Johnson orders lawmakers back to DC ‘right now’ as shutdown sparks travel chaos
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is sending a critical warning to House lawmakers as the government shutdown continues to wreak havoc on air travel. “As of Sunday, nearly half of all domestic flights and U.S. flights were either canceled or delayed, and it’s a very serious situation,” Johnson said in comments to reporters on Monday. “So I’m saying that, by way of reminder, I’m stating the obvious, to all my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats in the House, you need to begin right now returning to the Hill. We have to do this as quickly as possible.” The House leader was referring to taking up the Senate’s bipartisan measure to finally end the government shutdown, now on its 41st day. SENATE DEMOCRATS CAVE, OPEN PATH TO REOPENING GOVERNMENT The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is expected to reduce air travel at the nation’s 40 busiest airports by 6% as of Tuesday, amid widespread staffing shortages that have been attributed to the shutdown. Thousands of federal employees have been furloughed as agencies and critical programs run low on funds, while government workers deemed “essential” have been forced to work without pay for weeks. People in the latter group include air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers, many of whom have been forced to take second jobs and call out sick to make ends meet. “The problem we have with air travel is that our air traffic controllers are overworked and unpaid, and many of them have called in sick. That’s a very stressful job, and even more stressful, exponentially, when they’re having trouble providing for their families. And so air travel has been grinding to a halt in many places,” Johnson said on Monday. He delivered a statement to the press less than 12 hours after the Senate broke its weeks-long impasse on the shutdown, with eight Senate Democrats joining the GOP to overcome a filibuster. EIGHT SENATE DEMOCRATS BREAK RANKS WITH PARTY LEADERSHIP TO END HISTORIC GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN Johnson told Fox News Digital exclusively earlier Monday that he would call the House back “immediately” upon Senate passage of the bill — which he suggested could come sooner rather than later. “We’re going to get everybody back on a 36-hour notice, so it’ll be happening early this week,” Johnson said. The House has not been in session since Sept. 19, when lawmakers there first passed a bill to avert a shutdown by extending current federal funding levels through Nov. 21. Democrats rejected that deal, however, kicking off weeks of a worsening impasse where millions of Americans’ federal benefits and air travel were put at risk.
Shutdown nears an end, but flight delays and cancellations keep piling up, data shows
As the gridlock on Capitol Hill loosens its grip and the government shutdown nears a resolution, the effects on the nation’s air travel system highlight the fragility of critical infrastructure during political standoffs. As the shutdown dragged on, its ripple effects spread across the nation’s air network, fueling a steady climb in flight delays and cancellations by early November. The crisis hit an agency already under pressure. Even before the shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration was grappling with a shortage of about 3,000 air traffic controllers. With Congress deadlocked, about 13,000 controllers and 50,000 TSA agents are working without pay. That strain has only deepened as nationwide staffing shortages disrupt air travel, causing tens of thousands of delays and affecting at least 3.2 million passengers, according to airline estimates. FLIGHT DELAYS WORSEN AS UNPAID AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS FEEL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN PAIN Major hubs like Chicago O’Hare, Newark Liberty in New Jersey and Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta have seen the brunt of flight delays and cancellations among the 30 core U.S. airports, according to FlightAware data. In Chicago alone, more than 1,400 flights were delayed and nearly 500 canceled on Sunday, according to the aviation tracking website. Of the four major airlines analyzed — Southwest, United, American and Delta — Southwest logged the most flight delays nationwide this week, while Delta recorded the highest number of cancellations, according to FlightAware data. AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ISSUE DESPERATE PLEA AS FAMILIES STRUGGLE WITHOUT PAYCHECKS On Monday, the aviation tracking website FlightAware reported nearly 3,830 delayed flights and more than 1,650 cancellations within, into or out of the U.S. As lawmakers work to finalize a deal to reopen the government, aviation officials warn that the effects of the shutdown won’t disappear overnight. Rebuilding schedules, restoring staffing levels and regaining public confidence could take weeks, a reminder of just how quickly political gridlock can bring the nation’s airways to a standstill.
