Republicans are “afraid of the Tea Party” and afraid to make tough choices, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Wednesday night. 

“We know the Republicans are afraid of the Tea Party," said Reid said. "Now it looks like they’re also afraid of making tough choices."

Reid spoke just hours before he plans to summit once again with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and President Obama at the White House in an attempt to stave off a looming government shutdown.

“Making tough choices is what governing is all about," said Reid. "They are what leadership is all about. It’s time for my friends in the House of Representatives to stop campaigning and start governing. It’s time for them to lead.”

Reid said another short-term funding measure, which House Republicans called for on Wednesday, is not acceptable. The current stopgap measure expires Friday.

"We can’t keep funding the country with one stopgap after another," he said. "The United States of America shouldn’t have to live paycheck to paycheck.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will head back to the White House on Wednesday night to discuss a budget agreement.

"We're going to continue the conversation we've been having for weeks with this administration," Reid said on the floor. 

Reid reiterated that he wants to avoid a government shutdown and still hopes to reach consensus on a budget deal to fund the government through Sept. 30. 

"We're not going to give up, we're going to keep talking to find a middle ground," Reid said on the floor. 

The Senate split 50-50 on an amendment that would have permanently blocked the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

The Senate on Wednesday rejected a proposal 93-7 that would have prevented the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gases for two years.

The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.), stands in contrast with a Republican proposal that would permanently ban the EPA from creating such regulations.

The House Rules Committee on Wednesday announced an emergency meeting at 5 p.m. to approve a rule for H.R. 1363, the one-week spending bill that would cut $12 billion in one week and fund the Defense Department for the rest of FY 2011.

The Rules Committee meeting is a sign that negotiations on a longer-term budget deal are not progressing. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday said the House would vote Thursday on the bill, and said that while some progress was being made, the talks were "not finished."

Democrats on Wednesday said they could not support H.R. 1363, which cuts too much and yet increases defense spending by 1.5 percent.

The Senate defeated an amendment in a 93-7 vote Wednesday that would have exempted farmers and some small businesses from the Environmental Protection Agency's greenhouse-gas regulations. 

Prior to the vote, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who sponsored the bill, argued that small companies and farmers ought to be exempt because a small group of large companies emit the majority of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. 

While most Democrats on Wednesday opposed the GOP's bill to restrict the Environmental Protection Agency authorities, three Democrats spoke in favor of it on the House floor and said failure to rein in the EPA would hurt job creation in rural areas of the country.

The House was debating H.R. 910, which would prohibit the EPA's regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) was the first Democrat to speak out in favor of the bill, and rejected the idea put forward by other Democrats that the bill should be called the "Dirty Air Act." He said letting one agency decide how to regulate GHG is putting too much authority into a single agency.

"No single government agency, however, is sufficiently positioned to tackle the complex solution that's required to address carbon emissions," he said. "The answer has to be multi-pronged."

Senators sparred Wednesday over a controversial amendment to ban the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating the emission of greenhouse gasses.

The Senate is expected to vote on the amendment later on Wednesday.

Republicans described the EPA regulations as an overstep.

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Members of the House on Wednesday approved a rule for considering H.R. 910, which would strip the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The House approved the rule in a 250-172 vote in which 12 Democrats voted with Republicans.

The House has an hour for debate on the bill and then will consider a dozen Democratic amendments.