Vice President JD Vance praised President Donald Trump’s ‘bulldozer’ approach to public health, calling it a necessary force that ‘just had to happen,’ during remarks at Wednesday’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) summit.

The summit, held at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., was centered on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement — aimed at improving nutrition, eliminating toxins, preserving natural habitats and fighting the chronic disease epidemic in the U.S.

‘That is a good summary of Donald J. Trump is that he takes a bulldozer to Overton windows every single day,’ Vance told the HHS secretary during the event. ‘It just had to happen… One of the criticisms that Bobby will always get, and I always think it’s such b——-, excuse my language… [is that] sometimes there’s this attack where people say that conclusion is not supported by the science, or this or that conclusion is a conspiracy theory.’

‘Science, as practiced in its best form, is that if you disagree with it, then you ought to criticize it, and you ought to argue against it. You can’t shut down the debate,’ Vance continued. ‘If you look at all the big public health debates that we’ve had in this country over the last 20 or 30 years… they tried to silence the people who were saying things that were outside the Overton window. As we found out the hard way over the last few years, it was very often that people who were outside the Overton window were actually right, and all the experts were wrong.’

Vance went on to say the country could not advance unless Americans become comfortable with people who are ‘willing to challenge orthodoxy.’

He also vowed to keep Appalachia in the forefront of the conversation, noting residents have higher premature mortality rates due to a long history of being failed by the public health system.

‘You know what really p—– people off — when they realize that their loved ones are dying much sooner than everybody else,’ said Vance, whose autobiography, ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ details his own upbringing in Appalachia. ‘That is a big part of the story of what’s going on in Appalachia, and why I think so many people in Appalachia feel left behind.’

He described himself as ‘the golden boy’ of Appalachia, admitting he feels guilt about the many people who grew up in families like his and have not had an easy life or the same amount of economic opportunity.

‘That gives me a sense of purpose because I want those people to have the same opportunities that I’ve had,’ Vance said. ‘But it also gives me a great sense of anger, because we never should have gotten to the point that we are today. The reason that we have, is because of failed leadership over generations.’

When discussing the people of Appalachia, he said they are people who, ‘though they don’t have much, would take the shirt off their back and give it to a complete stranger, because that’s what you do.’

‘If you go back to America’s biggest wars — World War I, World War II, Vietnam — which were the counties that filled their draft quotas with volunteers instead of with draftees?’ Vance posed. ‘It’s very often the parts in deep Appalachia where you’ve got grinding poverty, but you’ve also got this incredible love of country.’

‘So if any place in this country deserves not to be left behind, it’s Appalachia… These are people who deserve to live better, healthier lives, but they really have been left behind by this country’s leadership,’ Vance added.

The record-breaking U.S. government shutdown appears to be on a path to finally ending after 43 days.

Federal funding legislation aimed at opening the government survived a key test vote in the House later Wednesday, teeing it up for final passage in a matter of hours.

That means the bill could hit President Donald Trump’s desk as soon as Wednesday night, likely ending what has been the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

The White House announced that Trump would sign the bill in a statement of administration policy obtained by Fox News Digital.

‘The Administration urges every Member of Congress to support this responsible, good faith product to finally put an end to the longest shutdown in history,’ the statement said.

The bill advanced through a procedural hurdle known as a rule vote, which is where lawmakers decide whether to allow legislation to get debated before a final vote on passage.

Rule votes generally fall along partisan lines and are not an indication of whether a bill will be bipartisan.

The vast majority of House Democrats still oppose the bill, but it’s possible that at least several moderates will defy their leaders to support it.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., reiterated to reporters hours before the vote that Democrats were frustrated the bill did not do anything about COVID-19 pandemic-era healthcare subsidies under Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Those enhanced tax credits expire this year.

‘House Democrats are here on the Capitol steps to reiterate our strong opposition to this spending bill because it fails to address the Republican healthcare crisis, and it fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit,’ Jeffries said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sounded optimistic in comments to reporters Wednesday morning ahead of the vote.

‘I wanted to come out and say that we believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight,’ Johnson said. ‘It was completely and utterly foolish and pointless in the end.’

Meanwhile, the shutdown’s effects on the country have grown more severe by the day.