Supreme Court rejects appeal from county clerk who sought to overturn same-sex marriage decision
The Supreme Court on Monday said it will not revisit its landmark decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, leaving intact the 2015 protections granted to couples in Obergefell v. Hodges. Justices rejected an appeal brought by Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk who was held in contempt after she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples due to her religious beliefs. The Court declined to take up her appeal without explanation and without any noted dissents. SUPREME COURT WEIGHS TRUMP TARIFF POWERS IN BLOCKBUSTER CASE Though Davis’s appeal centered largely on First Amendment issues and questions of religious protection, her lawyers also requested that the Supreme Court consider overturning the 5-4 ruling in Obergefell, or the 2015 decision that granted same-sex couples the constitutional right to marry. It is time for a “for a course correction” on Obergefell, her lawyers argued. Davis was briefly jailed in 2015 after she refused to issue the marriage licenses to same-sex couples due to her religious beliefs, prompting a federal judge to hold her in contempt. She was also ordered by the court to pay $100,000 in damages to the couple, and to cover their legal fees. “If ever a case deserved review,” Davis’s lawyers said in their appeal, “the first individual who was thrown in jail post-Obergefell for seeking accommodation for her religious beliefs should be it.” JUDGES V TRUMP: HERE ARE THE KEY COURT BATTLES HALTING THE WHITE HOUSE AGENDA Though her appeal was considered a long shot, it had prompted fresh speculation about whether the court’s conservative majority might agree to review the seminal case, especially in light of the court’s 2022 decision to overturn abortion protections in Roe v. Wade. Others noted that three of the justices that dissented from the majority in Obergefell — Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts — remain on the court. Davis’s lawyers also hewed closely to language used by Justice Clarence Thomas in their appeal, who used a concurring opinion in 2022 to urge the court to “reconsider” gay marriage and other constitutional protections after it overturned Roe v. Wade. Even so, it takes four votes to get a case onto the docket — a somewhat heavy lift for the court. The decision also comes at a time when justices have agreed to review a number of politically charged cases in their upcoming term.
Senate vote to end government shutdown ignites Democrat civil war
The eight critical votes that advanced a short-term spending package on Sunday evening and put the government on the path to re-opening also tore the seams of Democratic Party unity, bringing scrutiny to its shutdown strategy and leadership. One of the eight said that the plan Democrats had rallied around at its outset had crumbled. “After six weeks — going on seven weeks — that path wasn’t working,” Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said. “It wasn’t going to happen. The question was: Does the shutdown further the goal of achieving some needed support for the extension of the tax credits? Our judgment was that it will not produce that result.” “The evidence for that is almost seven weeks of fruitless attempts to make that happen. Would it change in a week? Or another week? Or after Thanksgiving? There’s no evidence that it would.” SHUTDOWN IGNITES STRATEGIST DEBATE: WILL TRUMP AND GOP PAY THE POLITICAL PRICE IN 2026? To other Democrats, it’s the party’s top figures who led a losing effort. “Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced. If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif, said in a post on social media on Sunday. The government first plunged into a shutdown 40 days ago on Oct. 1 when Democrats rejected a short-term spending bill advanced by Republicans in the House meant to keep the government afloat until Nov. 21. Democrats had demanded that lawmakers first consider expiring COVID-era Obamacare subsidies set to phase out at the end of the year. Republicans, who saw spending and the tax credits as completely unrelated, refused to negotiate on the tax credits during the shutdown. Ultimately, Republicans avoided any substantive concessions on the Obamacare credits. The package advanced by the Senate on Sunday looks to reopen the government through Jan. 30, 2026, and also includes a bundle of three yearlong spending bills to fund Veterans Affairs, the country’s agriculture expenses and the legislative branch. In return, Democrats who voted for the package secured the inclusion of language that prevents the Trump administration from conducting mass layoffs of federal workers through Jan. 30 and guarantees back pay for federal employees fired since the beginning of the shutdown. Additionally, they secured a stand-alone vote on the tax credit subsidies to be considered later this year, although that vote remains likely to fail without the needed Republican support. To some Democrats, a failure to secure an extension — or even a partial extension — of the Obamacare subsidies was unacceptable. GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN AFTER CONGRESS DEADLOCKS ON SPENDING DEAL “I cannot support a deal that still leaves millions of Americans wondering how they are going to pay for their healthcare or whether they will be able to afford to get sick,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said of the proposal. “That’s not a deal. It’s an unconditional surrender that abandons the 24 million Americans whose healthcare premiums are about to double,” Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., said in a post on X. But after 40 days of waiting, frustrations over the lack of an off-ramp didn’t just come from the senators who voted to advance the legislation. “I just don’t get what the point is of delaying even longer,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said moments after opposing the bill. “I want Republicans to grow a backbone and say, ‘Regardless of what Donald Trump says, we’re going to restore these cuts on healthcare,’ but it looks like I’ve lost that fight. So, I don’t want to impose more pain on people who are hungry and who haven’t been paid.” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who pledged to vote against the package over its silence on Obamacare subsidies, said he understood the cracks in the party’s unity. SPEAKER JOHNSON FLIPS SCRIPT ON DEM LEADERS WITH STAUNCH WARNING AGAINST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN “On healthcare, I’d like to keep trying,” Coons said. “But I understand, I respect my colleagues who are saying it’s time.” A final vote on the spending package is expected to take place in the Senate early this week. After that, it must clear the House of Representatives before it can become law and reopen the government.
