give lawmakers more time to agree on funding the rest of FY 2025.

It’s the second such extension, called a continuing resolution (CR), since FY 2024 ended on Sept. 30.

The bill extends FY 2024 government funding levels through March 14, while also including more than $100 billion in funding for disaster relief after storms Helene and Milton battered the U.S. Southeast just months ago. A further $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers is also included.

The legislation has health care provisions aimed at lessening the influence of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), and legislation aimed at revitalizing Washington, DC’s RFK Stadium and the surrounding area.

The bill will also make way for outbound investment legislation, to crack down on the flow of U.S. dollars benefitting Chinese military and technology firms overseas.

Recent drone activity on the Eastern Seaboard that’s alarmed private citizens and lawmakers alike also inspired negotiators to include a reauthorization and extension of the government’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems program.

To offset some of that funding, House leadership staff said the bill will allow the Treasury to recoup some of the funds the federal government spent rebuilding the Baltimore Key Bridge.

It must pass the GOP-controlled House and Democrat-controlled Senate by Friday and hit President Biden’s desk by midnight that day to avoid a partial government shutdown.

Last-minute negotiations delayed the bill’s expected Sunday release to Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, GOP hardliners are crying foul at Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for stacking what they anticipated would be a ‘clean’ CR with unrelated policy riders.

‘We talked with the speaker up until this weekend, the only discussion was ‘How long is this clean CR going to be?’ And suddenly we find out – I heard rumors over the weekend – they’re negotiating with a health care package that included PBM stuff,’ Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital.

‘I think it’s absolutely disgusting to bring forward a several-thousand-page bill that nobody’s read, even today, nobody’s even seen it, and then they expect us to vote on it without any debate.’

Allies of President-elect Trump had pushed for a short-term extension into the new year to give his administration, and a fully Republican Congress, more control over government funding.

But some GOP lawmakers worried that fighting the previous year’s battles will risk derailing the forward-facing agenda Republicans hope to enact in Trump’s first 100 days.

‘His agenda is going to be subject to a one-seat majority for some time, in the best case scenario, he gets about three or four seats. So we don’t have much margin for error,’ one House Republican said.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will be asked to explain some of his beliefs about farming and food production by Republicans who are protective of the agricultural industry in their states. This could stand in the way of a smooth confirmation if he doesn’t manage to address their concerns. 

‘They’ve got to be able to use modern farming techniques, and that involves a lot of things, not only really sophisticated equipment, but also fertilizers and pesticides. So, we have to have that conversation,’ Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., told reporters. 

‘I’m always going to stand up for farmers and ranchers.’

Hoeven told Fox News Digital he would need certain assurances from Kennedy to support him. 

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters he wants Kennedy ‘to understand that when I started farming in 1960, we raised 50 bushels of corn to the acre. Now, we raise on an annual average about 200 in Iowa. A lot more than that.

‘And you can’t feed 9 billion people on the face of the earth [if] we don’t take advantage of genetic engineering.’

Before meeting with Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Tuesday, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told reporters he planned to ask him about pesticide use. 

Afterward, it seemed Kennedy addressed any concerns, because Tuberville wrote on X, ‘Our meeting reaffirmed what I already knew: RFK Jr. is the right man to make sure our food is safe, bring transparency to vaccines and health care, and Make America Healthy Again.’

While some Republicans are worried about the agricultural implications of Kennedy’s positions, his food safety stances are providing some level of appeal to certain Democrats, whose votes he could potentially need to be confirmed. 

A number of Democratic senators told Fox News Digital their interest was piqued by Kennedy’s thoughts on food regulations, but none said they had meetings scheduled yet. 

‘His approach to food and nutrition is more direct and perhaps might be more successful than continuing the way we’ve been doing it,’ Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., told Fox News Digital.

‘I’m definitely looking forward to him coming in and testifying.’

A representative for Kennedy did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Fox News Digital he plans to meet with Senate Democrats, in addition to Republicans, as he looks to shore up support for confirmation as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in President-elect Trump’s incoming administration. 

Asked by Fox News Digital whether he would be meeting with Democrats on the Hill as well, Kennedy, a former Democrat himself, said, ‘Oh yeah.’ 

However, the former independent presidential candidate didn’t say which Senate Democrats he would meet. 

‘I don’t know,’ he said when asked by reporters. 

Kennedy kicked off his Capitol Hill meetings for his HHS bid on Monday, meeting with several Republicans. No Democratic senators were included in a list of dozens of lawmakers that he was set to meet with at the beginning of the week. 

Last month, Trump announced Kennedy as his HHS pick. The two were initially running against each other in the 2024 election before Kennedy dropped out and endorsed Trump. 

Kennedy’s confirmation could face several obstacles, particularly when it comes to vaccines, agriculture and abortion. 

He has been an outspoken skeptic of vaccinations, which some Republican and Democrat senators have pointed to as a concern. 

Kennedy is also pro abortion rights and has supported abortion access throughout his life, which has left some Republicans with questions, as HHS has some authority over regulations that apply to abortion and those who provide them. 

