GEOFF BENNETT: Let's shift our focus now back to Capitol Hill because Congress is racing toward another shutdown deadline, with leaders putting the finishing touches on a final funding package and lots of questions about the timeline for actually passing the legislation.

It's all unfolding on a busy day at the U.S. Capitol, where Republicans are again focused on their investigation of the Biden family.

Let's bring in congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins.

It's good to see you, friend.

LISA DESJARDINS: Hi.

GEOFF BENNETT: Here we go again.

Congress is now facing this Friday deadline to fund 70 percent of government agencies.

Where do things stand?

LISA DESJARDINS: I want to remind people that this is a problem.

We have been through this so much that there is a real danger of everyone, including members of Congress, becoming numb to this.

Where we are is, there is hope that they will meet this deadline, but there's also the chance that they don't.

Let me take you through the calendar of where we are.

As we sit, today is Wednesday.

Some of us had to remind ourselves today.

Today is Wednesday.

The potential shutdown would begin Saturday if the spending bills are not passed by then.

Partial shutdown, it would be about 70 percent of the agencies involved.

Now, here's the situation.

House Republicans have an internal pledge where any bill, they should get three days to read the bills.

One, two, three.

You count that, clearly, there's not enough time to read a giant bill and pass it by Saturday.

So what we have is a situation where House Republicans are preparing to waive their own internal rule to pass this by suspending the rule.

And the hope is that this will be voted on in the House on Friday, quickly run across the other side of the Capitol, and then the Senate would then pass it.

I don't have to tell you, I don't have to tell our viewers, the Senate does not move quickly.

And so it is a big question mark as to whether the Senate can actually pass this on time.

Here is what some of the leaders involved said about all this today.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I'm a rule follower, and I believe in that idea.

We're also up against the crunch of the weekend.

And some members on both sides of the aisle will be traveling and that kind of thing.

So we're talking about how to expedite it as quickly as possible, but also allow all the members to have an adequate time to review the legislation.

SEN. BRIAN SCHATZ (D-HI): This is not a political or policy question for me.

It's basic timekeeping.

Amending this bill will take up time that we don't have, all but guaranteeing a shutdown.

So, again, no one wins a shutdown, and everyone knows what we need to do.

We're almost there.

We can do this.

LISA DESJARDINS: Brian Schatz there speaking at the leadership news conference.

Can they do it, though, is the question.

This bill is going to be well over 1,000 pages, maybe 2,000 pages' long.

As we sit here tonight, we still don't have the text.

The speaker said it was going to happen this afternoon.

We're all waiting.

So this is going to be incredibly close.

GEOFF BENNETT: So the bill is not written, but there is this handshake agreement on a spending deal.

We heard the House speaker, Mike Johnson, say that he's a rule follower.

Tell us about that, where that stands.

LISA DESJARDINS: Right.

It's important because, in this era of gridlock at the U.S. Capitol, one of the main things that Congress does is pass spending bills.

This is how they affect our lives in one of the most consequential ways.

So breaking down what I have learned from my sources in both parties that's going to be in this bill, specifically, this includes money for the Pentagon, DHS, Homeland Security, HHS, Labor, Treasury, the White House, very big parts of our government.

What they have agreed to is to, one thing, raise the number of detention beds for ICE to 42,000.

That will be the largest number of detention beds funded in this country in our history.

There will be no funding in this bill, it will say no funding for the next calendar year, until next March, for UNRWA.

That is, of course, the U.N. agency that has come under close scrutiny because of the situation in Gaza.

And, in addition, there will be 12,000 Afghan special visas granted.

Those are for those Afghan interpreters and others who were allies of the U.S. while they were in Afghanistan.

But those are specifics.

Let's talk a big picture.

What is the point of all of this?

This bill alone will be $1.2 trillion in spending.

Add that together with the other portion that passed recently, total spending for this current fiscal year then will be about $1.6 trillion.

What does that mean?

Basically, defense is going to get a small increase over last year.

All the non-defense agencies are saying about the same.

That's important because Democrats were fearing big cuts there.

One other note.

Once all this gets through, Speaker Johnson has told House Republicans that he plans to try and tackle Ukraine.

We asked him about this today.

He does not have a plan for how.

So we're going to watch that.

And, of course, also waiting in the wings that impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that the House passed.

Also, we will be dealing with that after this and after the House and Senate return from a spring break.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, Lisa, if lawmakers miss the deadline, what would a weekend shutdown actually mean?

LISA DESJARDINS: Actually, not that much.

And I think that's why we could see one, because I think the pressure on the Senate is not that great when it talks about a Saturday and Sunday shutdown.

For one, there is a law now in place where all furloughed government workers would have to be repaid in the end.

We also know that some folks usually affected by these kinds of shutdowns in national parks would not be affected at all.

They were already funded in a previous bill.

The District of Columbia would not be affected.

Often, they are as well.

I really tried to figure out the effects.

Every agency will have problems, complications because of this, but... GEOFF BENNETT: Like TSA workers, for instance.

LISA DESJARDINS: Like TSA workers, exactly.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

LISA DESJARDINS: They will have to work without getting technically paid that day.

But paychecks lag.

One group that will be affected, here's an example.

The Air Force Academy, because of how they're funded, their athletic program will continue, but they may not be allowed to have fans watch.

They have got wrestling and basketball this weekend.

It's that kind of stuff.

GEOFF BENNETT: Meantime, Republicans in Congress are still trying to advance their impeachment probe of President Biden.

They held a hearing today.

They had hoped to hear from Hunter Biden publicly.

That didn't happen.

Bring us up to speed.

LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.

Hunter Biden said he couldn't attend because he wasn't asked about his calendar and he had a court date of his own in California over tax charges.

But who did attend were two Republican witnesses, one of whom is in federal prison now, a former associate of Hunter Biden's, for fraud himself on different charges.

The other is a man named Tony Bobulinski.

Now, he says that he was privy to the idea that Joe Biden was at least adjacent to all of the Biden business schemes.

And, in particular, it seemed that Republicans were drilling down on one 2017 meeting that Joe Biden was said to have appeared at.

This is after he left office.

Here in Washington at the Four Seasons, there were Chinese officials, including the chairman of the top Chinese energy company, obviously related to the Chinese Communist Party.

The person who testified to this said it was not a business conversation, but Republicans have honed in on this.

And here's what Tony Bobulinski said about that.

TONY BOBULINSKI, Former Hunter Biden Associate: Ten Chinese individuals had to go back to mainland China and say that they were in a room with Joe Biden is the value of what they were giving.

LISA DESJARDINS: This is the same accusation we have had, that they were selling access to Joe Biden.

And he also noted that it has been shown that those Chinese officials sent millions of dollars to Hunter Biden's company shortly after that.

But the problem is, Democrats say Hunter Biden was doing business.

Yes, maybe he was not right to be selling the idea of the Biden name.

But this doesn't say that Joe Biden did anything wrong.

So here's what some Democrats were pushing back.

And here's Robert Garcia, congressman.

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): I just want to just for the record be very clear that, in Mr. Bobulinski's testimony, he has provided zero evidence, zero evidence of any sort of link between Hunter Biden and the president as far as it relates to the business dealings.

And so, once again, we're back to a hearing where no evidence is being provided of any sort of wrongdoing by the president.

LISA DESJARDINS: Bobulinski disagrees, but it is circumstantial evidence right now.

Now, other Republicans are openly saying there's no case here, this case is unraveling.

So what we learned today is that Republicans still don't have the momentum to get to impeachment that they claimed they would have a year ago.

GEOFF BENNETT: All right, Lisa Desjardins, thanks, as always, for that great reporting.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.