Republicans target 2 key Democratic races with Mamdani connection strategy
As Republicans eagerly look to pin the Democratic Party to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, two specific races look like early opportunities to do just that: the Michigan Senate primary and Colorado’s 8th Congressional District. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed hopes to become the state’s next U.S. senator. In Colorado, Manny Rutinel is running to unseat freshman Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Colo. On both fronts, the Republican National Committee (RNC) hopes audiences will see a connection to the mayor-elect in New York. REPUBLICANS PUSH TO MAKE MAMDANI THE NEW FACE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY “Manny Rutinel and Abdul El-Sayed have anchored themselves to Mamdani, thinking he will get them across the finish line. Republicans are watching,” RNC spokeswoman Delanie Bomar told Fox News Digital. Republican strategists hope that the efforts to tie socialism to Democrat candidates will diminish their chances outside of New York. For the Democrat candidates themselves, that introduces a question: Will the immediate momentum of the Mamdani brand bring the long-term downsides Republicans are counting on? Or could similarities to Mamdani’s recent success help them stand out? El-Sayed is walking that line carefully. When asked if he would embrace the idea of becoming Michigan’s Mamdani, El-Sayed said he would carve out his own image. “I am the Michigan Abdul,” he said. “I always have been. I always will be.” But like Mamdani, El-Sayed has made affordability — and the role of government — key pieces of his campaign. In addition to calling for lowering housing costs, he’s advocated for Medicare for all, opposes corporate tax carve-outs, and he supports tuition-free access to higher education. He expects voters from New York, Michigan and beyond to continue in that direction. “You’re seeing that kind of resonance here in Michigan for sure. And I’m not surprised that you’re seeing that in New York, too. Government ought to be available to set an equal playing field for everybody and to offer those basic things that everybody needs and deserves,” El-Sayed said. El-Sayed endorsed Mamdani ahead of the mayoral election last week. WILL ELECTION DAY 2025 BE REMEMBERED AS THE RISE OF THE SOCIALISTS? Rutinel, the Democrat challenger in Colorado, hasn’t made his policy platform as clear. The first-term state representative doesn’t have any positions listed on his website. And besides signing a letter calling for the release of an ICE detainee, he hasn’t publicly made statements that would separate him from most of the Democrat Party. That hasn’t stopped the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) from drawing the Mamdani connection anyway. The CLF, an arm of the House Republican fundraising apparatus, highlighted a video posted to Instagram of a Mamdani campaign rally, offering it as proof that Rutinel belongs in the same bucket as Mamdani. The video briefly shows someone who looks like Rutinel standing behind Mamdani. “What does the CO-08 race have in common with the NYC Mayoral Race? Democrat Manny Rutinel is campaigning in both,” CLF pointed out recently in one of its ads. Rutinel’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The office of Evans, the current representative for Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, didn’t immediately draw a connection to Mamdani but made the case that New York and Colorado have very different electorates. They suggested that an attempt to replicate Mamdani’s strategy in Colorado would play out differently in the Centennial State. “When people tell you who they are, believe them. Democrats have fully endorsed the far-left socialist, extremist base of their party — the same base that’s anti-law enforcement and handcuffs work rather than rewarding it. Those policies may sell in New York, but Coloradans aren’t buying it,” a spokesperson for Evans said. DNC EMBRACES SOCIALIST MAMDANI AS RESURFACED ANTI-ISRAEL REMARKS RAISE ALARM: ‘BIG TENT PARTY’ A strategist familiar with the thinking of campaigns in Colorado and Michigan believes that more Democrats may use an apparent similarity to Mamdani to stand out in the short term, especially in the wake of Tuesday’s election. “I think — at least in crowded primaries — many candidates are just thinking they need to get through the primary,” the strategist said. “It riles up the base. The base sees Mamdani as the new face of the party. They finally have someone.” “I just don’t think it’s going to be helpful in a general election,” they added. Bomar, the RNC spokeswoman, said that if more Democrats decide to lean into that connection, Republicans will be waiting. “Americans want no part of socialism and Mamdani will ultimately sink Democrats’ chances around the country,” Bomar said.