Many of the thousands of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who had to work without pay were forced to take second jobs, causing nationwide flight delays and cancellations amid staffing shortages at the country’s busiest airports. Millions of Americans who rely on federal benefits were also left in limbo as funding for critical government programs ran close to drying out.

At the heart of the issue was Democratic leaders’ refusal to back any funding bill that did not also extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Democrats argued it was their best hope of preventing healthcare price hikes for Americans across the U.S.

Republicans agreed to hold conversations on reforming what they saw as a broken healthcare system, but they refused to pair any partisan priority with federal funding.

In the end, a compromise led by the Senate — which saw eight Democrats in the upper chamber join colleagues to pass the bill in a 60 to 40 vote — included a side deal guaranteeing the left a vote on extending the enhanced subsidies sometime in December.

Johnson has made no such promise in the House, however.

And the lack of a guarantee on extending those subsidies has angered progressives and Democratic leaders.

‘What were Republicans willing to give in the end, other more than a handshake deal to take a future vote on extending the healthcare subsidies?’ Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., said Wednesday. ‘We all know that a future vote is the equivalent of asking two wolves and a chicken to vote on what’s for dinner. It is dead on arrival.’

The full House will now vote on the legislation during the 7 p.m. hour.

The bill kicks the current federal funding fight to Jan. 30, by which point House GOP leaders said they were confident they’ll finish work on a longer-term deal for fiscal year 2026.

‘There are nine remaining bills, and we’d like to get all of those done in the next few weeks. And, so, [House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.] and his appropriators will be working overtime,’ House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital.

Asked if he thought they’d get it done by that date, Cole said, ‘I think we can.’

A bill to end the record-breaking U.S. government shutdown is headed to President Donald Trump’s desk after more than 42 days.

Federal funding legislation aimed at opening the government passed in the House Wednesday evening, ending the weeks-long fiscal standoff that has largely paralyzed Congress since Oct. 1. Republicans on the House floor erupted in cheers when the bill prevailed while the majority of Democrats quietly exited the chamber.

The White House said Trump would sign the bill at 9:45 p.m. this evening.

Six Democrats voted with all but two Republicans to pass the bill with a 222 to 209 margin. The Democrats who voted in favor of the legislation are Reps. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Adam Gray, D-Calif., Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash, and Don Davis, D-N.C.

When the House took its initial vote on federal funding legislation on Sept. 19, just one Democrat — Golden — voted with the GOP.

The vast majority of House Democrats opposed the bill, however, including their senior ranks.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., reiterated to reporters hours before the vote that Democrats were frustrated the bill did not do anything about COVID-19 pandemic-era healthcare subsidies under Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Those enhanced tax credits expire this year.

‘House Democrats are here on the Capitol steps to reiterate our strong opposition to this spending bill because it fails to address the Republican healthcare crisis, and it fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit,’ Jeffries said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sounded optimistic in comments to reporters Wednesday morning ahead of the vote, however.

‘I wanted to come out and say that we believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight,’ Johnson said. ‘It was completely and utterly foolish and pointless in the end.’

Some drama threatened to crack House GOP unity earlier in the day, however, as some Republicans in the lower chamber seethed over a last-minute provision added to the bill that allows senators whose communications were tapped during former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe to sue the federal government for $500,000 each.

Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Austin Scott, R-Ga., and Morgan Griffith, W.Va., all shared concerns with the measure but said they would not extend the government shutdown over it.

Johnson appeared to placate their and others’ concerns, at least for now, with a promise to vote next week on separate legislation repealing that provision.

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., told reporters he would vote against the bill over its inclusion, however.

‘I’m not voting to send Lindsey Graham half a million dollars,’ he told reporters.

He and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted against the final bill, but their opposition was not enough to sink legislation.

Meanwhile, the shutdown’s effects on the country have grown more severe by the day.

Many of the thousands of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who had to work without pay were forced to take second jobs, causing nationwide flight delays and cancellations amid staffing shortages at the country’s busiest airports. Millions of Americans who rely on federal benefits were also left in limbo as funding for critical government programs ran close to drying out.

