Tensions reach boiling point in House GOP meeting hours before expected government shutdown

House Republicans are scrambling for a way forward while facing a likely government shutdown.

"The problem is, is the holdouts aren’t offering any other options. The holdouts say, well why don’t we have a shutdown and [work on the appropriations process] as if all of a sudden, the messy democracy that makes appropriations process difficult in the first place is somehow going to resolve itself," Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, told reporters when leaving the meeting. "It’s a f---ing democracy, it’s hard. And there’s no acknowledgment of that." Elizabeth Elkind is a reporter for Fox News Digital focused on Congress as well as the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and politics. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

A source in the room told Fox News Digital that the meeting was "very" tense as Republicans traded barbs over whom to blame for the current predicament. Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com