WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on efforts in Congress to repeal the health care law and agree on a spending bill to keep the government open (all times local):
11:25 a.m.
The second-ranking House Democrat is threatening to withhold votes for a short-term spending bill to keep the government open, if Republicans try to push for a health care vote this week.
Speaker Paul Ryan needs Democratic votes to keep the government open past Friday's midnight deadline. But in a statement Thursday, Democratic congressman Steny Hoyer of Maryland says that if Republicans push for a vote on health care, he will oppose the spending bill and tell other Democrats to do the same.
Hoyer complains the current health care bill would let states drop essential services such as maternity care and prescription drug coverage.
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11:13 a.m.
President Donald Trump says he's opposed to helping Puerto Rico resolve its $70 billion debt load.
Trump sent a tweet Thursday accusing Democrats of wanting to shut down the government if his administration doesn't bail out Puerto Rico and give what he says are billions to the island's insurance companies.
He's referring to a huge, government-wide federal spending bill being negotiated in Washington. Talks are going slowly but relatively well as negotiators sort through myriad issues.
Puerto Rico is mired in a decade-long recession in part because it borrowed billions of dollars to cover budget deficits over the decades that it cannot repay. The U.S. territory has been trying to obtain the same amount of Medicaid funding that U.S. states receive.
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3:22 a.m.
Lawmakers are giving themselves a one-week extension on spending legislation to keep the lights on in government, after the White House backed off a threat to withhold payments that help lower-income Americans pay their medical bills.
It was the latest concession by the White House, which had earlier dropped a demand for money for President Donald Trump's border wall. Even with Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, the Trump administration is learning that Democrats retain significant leverage when their votes are needed on must-pass legislation.
A temporary funding bill expires Friday at midnight, and GOP leaders late Wednesday came out with a short-term spending bill through May 5 to prevent a government shutdown this weekend.