At the heart of the issue was Democratic leaders’ refusal to back any funding bill that did not also extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Democrats argued it was their best hope of preventing healthcare price hikes for Americans across the U.S.

Republicans agreed to hold conversations on reforming what they saw as a broken healthcare system, but they refused to pair any partisan priority with federal funding.

In the end, a compromise led by the Senate — which saw eight Democrats in the upper chamber join colleagues to pass the bill in a 60 to 40 vote — included a side deal guaranteeing the left a vote on extending the enhanced subsidies sometime in December.

Johnson has made no such promise in the House, however.

And the lack of a guarantee on extending those subsidies has angered progressives and Democratic leaders.

‘What were Republicans willing to give in the end, other more than a handshake deal to take a future vote on extending the healthcare subsidies?’ Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., said Wednesday. ‘We all know that a future vote is the equivalent of asking two wolves and a chicken to vote on what’s for dinner. It is dead on arrival.’

Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, criticized Democrats for prolonging the shutdown for little payoff.

‘They literally got absolutely nothing except for a total and complete surrender, that accomplished nothing more than hurting American families,’ he said.

The bill kicks the current federal funding fight to Jan. 30, by which point House GOP leaders said they were confident they’ll finish work on a longer-term deal for fiscal year 2026.

It also includes full-year federal spending for the Department of Agriculture, the legislative branch, and the Department of Veterans Affairs — three of 12 annual appropriations bills that Congress is tasked with passing annually.

‘There are nine remaining bills, and we’d like to get all of those done in the next few weeks. And, so, [House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.] and his appropriators will be working overtime,’ House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital.

Asked if he thought they’d get it done by that date, Cole said, ‘I think we can.’

Longtime civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson was hospitalized Wednesday, his organization announced in a statement.

Jackson, 84, was admitted to the hospital and under observation for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurodegenerative disease for which there is currently no cure.

The Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a progressive organization Jackson formed in 1996 by merging two groups he founded earlier, said he has been managing his PSP condition for more than a decade.

‘He was originally diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease; however, last April, his PSP condition was confirmed. The family appreciates all prayers at this time,’ the organization said.

Jackson announced his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2017.

‘After a battery of tests, my physicians identified the issue as Parkinson’s disease, a disease that bested my father,’ he said at the time. ‘Recognition of the effects of this disease on me has been painful, and I have been slow to grasp the gravity of it.’

The longtime political activist and Baptist minister who worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has faced several health challenges in recent years, including gallbladder surgery and hospitalization due to COVID-19.

Jackson announced his retirement as president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in 2023, naming Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III as the organization’s new leader.

The six House Democrats who broke ranks with party leadership by voting in favor of legislation that ended the government shutdown are now opening up about their actions, with one saying, ‘The last several weeks have been a case study in why most Americans can’t stand Congress.’

Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Jared Golden of Maine, Adam Gray of California, Don Davis of North Carolina, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Tom Suozzi of New York were the six who voted with all but two Republicans to pass the bill by a 222 to 209 margin. President Donald Trump then signed the legislation late Wednesday night, putting an end to the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

‘Americans can’t afford for their Representatives to get so caught up in landing a partisan win that they abandon their obligation to come together to solve the urgent problems that our nation faces,’ Gluesenkamp Perez wrote on X. ‘The last several weeks have been a case study in why most Americans can’t stand Congress. None of my friends who rely on SNAP would want to trade their dinner for an ambiguous D.C. beltway ‘messaging victory,’ and I’m glad this ugly scene is in the rearview mirror.’

The bill keeps funding the government at the same levels during fiscal year 2025 through Jan. 30 to provide additional time to hash out a longer appropriations measure for fiscal year 2026. The measure also funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that more than 42 million Americans rely on through September. The program provides non- or low-income individuals or families the ability to purchase groceries on a debit card.

‘I just voted to reopen the government, pay federal workers, and get food assistance and other critical programs up and running again,’ Golden said Wednesday.

‘Now, with the shutdown ended, Congress should take immediate action to extend expiring Affordable Care Act premium tax credits that keep health insurance plans affordable for millions of Americans. We still have a window to pass bipartisan legislation to extend these credits,’ he also said.

