Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will speak on the Senate floor at 9 p.m. Friday night, not at 8 p.m. as Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) announced earlier in the evening. Reid is expected to give an update on the budget negotiations at that time.

House Republicans and Senate Democrats remain in negotiations to prevent a government shutdown.

The House next week plans to continue its effort to repeal elements of last year's healthcare law, this time by repealing language establishing a federal public health fund.

The House Rules Committee on Tuesday is scheduled to approve a rule for H.R. 1217, the Repeal the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF) Act. The bill repeals the PPHF, which funds prevention and public health programs in an effort to slow the rate of growth of healthcare costs.

In 2010, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) allocated $500 million to states for these activities, and just last month, HHS announced another $750 million allocation.

Congress this week successfully repealed a controversial IRS reporting requirement by passing so-called 1099 repeal. And the House next week might also take up H.R. 3, which would prevent federal funding for abortions. The House was scheduled to begin work on that bill this week.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will speak on the Senate floor at 8 p.m. Friday with the expectation he will give an update on the budget negotiations.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) made the announcement about Reid's speech.

"I have my fingers crossed that at 8 p.m. the Senate majority leader will say we have overcome our problems," she said.

Sen. Frank Lautenburg (D-NJ) accused House Republicans of "brewing a toxic tea for America" in their plans to cut government spending. 

"They are continuing to brew a toxic tea for America," said Lautenberg in a speech on the Senate floor Friday. 

Lautenberg displayed a placard to his right with an image of a giant teabag and a nuclear symbol that read, "HOUSE GOP BREWING A TOXIC TEA FOR AMERICA."

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said House members should be ready to vote later today on a possible budget deal.

A measure to repeal net-neutrality regulations passed the House on Friday in a largely party-line vote.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) compared House conservatives to a flea Friday as rhetoric in the spending fight intensified.

The House on Friday afternoon rejected another request from House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) that members approve a clean, one-week spending resolution that does not contain any of the policy issues that Democrats oppose, even though Hoyer warned that his request is the "only vehicle" that would keep the government from shutting down.

Hoyer made this request with a motion to recommit an unrelated resolution that would disapprove of the Federal Communications Commission's net-neutrality regulations in order to take up his spending resolution instead. As he has earlier in the week, Hoyer said a clean spending bill would allow the government to pay the military, as Republicans want, but avoid the more controversial issues in the GOP spending bill, such as a ban on taxpayer-funded abortions in Washington, D.C., that have stalled negotiations.

Midway through a Friday afternoon debate over whether the Federal Communications Commission should be allowed to regulate the Internet, the microphone in the Democratic side shut down, a possibly ominous sign given that the entire federal government is headed toward a shutdown unless a spending deal is reached.

As the microphone began sputtering and dying, Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) offered Democrats the use of the Republican microphone, but not without pointing out the dangers of government-run technology.

"When you have government-run microphones and Internet, you can have a problem," he quipped. "We're for open and free microphones, they're welcome to use our podium as well."