Obama holds meeting to prepare for shutdown

President Obama on Friday evening met with members of his administration to make preparations for the looming shutdown of Homeland Security at midnight.

Obama met in the Oval Office with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Shaun Donovan, director of the Office of Management and Budget, according to the White House.

{mosads}The president also called Democratic leaders in Congress.

A shutdown of DHS will begin at 12:01 a.m. unless Republicans in the House can find a way to pass legislation funding the department.

A bill that would have kept the department running for three weeks went down in a surprise vote Friday afternoon, leaving Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) scrambling to find an alternative.

The DHS released a plan Friday detailing how the agency will deal with the shutdown. Those deemed “non-essential” workers will be furloughed but airport security checkpoints and border patrols will continue to operate.