Gray said in his own statement that, ‘No parent should have to choose between feeding their children and keeping the lights on because someone in Washington thinks chaos is a negotiating tactic.’

‘That’s why I voted for a bipartisan agreement that takes food assistance off the table for an entire year. So when the next shutdown happens (and in this divided Washington, there is always a next shutdown) the president cannot use hungry kids as bargaining chips again. This agreement also protects veterans, small business owners, and federal workers from being turned into political weapons,’ he said.

Suozzi noted in his statement that the ‘airport situations are becoming untenable, and government workers have gone without pay for too long.’

‘If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are willing to work together to address this health insurance affordability crisis by extending the premium tax credits, then we will have accomplished something meaningful,’ he continued. ‘If we are not successful, it will deal yet another blow to the already eroding trust in Washington, D.C., and it will be clear who failed to deliver.’

Davis released a statement on X saying in part that he voted to reopen the government ‘to support my constituents, alleviate the suffering of our families as the holidays approach, and bring vital resources to eastern North Carolina.’

Cuellar said he voted to reopen the government ‘so we can get critical programs back on track,’ adding, ‘this stability is especially important for our border communities, where so many families depend on federal agencies to keep trade, travel and public safety moving.’

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Former President Bill Clinton’s Treasury Secretary Larry Summers maintained regular contact with Jeffrey Epstein years after he was convicted on prostitution-related charges, documents released by House Republicans on Wednesday revealed.

Among the over 20,000 pages of documents released by House Republicans was a series of email exchanges ranging from 2016 to 2019 between Epstein and Summers that suggest a cozier relationship between the two than previously known. The email exchanges include banter about an unknown woman as well as discussions about politics and President Donald Trump.

On March 3, 2019, just months before his arrest, Epstein and Summers, who was also president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006 and served as the director of former President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council from 2009 to 2011, exchanged emails in which they discussed Summers’ correspondence with an unknown woman.

In an email to Epstein, Summers wrote of his interaction with the woman, saying: ‘We talked on phone. Then ‘I can’t talk later’. Dint (sic) think I can talk tomorrow’. I said what are you up to. She said ‘I’m busy’. I said awfully coy u are. And then I said. Did u really rearrange the weekend we were going to be together because guy number 3 was coming’ She said no his schedule changed after we changed our plans. I said ok I got to go call me when u feel like it. Tone was not of good feeling. I dint want to be in a gift giving competition while being the friend without benefits.’

Epstein replied just minutes later, saying, ‘shes smart. making you pay for past errors. ignore the daddy im going to go out with the motorcycle guy, you reacted well.. annoyed shows caring., no whining showed strentgh.’

Months before that, in November 2018, Summers forwarded Epstein an email from a woman he had corresponded with the comment: ‘Think no response for a while probably appropriate.’

Epstein replied, ‘She’s already begining to sound needy nice.’

On July 15, 2018, Epstein emailed Summers, ‘new york soon?’

‘Unsure. What is up’ Summers replied.

The next day, Epstein wrote, ‘wed presidnt [sic] of united nations, interesting person for you.’

Shortly after midnight, Summers replied, ‘Do the Russians have stuff on Trump? Today was appalling even by his standards.’

Epstein replied: ‘My email is full with similar comments… he thinks he has charmed his adversary… he has no idea of the symbolism — he has no idea of most things.’

In another exchange from 2017, Epstein wrote, ‘I have met some very bad people ,, none as bad as trump. not one decent cell in his body.. so yes- dangerous.’

In a November 2016 email to Epstein, Summers wrote: ‘Spend zero effort on anything about me w trump. Seeing his approach to conflict of interest, his Putin proximity, and his mindless response on Castro death I’m best off a million miles away. Until they are deeply humbled by the f—ups that are sure to come, I serve myself and country best by doing nothing that involves loyalty to them.’

A month before, Epstein emailed Summers, ‘trump roles (sic) out Clintons four accusers. recall our dinner?’ To which Summers replied just hours later, ‘No. what happened? R u about to be dragged in?’

Summers was previously known to have a connection to Epstein. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2023 on another exchange in which Summers asked Epstein for advice on fundraising for a project by his wife, Harvard professor Elisa New.

