House Republican negotiators are warning rebels within their own party that they are "empowering" Democrats as lawmakers scramble for a deal to fund the government in time to avoid a partial shutdown. Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., one of Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s top allies, spoke to reporters after House Republicans’ members-only call on Saturday and said lawmakers were getting closer to an agreement on spending. However he suggested there was still frustration with hardline-right members of the conference who have been holding up an agreement on a stopgap funding bill to give them more time to cobble together 12 individual spending