WASHINGTON – After a week of contentious discussions and negotiations, the nation is still no closer to knowing whether Dr. Christine Blasey Ford will testify before Congress about allegations that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teens.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, agreed late Friday to extend a deadline for Ford to consider the terms of her testimony before the committee. She now has until 2:30 to decide where she will testify.

"Judge Kavanaugh I just granted another extension to Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w the statement she made last week to testify to the senate," Grassley wrote on Twitter. "She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her."

Lawyers for Ford had asked the committee to extend the 10 p.m. Friday deadline to give her another day to consider her decision.

Grassley expressed frustration.

"Five times now we hv granted extension for Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w her desire stated one wk ago that she wants to tell senate her story," he tweeted. He added a plea: "Dr Ford if u changed ur mind on testifying, say so, so we can move on. Come to us or we to u."

The extension capped off a week of dizzying debate over Ford's allegations, and whether she would share them before the committee voted on Kavanaugh's confirmation.

Grassley had given Ford and her attorneys the Friday deadline and threatened to call a vote Monday on the confirmation if an agreement wasn't reached. He went as far as adding the vote to Monday's agenda.

As the deadline loomed, an attorney for Ford said the committee had inflicted "tremendous and unwarranted anxiety and stress" on her by rushing the decision, and requested more time to consider the terms.

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"Your cavalier treatment of a sexual assault survivor who has been doing her best to cooperate with the Committee is completely inappropriate," attorney Debra Katz wrote to the committee leadership staff Friday evening in the letter obtained by USA TODAY.

Ford spent part of Friday with the FBI to report threats she's received since coming forward with accusations that Kavanaugh held her down, groped her and tried to remove her clothes at a party when they both attended Washington-area high schools.

Kavanaugh has denied the accusations.

Kavanaugh, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, is President Donald Trump's second nominee for the high court, to replace retired Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Neil Gorsuch, Trump's first nominee, was confirmed and joined the court last year, to succeed the late Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.

Kavanaugh, who served as White House staff secretary under President George W. Bush, is broadly supported by Republicans and opposed by Democrats. His confirmation would give the court a conservative majority.

Katz called the Friday night deadline for Ford to decide whether to testify "arbitrary."

"Its sole purpose is to bully Dr. Ford and deprive her of the ability to make a considered decision that has life-altering implications for her and her family," she wrote to the committee. "She has already been forced out of her home and continues to be subjected to harassment, hate mail, and death threats. Our modest request is that she be given an additional day to make her decision."

Even with the extension, the contentious back-and-forth could spill into next week, further delaying delaying a confirmation vote.

Judiciary committee Republicans and attorneys for Ford have spent days discussing the terms of Ford's testimony.

Ford offered a list of 10 demands, Grassley said. He said the committee was willing to meet "halfway," but some of her demands were "unreasonable."

Grassley directed ire at Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer in an early Saturday tweet.

"With all the extensions we give Dr Ford to decide if she still wants to testify to the Senate I feel like I’m playing 2nd trombone in the judiciary orchestra and Schumer is the conductor," Grassley wrote.

Committee Republicans have offered Ford time to testify before the panel Wednesday, a day earlier than she requested, but a delay from Monday's scheduled hearing.

They insist that Ford speak first, against her wishes, so that Kavanaugh can defend himself. But they agreed to her requests for security measures and that Kavanaugh be out of the room when she testifies.

Still unresolved is the question of who, beyond committee members, may conduct the questioning.

Grassley said Friday evening that the committee would "reserve the option to have female staff attorneys" also question Ford. But the committee has not said whether it will elect that option, which would save the panel's 11 Republican men from the optics of questioning a woman who has alleged sexual assault.

The committee declined to subpoena Mark Judge, a friend of Kavanaugh who Ford says witnessed the assault.

"The Committee does not take subpoena requests from witnesses as a condition of their testimony," the committee wrote to Ford's attorneys.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the judiciary committee, fired back at Grassley's Friday deadline and threat of a Monday vote.

"Bullying a survivor of attempted rape in order to confirm a nominee – particularly at a time when she’s receiving death threats – is an extreme abuse of power," she said. "I’m shocked and appalled by the Republicans’ refusal to wait 24 hours for a hearing and instead rush forward with a vote on Monday."

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, a member of the committee, criticized the “counteroffer” and emphasized that senators, rather than committee counsel, must be able to question both witnesses.

"I will not forfeit my ability to question Judge Kavanaugh and anyone else who comes before the committee with testimony, no matter how uncomfortable it may make the 11 (Republican) men across the dais," he said.

All 10 Democrats on the committee wrote to Grassley that "the Committee majority’s treatment of Dr. Ford has unquestionably been worse than the disgraceful treatment that Anita Hill received 27 years ago."

Hill, a former colleague of Justice Clarence Thomas, accused him during his 1991 confirmation hearings of sexual harassment. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were criticized for their handling of her testimony.

Committee Democrats now want to hear from more witnesses, including Judge, the FBI, character witnesses and outside experts.