Fox News Digital reached out to a spokesperson for Summers but did not receive a comment by the time of publication.

The House of Representatives appears to be on a glide path to ending the longest government shutdown in history, with lawmakers racing back to Capitol Hill after six weeks out of session.

The House Rules Committee will meet to consider the Senate’s amended federal funding plan sometime after 5 p.m. Tuesday, two sources told Fox News Digital.

In other words, the 42-day shutdown — which has led to thousands of air travel delays, left millions of people who rely on federal benefits in limbo, and forced thousands of federal workers either off the job or to work without pay — could come to an end before the end of this week.

The House Rules Committee is the final hurdle for most legislation before it sees House-wide votes. Lawmakers on the key panel vote to advance a bill while setting terms for its consideration, like possible amendment votes and timing for debate.

The funding bill at hand is expected to advance through the committee on party lines. Democrats on the panel are likely to oppose the measure in line with House Democratic leaders, while Republicans have signaled no meaningful opposition.

Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C., the two Republicans on the committee who have most often opposed GOP leaders’ legislation for not being conservative enough, both suggested they would be supportive of the funding measure.

Roy told Fox News Digital on Monday night that he would vote ‘yes’ on the bill on the House floor, meaning he would likely not oppose it in the House Rules Committee.

The Texas Republican is currently running to be attorney general of the Lone Star State.

Norman told Fox News Digital via text message Tuesday morning, when asked about both his Rules Committee and House floor votes, ‘My support is based on READING the FINE PRINT as it relates to the 3 bills especially VERIFYING the top line spending limits as we previously passed.’

‘If ‘THE FINE PRINT MATCHES’ what’s being reported, I will be a yes,’ Norman said.

The South Carolina Republican, who is running for governor, was referring to three full-year spending bills that are part of the latest bipartisan compromise passed by the Senate on Monday night.

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, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), was a key ask for Democrats in the weekslong 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 and left-wing caucus leaders in Congress.

The full House is expected to take up the measure sometime after 4 p.m. on Wednesday, according to a notice sent to lawmakers.

There will first be a ‘rule vote’ for the bill where lawmakers are expected to green-light debate on the House floor, followed by a vote on the measure itself sometime Wednesday evening.

House schedules for both Tuesday and Wednesday were left intentionally fluid to allow for lawmakers to return to Washington amid nationwide flight delays and cancellations, mostly imposed by the shutdown.

The House was last in session on Sept. 19, when lawmakers passed legislation to keep the government funded through Nov. 21.

It passed with support from one House Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and opposition from two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Victoria Spartz, R-Ind.

No further House Republicans have signaled public opposition to the new measure so far.

Frustration is boiling over among Democratic ranks against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., after walking away from the longest government shutdown on record largely empty-handed.

Some argue that Schumer squandered key leverage and failed to steer his caucus through the chaos to victory. 

‘I think that people did what they could to get us out of the shutdown, but what has worked in the past isn’t working now,’ Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said. ‘And so, we need to meet the moment, and we’re not doing that.’

Slotkin, like others in the Senate Democratic caucus, ‘wanted something deliverable on the price of healthcare.’ The core of their shutdown strategy was to force Republicans and President Donald Trump to make a deal on expiring Obamacare subsidies, but that didn’t happen. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., argued that getting rid of Schumer would be difficult. 

‘Chuck Schumer is part of the establishment,’ Sanders told MSNBC. ‘You can argue, and I can make the case, that Chuck Schumer has done a lot of bad things, but getting rid of him — who’s going to replace him?’

Other Democrats weren’t so resigned.

Graham Platner, a Democratic Senate candidate running to replace Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, placed the collapse of Senate Democrats’ unified front squarely on leadership. 

‘The Democratic Party at the leadership level has become entirely feckless,’ Platner said in a video posted by Our Revolution, a political action organization started as an offshoot of Sanders’ presidential campaign. 

‘What happened last night is a failure of leadership in the most clear terms,’ he said after the Senate passed the bipartisan deal Monday, sending it to the House. ‘Sen. Schumer is the minority leader. It is his job to make sure his caucus is voting along the lines of what’s going to be good for the people of the United States. He could not maintain that.’ 

