Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said he doesn’t want to blow up Obamacare, but he does want to give Americans another option.

Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made their core shutdown argument about expiring Obamacare subsidies that they argued, if allowed to sunset at the end of this year, would lead to millions of Americans seeing their healthcare premium costs skyrocket.

But Scott and other Republicans contend that simply extending the current subsidies would see billions in taxpayer money funneled to insurance companies, without a dime actually finding its way to the pockets of Americans looking for insurance options.

His plan would ‘let the person be a consumer,’ he told Fox News Digital from an interview in his office.

‘I just think we ought to fix Obamacare,’ Scott said. ‘So the way I think about it is, look, if you want to buy off the exchange, you know, an Obamacare product, do it. If that’s what you want. I mean, leave that there.’

‘But I know what a consumer is going to do,’ he continued. ‘Consumers are going to be way more creative of how they take care of themselves.’

Scott said his idea, in a sea of burgeoning possibilities on what to do next when it comes to answering the healthcare issue raised by congressional Democrats, would directly send any kind of Obamacare subsidy money directly to a Health Savings Account (HSA).

His plan, which he’s been working on in the background for some time, was given extra credence when President Donald Trump on Saturday recommended to Senate Republicans that ‘the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over.’

‘In other words, take from the BIG, BAD Insurance Companies, give it to the people, and terminate, per Dollar spent, the worst Healthcare anywhere in the World, Obamacare,’ Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social.

Trump’s post was in response to Schumer and Democrats’ counter-offer to reopen the government, which Republicans quickly rejected, that would have extended the Obamacare subsidies by one year.

Should the subsidies be permanently extended, which was baked into Democrats’ original demand at the beginning of the shutdown, it would cost $350 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Scott viewed the latest proposal as nothing but pure politics and something that Republicans would never vote for.

‘It’s all about politics. It’s not about people,’ he said. ‘So I think Schumer and the Democrats are heartless. They’re absolutely heartless.’

It’s also an idea that Scott said he had spoken to the president about before.

Republicans have railed against the current state of the subsidies, which were enhanced under former President Joe Biden during the COVID-19 pandemic. The enhancement blew off the income cap on the subsidies, allowing people making well above the poverty line to qualify for them.

Scott blasted the current state of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies, but he noted that he was not suggesting that the subsidy be completely done away with.

‘You could be making $250,000 a year, so you’re paying for these people that are making $250,000 a year, and you’re paying with your taxes for them,’ Scott said. ‘How? Tell me how that makes sense.’

He hopes to have his legislative proposal done quickly, as others in the GOP are similarly floating ideas on how to tackle the issue of expiring subsidies and rising healthcare costs.

‘Let the consumer be the buyer of healthcare,’ he said. ‘Any dollars we’re going to give to spend on it goes to the consumer and let them buy what they want to buy.’

The Supreme Court revealed on Monday it will consider a lawsuit, originally brought by the Republican National Committee, over whether counting ballots that arrive after Election Day is lawful.

The case will examine a state law in solid red Mississippi that allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they are received up to five days after the election. 

The RNC, which has fought to stop late-arriving ballots over allegations that they undermine trust in the vote counting process, argues the state law conflicts with federal law and is hoping the Supreme Court will ban them nationwide.

David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, emphasized that the court would not be weighing in on the legality of mail-in ballots, which are accepted in some form in every state, or whether ballots could be cast after Election Day.

‘What this case is about is whether a ballot that was cast on or before Election Day, sealed in an envelope, placed in the U.S. Mail and received by a state some days later can be counted if a state law says that that’s okay,’ Becker told Fox News Digital.

Mississippi’s rule went into effect in 2020, when many states implemented new emergency election policies over COVID-19. Well over a dozen, both red and blue, accept late mail-in ballots if they are postmarked by Election Day. 

The RNC sued over the law and secured a win at the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, leading Mississippi to bring the matter to the Supreme Court. The state argues ‘election’ means voters’ final choice, which occurs when ballots are cast by Election Day. Receipt of ballots that are marked and submitted effectuates the voters’ choice but are ‘not part of the election itself,’ Mississippi told the Supreme Court in a filing. As such, the state argues, federal law does not prohibit short, post-Election Day windows to receive ballots cast on time. 

Becker warned of repercussions that could come of the Supreme Court upholding the 5th Circuit’s ruling, saying it could invite a host of new litigation because close races could come down to ballots cast by Election Day that arrive a day or two after the election because of U.S. Postal Service delays.

‘We as a society do not want a bunch of ballots coming in the day or two after, delivered late, not because of the voter but because of the Postal Service, and having those ballots being the margin of victory in a close race,’ Becker said.

In a statement, RNC chairman Joe Gruters echoed broader sentiments of election security hawks who have taken issue with late-arriving ballots.

‘Allowing states to count large numbers of mail-in ballots that are received after Election Day undermines trust and confidence in our elections,’ Gruters said.

‘Elections must end on Election Day, which is why the RNC led the way in challenging this harmful state law. The RNC has been hard at work litigating this case for nearly two years, and we hope the Supreme Court will affirm the Fifth Circuit’s landmark decision that mail-in ballots received after Election Day cannot be counted.’

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that President Donald Trump ‘remains in exceptional physical health’ after concerns have swirled in recent months, including when the president received an MRI scan in October. 

‘As stated in the memo provided on October 10th, President Trump received advanced imaging at Walter Reed Medical Center as part of his routine physical examination,’ Leavitt said during Wednesday’s White House press briefing. ‘The full results were reviewed by attending radiologists and consultants, and all agreed that President Trump remains in exceptional physical health.’ 

The response followed a member of the media asking for additional details as to why Trump received an MRI during a checkup at Walter Reed National Military Center in Maryland in October. 

‘I got an MRI, it was perfect,’ Trump told reporters on Air Force One in October. 

‘I gave you the full results,’ he added. ‘We had an MRI, and the machine, you know, the whole thing, and it was perfect.’ 

The checkup in October has been described as routine by the administration, with Trump’s physician reporting that Trump is in ‘exceptional health.’ 

Media outlets and others have fanned the flames of concerns around Trump’s health earlier in 2025 when he was spotted with swollen legs in July while attending the FIFA Club World Cup final in New Jersey, as well as when other photos that same month showed him with bruises on his hands.

Leavitt said in July, while reading a health memo, that Trump’s swollen legs were part of a ‘benign and common condition’ for individuals older than age 70, while the bruising on his hands was attributable to ‘frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin.’

Navy Capt. Sean P. Barbabella, the physician to the president, wrote in a memorandum to Leavitt following the October checkup that the visit was part of an ongoing health maintenance plan that included ‘advanced imaging, laboratory testing and preventative health assessments conducted by multidisciplinary team of specialists.’

Barbabella said in his October summary that Trump, ‘remains in exceptional health, exhibiting strong cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, and physical performance.’ 

The checkup was Trump’s second in 2025, following an April visit that Barbabella said found Trump ‘remains in excellent health.’

Leavitt added Wednesday that Trump is slated to hold a dinner later that evening, which she said might include press attendance where the media could see Trump’s physical state themselves. 

‘I know all of you will see with your own eyes later this evening when he opens up his dinner to the press, and perhaps you will see him when he signs the bill to reopen the federal government,’ she said. ‘So stay tuned on plans for that.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report. 

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.’