House in recess; Cantor says votes on budget possible Friday

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

Cantor (R-Va.) at 3:40 p.m. Friday told House members that votes on a budget deal for fiscal year 2011 are possible, but he did not announce that any agreement had been reached. Instead, he said members should stay ready for a vote.

“I’d like to inform my colleagues that additional legislative business and votes are possible today,” Cantor said. “I would expect members to have at least one hour’s notice prior to any recorded votes. Due to ongoing negotiations, it is critical for the House to remain in legislative session.”

Cantor also reiterated that if appropriations lapse at the end of Friday, “I fully expect the House to meet tomorrow.”

“We’ll provide further information as soon as it’s available, but members should continue to keep their schedule for this weekend as flexible as possible,” he concluded.

The House adjourned immediately after his remarks, subject to the call of the chairman.

Minutes earlier, the House rejected a request from House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to pass a “clean” spending resolution that would allow the government to operate for another week in order to allow negotiations between the House, Senate and White House to continue.

The two parties appear to have agreed on $38 billion in cuts for the rest of the fiscal year, but still appeared to be torn over funding for Title X, the federal women’s health program. While Republicans were apparently looking to give Title X funds to states to see as they see fit, Democrats were arguing that this would undermine women’s health.

Democrats also see the Republican demand as a way of attacking Planned Parenthood, which receives a significant portion of Title X money and provides abortion services, even though the group is prohibited by law from using federal funds on these services.

— This story was updated at 4:27 p.m.