Schumer and congressional Democrats walked away from the shutdown stalemate in the Senate largely empty-handed, save for some victories on ensuring furloughed federal workers would receive back pay, the reversals of firings made by the Trump administration during the shutdown and future protections for workers.  

Still, they fell far short of their goal to extend the expiring subsidies, which are set to sunset at the end of this year. 

Those subsidies, initially passed as an emergency response to COVID-19 in 2021, were always supposed to be temporary. But Democrats fear that their sudden expiration could leave millions of policyholders with substantially higher premiums overnight if allowed to expire.

But as mounting pressure grew — and no sign of Republicans wavering on the subsidies — eight Democrats voted to put the government on the path to reopening. 

To some onlookers, Schumer had held the party line for as long as possible.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., one of the eight Democrats who voted with Republicans to reopen the government, said she respected Schumer’s leadership.

‘He’s done a good job,’ Masto said. ‘He kept us in the loop and was open to our conversations.’

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., argued that the problem wasn’t Schumer, it was his colleagues. 

‘Sen. Schumer didn’t want this to be the outcome, and I pressed hard for it not to end like this,’ Murphy said. ‘He didn’t succeed, let’s not sugarcoat that. But the problem is, the problem exists, inside the caucus. The caucus has to solve it.’

Republicans, however, spent much of the shutdown arguing that Schumer had waged the shutdown to appease his base — a base that had wanted to see some sort of resistance to Trump.

‘This is how it always would end,’ Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said on Monday evening. ‘Chuck Schumer has a political problem. He’s afraid of being primaried from the left. And so, the Democrats inflicted this shutdown on the American people in order to prove to their radical left-wing base that they hate Donald Trump.’

‘I think a lot of Americans have suffered as a result of this political stunt,’ Cruz added.

On the other hand, many Democrats made it clear they believed Schumer had failed to effectively mount resistance to Trump’s agenda on healthcare.

CNN data analyst Harry Enten compiled polls dating back to 1985 comparing the popularity of Democratic leaders among Democratic voters. Schumer, he found, was the least popular of them all. 

‘Chuck Schumer — his days are over. If he cannot keep his caucus together, he needs to go,’ Sunny Hostin, a co-host of ‘The View,’ told audiences on Monday.

‘Chuck Schumer has not met this moment, and Senate Democrats would be wise to move on from his leadership,’ Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom summed up his thoughts in a one-word post to X. 

‘Pathetic,’ Newsom said.

Senators believe that after reaching a deal to end the longest shutdown on record, they won’t be in the same position early next year.

The bipartisan package that advanced from the Senate late Monday night would, if passed by the House this week, reopen the government until Jan. 30. Lawmakers believe that extension would give them enough time to fund the government the old-fashioned way, making another shutdown a moot point.

But that all depends on whether they can complete work on spending bills, find agreement with the House, and get them on President Donald Trump’s desk before the new deadline.

There’s also the possibility that if the guarantee for a vote on expiring Obamacare subsidies does not go how Senate Democrats want, that could significantly hamper Congress’ ability to avert yet another shutdown.

‘We’ll take them one day at a time,’ Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. ‘Obviously, it’s another deadline we have to deal with. But the immediate objective is to get the government open and enable those conversations to commence.’

‘There are Democrats and Republicans who are both interested in trying to do something in the healthcare space,’ he continued. ‘And clearly, there is a need. I mean, there is an affordability issue on healthcare that has to be addressed, and the current trajectory we’re on isn’t a sustainable path.’

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital that Democrats needed to be united in their demand that ‘Republicans be held to their promise of having a vote on the healthcare subsidies in December.’

Thune reiterated his guarantee on Sunday and teed up the second week of December as the deadline for getting a Democratic proposal to the floor.

‘The future is unpredictable, but we need to continue our fight unequivocally, unyieldingly, for affordable healthcare insurance through extending the subsidies and other measures under the [Affordable Care Act],’ Blumenthal said. ‘Republicans have a reflexive obsession with repealing or destroying the ACA.’

The hope is that funding the government with appropriations bills will be the key to preventing another shutdown.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, said that she anticipated Thune to tee up a new package of spending bills, this one combining the defense, labor, transportation and housing bills into one chunk.