Top conservative group jumps into Republican primary fight in race to flip key swing state Senate seat
FIRST ON FOX: The political wing of a fiscally conservative political advocacy group with a powerful grassroots outreach operation is taking sides in a Republican Senate primary battle. The winner will move on to a race for a key swing state seat that the GOP aims to flip next year. Americans for Prosperity Action (AFP Action) on Monday announced it is backing former Republican Sen. John E. Sununu’s 2026 bid to return to the Senate in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. The Senate battle in New Hampshire is one of a handful in next year’s midterm elections that will determine if the GOP is able to not only defend but possibly expand its majority in the chamber. The endorsement of Sununu, who is facing off against former Sen. Scott Brown for the GOP nomination, was shared first with Fox News Digital on Monday. FORMER GOP SENATOR RUNNING TO FLIP KEY SWING STATE SEAT SAYS HE WANTS TO ‘WORK WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP’ “John Sununu is exactly the kind of principled leader New Hampshire needs in the U.S. Senate,” AFP Action Director Nathan Nascimento said in a statement. “His deep roots in the Granite State and proven record of advancing limited government principles, cutting wasteful spending, and driving smart regulatory reform make him uniquely qualified to represent New Hampshire’s values in Washington.” The endorsement by AFP Action is the third in 2026 Senate races, following their backing of former Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley in North Carolina and former Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan, who’s making his second straight Senate run. But it’s the group’s first endorsement in a Senate race where President Donald Trump remains neutral to date. FORMER REPUBLICAN SENATOR ON POTENTIAL BID TO FLIP SWING STATE SEAT RED: ‘THIS IS A RACE I KNOW I CAN WIN’ Sununu is a former three-term representative who defeated then-Gov. Shaheen in New Hampshire’s 2002 Senate election. But the senator lost to Shaheen in their 2008 rematch. Shaheen announced earlier this year that she wouldn’t seek re-election in next year’s midterms and Republicans are working to flip the seat as they aim to not only defend but expand their 53-47 Senate majority. Now, after nearly two decades in the private sector, Sununu is returning to the campaign trail in New England’s only swing state. It’s been 15 years since Republicans won a U.S. Senate election in swing-state New Hampshire. But Sununu is confident he can break his party’s losing streak. “This is a race I know I can win,” Sununu said in a recent Fox News Digital interview. “It’s the right message, the right set of issues, and also the right person.” Sununu is a brand name in New Hampshire politics. The former senator’s father, John H. Sununu, is a former governor who later served as chief of staff in then-President George H.W. Bush’s White House. And one of his younger brothers is former Gov. Chris Sununu, who won election and re-election to four two-year terms steering the Granite State. SCOOP: FORMER TRUMP AMBASSADOR SHOWCASES MAJOR FUNDRAISING HAUL IN BATTLE TO FLIP DEM SENATE SEAT But Sununu won’t have a smooth path to the GOP nomination. Brown, who was elected and served three years in the Senate in neighboring Massachusetts, and who, as the 2014 GOP Senate nominee in New Hampshire, narrowly lost to Shaheen during her first re-election, jumped into the race in late June. “John can have all the support of the DC insiders and special interest groups in the world, and it won’t matter because New Hampshire primary voters know he’s not one of them,” Brown said in a statement to Fox News Digital. And Brown emphasized, “Like John, AFP has gone all-in on stopping President Trump. And like John, they have failed each time because they’re out of touch with our party’s base and relics from the past. History has a way of repeating itself, because New Hampshire voters are always smarter than the insiders give them credit for.” Brown was referencing the 2024 Republican presidential primary endorsements of Trump rival Nikk Haley by both AFP Action and by Sununu. AFP Action’s national and New Hampshire political teams met with both candidates before deciding to endorse Sununu. “John E. Sununu is an unapologetic and proven champion of New Hampshire values like limited accountable government, personal responsibility and free markets. He is the perfect antidote for what’s wrong with Washington today and will make the Granite State