His critiques of the food industry and farming have given him some appeal with Democrats, but at the same time, Republicans representing agricultural states have stressed that they want to protect farmers and ranchers from certain burdensome policies and regulations.  

It’s unclear what exactly the coalition supporting Kennedy will look like in the Senate, whether he will have the support of all Republicans or if some Democrats will be needed to get him over the finish line. 

President Biden’s administration is pressuring the government of Sierra Leone to adopt more permissive abortion policies in exchange for foreign assistance, according to a Monday report. 

The African nation currently bans abortion in most circumstances, but legislation before the country’s parliament would decriminalize the practice. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government-run funding allocator, is reportedly threatening to withhold hundreds of millions in foreign assistance funding if the abortion law does not pass, a former senior U.S. government official who has worked in the region told the Daily Signal.

The MCC CEO Alice Albright signed an agreement with Sierra Leon’s finance minister, Sheku Bangura, in late September. The agreement would see the country receive $480 million in foreign assistance so long as the country meets the MCC’s ‘rigorous standards for good governance, fighting corruption and respecting democratic rights.’ The organization evaluates Sierra Leone’s compliance with the standards on an ongoing basis.

The organization denied any effort to influence Sierra Leone’s abortion policies in a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

‘The Millennium Challenge Corporation is unaware of any Sierra Leonean abortion legislation and has never made any requests to the Government of Sierra Leone regarding abortion policies. Any such legislation would be an internal matter for Sierra Leone with no U.S. government developments fund made contingent on its passage,’ the organization said in a statement.

The office of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who chairs the MCC’s board of directors, did not respond to a request for comment.

Footage circulating on social media shows raucous pro-life protesters demonstrating inside Sierra Leone’s parliament as lawmakers debated the legislation Tuesday.

Pro-life activists in the country claim that President Julius Maada Bio fired his attorney general last week because the official refused to push for the abortion law in parliament. Bio appointed Alpha Sesay as the new AG this week. Sesay is a recent former employee of USAID and has advocated for the new abortion law on social media.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., condemned reports of the pressure campaign in a Monday statement.

‘It is deeply disturbing, but not terribly surprising, that we are hearing reports that the Biden administration is threatening to withhold foreign assistance to Sierra Leone unless legislators there pass the deceptively named ‘Safe Motherhood Act’ legislation that would legalize abortion in Sierra Leone, a country that currently protects unborn life,’ he told the Signal.

Smith has previously accused the Biden administration of ‘hijacking’ a Bush-era program delivering AIDS relief to Africa to promote its abortion agenda.

PEPFAR, the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, was launched in 2003 under President George W. Bush and has invested over $100 billion fighting AIDS across the world while saving 25 million lives and preventing millions of infections, the State Department says. PEPFAR was up for re-authorization in Congress last year.

‘President Biden has hijacked PEPFAR, the $6 billion a year foreign aid program designed to mitigate HIV/AIDS in many targeted — mostly African — countries in order to promote abortion on demand,’ Smith told colleagues in a 2023 statement.

Smith said two groups, Population Services International (PSI) and Village Reach, have received $96.5 million and $10.1 million, respectively, over the last few years from PEPFAR under Biden, and both groups have a track record of pushing abortion.

‘PSI proudly proclaims it provides abortion and lobbies to eliminate pro-life laws,’ Smith said. ‘PSI provides comprehensive abortion and post-abortion care services in nearly 20 countries throughout the world.’

Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report

Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was defeated in her bid to be the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, losing to Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia.

Connolly, 74, bested the 35-year-old Ocasio-Cortez with 131 to 84 votes in what is seen as a blow for progressives who backed Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the progressive ‘Squad.’

‘I thank my colleagues for their support and the confidence they’ve placed in me to lead House Democrats on the Oversight Committee,’ Connolly said in a statement after being elected by the House Democratic Caucus.

Connolly called out ‘the Republican playbook,’ in which he accused Republicans of using ‘debunked conspiracy theories’ and enabling ‘the worst abuses of the Trump Administration.’

‘This will be trench warfare.’ Connolly said. ‘Now is not the time to be timid. I promise the American people that our Committee Democrats will be a beacon of truth and prepared from day one to counter Republican gaslighting.’

When Fox News Senior Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram asked Connolly if he was up for a potential fight against the Trump administration, Connolly said he was ‘raring to go.’

‘I did it before for four years, and bested them on a number of occasions, and I’m raring to go again,’ he said.

Connolly said that President-elect Trump ‘may feel more emboldened’ after his reelection victory, though ‘that may also make him more reckless.’

‘There is a law in this land, and we’re going to make sure it’s enforced,’ Connolly said.

In his written statement, Connolly said Democrats will be ‘disciplined’ and ‘laser focused on getting results on the kitchen table issues that are affecting the American people the most.’

‘We will stand up for our democracy and for truth,’ the statement said. ‘And we will protect the tremendous and historic progress we have made as House Democrats.’

Fox News’ Chad Pergram and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.