‘The more appropriations bills that we’re able to pass, the better off we’re going to be, the better off the American people will be served,’ she said.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, was unsure if lawmakers would be in the same spot again come January.

But he believed that the desire to move forward with spending bills, spurred largely by the bipartisan deal struck to reopen the government, was a good start.

‘It makes it a whole lot easier not to have a shutdown again,’ he said.

Despite the rancor and frustration from the Democratic side of the aisle over the collapse of their healthcare demand, they also want to pass bipartisan funding bills, largely in a bid to push back against cuts made by the Trump administration.

However, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., predicted that it would be quite difficult to pass a long-term bipartisan budget.

‘We cannot sign on to a long-term budget that does nothing on healthcare and has nothing to stop the destruction of our democracy,’ he said. ‘You know, there are no real protections in the short-term spending bill against Trump’s illegality.’

For now, some see the January deadline as ‘light years away,’ like Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., while others aren’t ready to make a prediction about what comes next.

‘Just one step at a time,’ Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told Fox News Digital.

Tensions flared at a House hearing to advance legislation aimed at ending the government shutdown on Tuesday night, with two senior lawmakers on opposite sides of the aisle trading barbs over the fallout.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., clashed with Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee repeatedly at the outset of the hearing. Cole accused Democrats of derailing the federal government, while McGovern railed against the GOP’s refusal to attach provisions extending expiring enhanced Obamacare subsidies to its funding bill.

‘This is the stuff you said you would never do. ‘We would never shut down the government. We would never do this.’ That’s exactly what you’ve done,’ House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said a short while later. ‘You’re putting thousands of people out of work.’

McGovern, who said emphatically that his constituents were ‘getting screwed,’ said, ‘You tried over 50 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act,’ Obamacare’s formal name.

He said he was getting calls from constituents who were ‘out of their minds’ trying to figure out how to pay for healthcare without the subsidies.’

‘Well the most immediate crisis in my district are the thousands of workers that you and your colleagues have put out of work, that aren’t getting a paycheck,’ Cole said.

‘They’re the ones that keep the airplanes flying. They’re the ones that do the national weather center. They’re wondering why they’re not getting paid.’

McGovern shot back, ‘You get no calls about healthcare?’

‘We could have had these debates, we could have had these arguments. Why are they being held hostage?’ Cole continued.

‘The healthcare issue you’re talking about is a subsidy you passed on your own, you said it was COVID-related…The most immediate crisis in my district, you’ve created. My people aren’t getting paid thanks to you and your colleagues.’

McGovern, who tried to interject multiple times, said, ‘So nobody in your district is complaining about healthcare?’

Cole conceded, ‘People complain everywhere about everything, but you asked me what the most important calls I get —’

McGovern cut him off with, ‘—We have a chance to do something about this.’

‘— is, ‘Why am I not getting paid? Why am I being forcibly furloughed?’’ Cole continued.

‘We have a chance to do something to help millions of people afford their health insurance. And what you’re all telling me is you’re not interested,’ McGovern said.

House Rules Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., was ignored as she banged her gavel multiple times in an attempt to call order.

Cole, meanwhile, said the subsidies ‘have nothing to do with the work of my committee.’

‘But you’re willing to hijack my committee,’ he continued, before McGovern cut him off again, accusing Republicans of voting to ‘cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires’ in the GOP’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ earlier this year.

‘But you could not extend these for people?’ McGovern asked.

The House Rules Committee is the final hurdle for most legislation before it sees House-wide votes. Lawmakers on the key panel vote to advance a bill while setting terms for its consideration, like possible amendment votes and timing for debate.

The funding bill at hand is expected to advance through the committee on party lines. Democrats on the panel are likely to oppose the measure in line with House Democratic leaders, while Republicans have signaled no meaningful opposition.

The vast majority of House Democrats have threatened to oppose the bill over its exclusion of the enhanced Obamacare credits, despite the legislation netting support from eight members of their own party in the Senate.

Republican leaders have signaled a willingness to discuss reforms to the system, which they have criticized as flawed. However, they’ve rejected any notion of pairing a healthcare extension with a federal funding bill that is otherwise largely free of partisan policy riders.