proud in the U.S. Senate,” AFP regional director Greg Moore said. AFP, the influential and deep-pocketed grassroots network founded by the billionaire Koch Brothers, highlights that in the 2024 election cycle, it and AFP Action engaged in a record-breaking 647 races, knocking on 20 million doors, and reaching 30 million voters. And the group says they expect “to significantly exceed those 2024 metrics across the board” in the 2026 cycle. “We will put our unrivaled grassroots operation in full support of this effort and will work to ensure that this race becomes about the issues that matter most to New Hampshire residents and not about the political noise that has become a feature of politics lately,” Moore emphasized. Republicans are working to expand their 53-47 majority in next year’s midterms. And Shaheen’s seat in New Hampshire is a top GOP target, along with battleground Michigan, where Democrat Sen. Gary Peters isn’t running for re-election, and Georgia, where Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff faces a rough road to securing a second six-year term in the Senate. “We believe that this will be among the most competitive races nationally this year, and we feel that AFP Action can make a huge impact in getting John E. Sununu back in the Senate,” Moore said. Ahead of AFP Action’s announcement, Brown landed the endorsement of former Republican Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire. Sununu defeated then-Sen. Smith in the 2002 GOP Senate primary, and Brown topped Smith in the 2014 primary. “I got to know Scott during the 2014 campaign when we ran against each other, and
Reagan-appointed federal judge resigns to speak out against Trump’s ‘assault on the rule of law’
A federal judge appointed by former President Ronald Reagan announced in an op-ed published Sunday that he resigned from his position, relinquishing his lifetime appointment to speak out against President Donald Trump, whom he views as eroding judicial independence and using the law to reward allies and punish opponents. Mark Wolf, who was appointed by Reagan in 1985, said in The Atlantic that he had looked forward to serving on the bench for the rest of his life but felt compelled to resign. “My reason is simple: I no longer can bear to be restrained by what judges can say publicly or do outside the courtroom. President Donald Trump is using the law for partisan purposes, targeting his adversaries while sparing his friends and donors from investigation, prosecution, and possible punishment,” he wrote. “This is contrary to everything that I have stood for in my more than 50 years in the Department of Justice and on the bench. The White House’s assault on the rule of law is so deeply disturbing to me that I feel compelled to speak out. Silence, for me, is now intolerable.” FORMER SUPREME COURT JUSTICE WARNS PARTISANSHIP PLAYS ‘TOO MUCH OF A ROLE’ IN JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS The former federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts said he began his career in public service at the Department of Justice in 1974, several years after the Watergate scandal. Wolf served under former President Gerald Ford’s Attorney General Edward Levi, who he argued helped shape his views on what it means to uphold the rule of law and to seek justice in a nonpartisan way. “I decided all of my cases based on the facts and the law, without regard to politics, popularity, or my personal preferences. That is how justice is supposed to be administered—equally for everyone, without fear or favor. This is the opposite of what is happening now,” he wrote. DOJ ACCUSES FEDERAL JUDGE OF MAKING ‘MOCKERY OF THE SEPARATION OF POWERS’ IN SNAP APPEAL Wolf’s successor was selected and nominated after he became a senior judge in 2013, and the seat was officially filled by Judge Indira Talwani in 2014. “I hope to be a spokesperson for embattled judges who, consistent with the code of conduct, feel they cannot speak candidly to the American people,” he told The New York Times. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement to Fox News Digital that judges who “want to inject their own personal agenda into the law have no place on the bench.” “Here’s the reality: with over 20 Supreme Court victories, the Trump Administration’s policies have been consistently upheld by the Supreme Court as lawful despite an unprecedented number of legal challenges and unlawful lower court rulings,” Jackson said. “And any other radical judges that want to complain to the press should at least have the decency to resign before doing so.”
