The Latest: GOP struggling to embrace stopgap funding plan

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Congress and sweeping tax cut legislation (all times local):

7 p.m.

House Republican leaders are struggling to unite the GOP rank and file behind a temporary funding measure that's needed to prevent the government from shutting down at midnight Friday.

Republicans leaving a closed-door meeting in the Capitol on Wednesday say the plan faces opposition from some defense hawks, as well as lawmakers worrying that an $81 billion disaster aid bill might get left behind in the rush to exit Washington for the holidays.

Lawmakers say that the GOP vote-counting team would assess support for the plan and that Republican leaders would set a course of action from there.