The end to the shutdown drama is in sight. The end to House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) political headaches is not. Why it matters: This caps 10 excruciating days for Johnson. At each step, he's insisted the inevitable wasn't inevitable.

With the election looming and another government funding deadline just around the corner , the speaker must find a way in the next several days to both govern for the country, avoid a shutdown that could cost his members in swing districts and keep the right flank of his party pacified enough to not imperil his own political future.

Shortly before Wednesday's failed vote on the government spending stopgap, House Speaker Mike Johnson told senior Republicans in a private meeting that he had a Plan B — but wouldn't tell them what it was.