US carries out more ‘lethal’ strikes on alleged drug boats in international waters, Secretary Hegseth says
War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced two additional airstrikes against alleged drug smuggling vessels in international waters on Monday. The two attacks bring the total number of Trump administration airstrikes against alleged drug vessels to 19. Footage of the two strikes released by the Pentagon shows the vessels exploding into flames and debris. “Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, two lethal kinetic strikes were conducted on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. These vessels were known by our intelligence to be associated with illicit narcotics smuggling, were carrying narcotics, and were transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route in the Eastern Pacific,” Hegseth said in a statement. “Both strikes were conducted in international waters and 3 male narco-terrorists were aboard each vessel. All 6 were killed. No U.S. forces were harmed,” he added. TRUMP’S WAR ON CARTELS ENTERS NEW PHASE AS EXPERTS PREDICT WHAT’S NEXT “Under President Trump, we are protecting the homeland and killing these cartel terrorists who wish to harm our country and its people,” he said. At least 72 suspected narco-terrorists have been killed in recent strikes and three survived. US MILITARY KILLS 2 SUSPECTED NARCO-TERRORISTS IN 16TH EASTERN PACIFIC STRIKE, HEGSETH SAYS The Trump administration has created a new counter-narcotics Joint Task Force operating near the U.S. Southern Command in an effort “to crush the cartels, stop the poison, and keep America safe.” TOP DEMOCRAT BACKS US INTEL ON NARCO-TRAFFICKING STRIKES, FAULTS BIDEN FOR ‘NOT GOING FAR ENOUGH’ ON MADURO CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The task force will coordinate air, maritime and special-operations missions across the region — marking the largest U.S. military effort in the Caribbean in decades. This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates.
Johnson takes victory lap in first comments after Senate shutdown deal: ‘Vindicated’
EXCLUSIVE: Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is glad the Senate finally managed to break through its weeks-long standoff on the government shutdown, he told Fox News Digital on Monday morning. “It’s a great development. It’s long overdue. It vindicates our position in this all along,” the House leader said. He added that he would have “a lot more to say at a press conference this morning.” Asked how soon the House would return to session, Johnson said, “Immediately.” SENATE DEMOCRATS CAVE, OPEN PATH TO REOPENING GOVERNMENT “We’re going to get everybody back on a 36-hour notice, so it’ll be happening early this week,” Johnson said. The House has not been in session since Sept. 19, when lawmakers there first passed a bill to avert a shutdown by extending current federal funding levels through Nov. 21. Democrats rejected that deal, however, kicking off weeks of a worsening impasse where millions of Americans’ federal benefits and air travel were put at risk. Eight Senate Democrats joined all but one Senate Republican in breaking a filibuster to advance an updated government funding deal late on Sunday night. EIGHT SENATE DEMOCRATS BREAK RANKS WITH PARTY LEADERSHIP TO END HISTORIC GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN It came on Day 40 of the government shutdown — which already holds the record for being the longest shutdown in U.S. history. Terms of the deal include a new extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 federal funding levels through Jan. 30, in order to give congressional negotiators more time to strike a longer-term deal on FY 2026 spending. It would also give lawmakers some headway with that mission, advancing legislation to fund the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration; the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction; and the legislative branch. They are three of 12 individual bills that are meant to make up Congress’ annual appropriations, paired into a vehicle called a “minibus.” In a victory for Democrats, the deal would also reverse federal layoffs conducted by the Trump administration in October, with those workers getting paid for the time they were off. It also guarantees Senate Democrats a vote on legislation extending Obamacare subsidies that were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic, which are set to expire at the end of this year. Extending the enhanced subsidies for Obamacare, formally called the Affordable Care Act (ACA), was a key ask for Democrats in the weeks-long standoff. No such guarantee was made in the House, however, so Democrats effectively folded on their key demand in order to end the shutdown — a move that infuriated progressives in Congress. “Tonight, eight Democrats voted with the Republicans to allow them to go forward on this continuing resolution,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said in a video he posted Sunday night. “And to my mind, this was a very, very bad vote.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., also announced his opposition over the lack of concrete movement on Obamacare. “We will not support spending legislation advanced by Senate Republicans that fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits,” he said in a statement. Several Republicans also pointed out the final deal was not dissimilar to what Senate GOP leaders had been offering Democrats for weeks.
