Congress has four hours left to prevent a government shutdown

1. CRomnishambles

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

• The spending deal passed a preliminary vote in the House — barely.

  [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

• But its fate is in doubt now that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi signalled her opposition due to provisions weakening campaign finance regulations and the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

  [Politico / Lauren French]

• The government shuts down at midnight unless the House and Senate act in the next four hours.

• Pelosi's office is clear she's not whipping against the bill formally, just signaling opposition and asking others to join her, which is somehow different.

  [Drew Hammill]

• Congressional reporter John Bresnahan: Republicans will need 40+ Democratic votes and it doesn't look like they've got them.

  [John Bresnahan]

• Obama and Biden are making personal calls to House and Senate Democrats asking them to vote for the deal.

  [The Hill / Justin Sink]

• The White House's argument is that "dynamics will shift significantly" if a short-term funding extension is passed instead of the deal.

  [Sabrina Siddiqui]

• The GOP's back-up plan is a one-week funding extension.

  [Politico / Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan, and Edward-Isaac Dovere]

• Here are 5 of the shadier provisions in the deal.

  [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

2. Brennan on torture

CIA director John Brennan. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

• CIA director John Brennan gave a speech in response to the Senate's torture report.

  [CIA / John Brennan]

• "In a limited number of cases, agency officers used interrogation techniques that had not been authorized, were abhorrent and rightly should be repudiated by all," Brennan said.

• But he adds: "The record does not support the Study’s inference that the Agency repeatedly, systematically, and intentionally misled others on the effectiveness of the program."

• Brennan said it's "unknowable" if torture produced better intel. But it is knowable; it didn't.

  [Vox / Zack Beauchamp]

• He also refused to rule out torturing in the future.

  [Vox / Zack Beauchamp]

• Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein initially vigorously disputed Brennan's comments but has since de-escalated.

  [The Guardian / Spencer Ackerman]

3. Lima lagging

Frustrated John Kerry. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

• Secretary of State John Kerry has flown to Lima, Peru to push for a climate deal at the UN summit there.

  [FT / Pilita Clark]

• The talks have broken down on developed country v. developing country lines, with the former's paltry contributions to a Global Climate Fund cited as one major problem.

  [El Pais / Inés Santaeulalia and Jacquelin Fowks]

• Some are blaming China for holding up a deal, which would be disappointing in light of their recent climate agreement with the US.

  [Vox / Brad Plumer]

4. Misc.

• Retiring Rep. John Dingell has served with one-third of all Congressmen. Ever.

  [Washington Post / Philip Bump]

• Could we 3D print a working brain?

  [Slate / Andrew Maynard]

• An ISIS official explains the group's origins, and why he wants to leave now.

  [The Guardian / Martin Chulov]

• Drug-resistant bacteria could significantly reduce economic growth in coming decades.

  [Project Syndicate / Jim O'Neill]

• A Navy nurse could lose his job for refusing to force-feed Guanatamo detainees.

  [Washington Post / Danielle Paquette]

• A prominent Columbia sociologist grew up in Argentina, with her father's good friend Adolf Eichmann visiting her home often.

  [Chronicle / Marc Parry]

5. Verbatim

• "His name is Nate and we should send him 90,000 guns."

  [Funny or Die / Melinda Taub]

• "Who thanks those who refused to fight, even in wars that most people later realized were tragic mistakes?"

  [In These Times / Adam Hochschild]

• "One customer has been taking out monthly extensions on a $500 gold chain since 2006, each adding $120 to what it will take to buy the chain back."

  [The Atlantic / Sarah Esther Maslin]

• "In real terms income inequality has gone up much more than most of our numbers indicate."

  [Marginal Revolution / Tyler Cowen]

• "People actually thought that viewing instructional porn had the same impact on adults (both men and women) as watching The Matrix did."

  [The Atlantic / Rose Eveleth]

• "It is good that economists no longer regard the equality-efficiency tradeoff as an iron law. We should not invert the error and conclude that greater equality and better economic performance always go together."

  [Project Syndicate / Dani Rodrik]

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