Senate Democrats cave, open path to reopening government
The Senate took a massive step forward on its way to reopening the government on Sunday, with a group of Senate Democrats caving and joining Republicans in their bid to pass a revamped plan to end the shutdown. Signs that the shutdown, which entered its 40th day, could be ending became more and more clear as the day went on, particularly with the unveiling of a bipartisan package of spending bills that lawmakers hope to attach to a modified bill to reopen the government. Eight Senate Democrats crossed the aisle to mark the first step in the GOP’s quest to end the shutdown. Many of the lawmakers that splintered from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., were among those engaged in bipartisan talks over the last several weeks. Among the defectors were Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Jacky Rosen, D-N.M., Tim Kaine, D-Va., and the number two Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin, D-Ill. REPUBLICANS UNVEIL KEY PIECE OF SHUTDOWN PUZZLE IN BID TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT “The question was, does the shutdown further the goal of achieving some needed support for the extension of the tax credits? Our judgment was that it will not,” King said. “It would not produce that result. And the evidence for that is almost seven weeks of fruitless attempts to make that happen.” Schumer and Senate Democrats long stayed the course that they would only vote to reopen the government in exchange for a solid deal on extending expiring Obamacare subsidies. But the solution developed over the last several days included nothing of the sort. While there were some wins in the updated continuing resolution (CR), like reversals of some of the firings of furloughed workers undertaken by the Trump administration and guaranteeing back pay for furloughed workers, there was no guaranteed victory in sight on the Obamacare issue. That means that Senate Democrats effectively caved with little to show for their healthcare push, save for the guarantee of a vote on the subsidies from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., which was reflected in the updated CR. Schumer panned the compromise deal, and charged that when Republicans rejected Democrats’ own counter-proposal that would have extended the expiring subsidies for a year, “They showed that they are against any health care reform.” “This healthcare crisis is so severe, so urgent, so devastating for families back home that I cannot, in good faith, support this CR that fails to address the healthcare crisis,” Schumer said. SENATE IN LIMBO AS THUNE EYES LONG HAUL UNTIL SHUTDOWN ENDS Thune was optimistic that the plan would work, and reiterated his promise of a vote on the expiring subsidies. However, whatever legislation is produced to address the Obamacare issue is likely to fail. “Regardless, as I have said for weeks to my Democrat friends, I will schedule a vote on their proposal, and I’ve committed to having that vote no later than second week in December,” he said. Progressives in the caucus were unhappy with the developments, too. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, charged that it would be a “horrific mistake” for Democrats to cave now without an Obamacare deal. “If Democrats cave on this issue, what it will say to Donald Trump is that he has a green light to go forward toward authoritarianism,” Sanders said. “And I think that would be a tragedy for this country.” Still, there is a long way to go before the government officially reopens. Sunday’s vote was the first in a series needed in the Senate to modify the original House-passed continuing resolution and combine it with the three-bill spending package and updated CR, which, if passed, would reopen the government until Jan. 30, 2026. Lawmakers hope that if given the extra time, they could finish funding the government with spending bills rather than turning to another CR or colossal omnibus spending package, which crams all 12 government funding bills into one piece of legislation. “If we blow this window, we’re going to get stuck with a yearlong CR,” Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said. DEMS BLOCK GOP BILL ENSURING FEDERAL WORKER, MILITARY PAYCHECKS CONTINUE DURING SHUTDOWN And the shutdown won’t end in the Senate, given that the changes to the legislation will need to be greenlit by the House before making it to President Donald Trump’s desk. Democrats could still extract pain through procedural hurdles unless there is unanimous agreement from all 100 senators to move forward with the remaining votes. The Obamacare issue is still bubbling on both sides of the aisle, however. Senate Republicans slammed the state of healthcare throughout Saturday, particularly over how the subsidies funneled money to insurance companies. Democrats still remained skeptical if their frustration, and desire to make changes to take on insurance companies, was legitimate. “The point, I think that’s really relevant here, is if they’re serious, and I really question whether that’s the case,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said.