A Senate Republican wants to ensure that lawmakers feel the pain in their wallets as the federal government shutdown drags on.

Members of Congress, unlike other federal employees, are guaranteed to get paid during a government shutdown. But Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, wants to impose a tax on lawmakers that would eat away at their paychecks.

Moreno plans to introduce the Stop Holding Up Taxpayers, Deny Wages On Washington’s Negligence (SHUTDOWN) Act, which would create a new tax specifically for lawmakers.

The shutdown has trudged on to a third day with no clear off-ramp in sight. The Senate is again set to vote on the GOP’s short-term funding extension on Friday, but Senate Democrats are again expected to block it.

‘Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries want to get paid for shutting the government down,’ Moreno said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘That’s ridiculous. If Congress can’t do the bare minimum, we don’t deserve a paycheck.’

Members of Congress on average make $174,000 a year. That number can fluctuate depending on whether a lawmaker is in a leadership position. Preventing lawmakers from getting paid during a shutdown is tricky, however, given that the U.S. Constitution requires them to receive a paycheck even if the government is closed.

Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution requires that ‘Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.’

Then there is the 27th Amendment, which was ratified in the 1992, that prevents Congress from passing a law affecting its pay during the current congressional term.

Moreno’s bill could circumvent those guardrails by imposing a daily tax on lawmakers that would rise each day that members are in session and that a shutdown continues.

Meanwhile, the likelihood that the shutdown ends this week is low. Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are firmly rooted in their position that unless a deal is struck on expiring Obamacare tax credits, they’ll continue to block the GOP’s continuing resolution (CR).

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., plans to keep bringing the same bill, which the House passed last week, in a bid to chip away at Senate Democrats. So far, only three members of the Democratic caucus — Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, joined Republicans to vote for the bill. 

The federal government entered its third day of a shutdown without a clear off-ramp in sight as the Senate gears up to once again vote on a short-term funding extension Friday.

Lawmakers will again vote on the GOP’s continuing resolution (CR) and congressional Democrats’ counter-proposal on Friday. There’s been little movement on Capitol Hill since the last failed vote, given that some either left Washington, D.C., or did not come to the Hill, in observance of Yom Kippur.

In fact, the Senate floor was open for less than three hours on Thursday, with only a handful of lawmakers giving remarks to a mostly empty chamber.

Republicans hope that more Senate Democrats will peel off and vote for their bill, but it’s unlikely. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and most of his caucus are firmly rooted in their position that expiring Obamacare tax credits must be dealt with now.

And Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he isn’t planning on keeping lawmakers in town over the weekend if the House GOP’s bill fails for a fourth time. Still, bipartisan talks are happening among the rank-and-file members to find some way to reopen the government.

‘I’m glad that people are talking,’ Thune said. ‘I think there are a lot of Democrats who want out of this, you know, grapple that Schumer is running now, so I’m hoping that perhaps that will lead somewhere. But it all starts with what I’ve said before, reopen the government, and I think that’s what we got to have … happen first.’

There are some ideas being tossed back and forth among Senate Republicans and Democrats, like agreeing to work on the subsidies until Nov. 21 under the GOP plan, or compromising on a shorter CR that lasts until Nov. 1 to coincide with the beginning of open-enrollment for Obamacare.

‘We’re not asking for a full repair of a broken system,’ Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said. ‘We understand how badly the healthcare system is working, but it’s going to be so much worse if the Republicans continue on this path of cutting healthcare for millions of Americans.’

Thune threw cold water on the latter idea.

‘Well, and what’s the House going to come back and vote on, a one-month as opposed to seven weeks? I mean, think about this right now. We’re really kind of quibbling over pretty, pretty small stuff,’ he said.

Schumer made clear over the last several days that he wants bipartisan negotiations to craft a funding extension with Democratic and Republican input, but the GOP argues that their bill, which is backed by President Donald Trump, would unlock future bipartisan negotiations on spending bills.

But Republicans argue that his insistence on negotiating is more about political optics than actually finding a path out of the shutdown.

‘This Democrat shutdown is nothing but a cynical political shutdown, with Senator Schumer kowtowing to his radical left-wing extremists,’ Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said on the Senate floor. ‘He’s desperately recoiling, fighting to stave off a primary and to save his party from the piranhas in their own midst.’

And while talks at the lower level are ongoing, some contend that ultimately it will be Trump’s decision on what happens next.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said on the Senate floor, ‘Unfortunately, right now, our Republican colleagues are not working with us to find a bipartisan agreement to prevent the government shutdown and address the healthcare crisis.’

‘We know that even when they float ideas, which we surely do appreciate, in the end, the president appears to make the call,’ Klobuchar said. 

Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., revealed to Fox News Digital that he is one of three Republicans in Congress who was surveilled by the Biden administration’s ‘Quiet Skies’ program, a program that has been shut down due to overreach concerns.

Earlier this week, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Rand Paul, R-Ky., convened a hearing examining alleged Biden administration abuse of the program, which was terminated by DHS in June, and revealed that three current Republican members of Congress were surveilled or monitored either as a sitting member or while seeking elected office.

GOP Rep. Abe Hamadeh tells Fox News Digital he was informed that he was one of those members of Congress and was surveilled in December 2022.

‘It sadly doesn’t surprise me,’ Hamadeh explained. ‘At the time, if you remember, I mean banks were shutting down accounts if they promoted conservative viewpoints, if they were selling ammo or guns and the banks were being pressured by the Biden administration. You had social media companies censoring political voices that they didn’t agree with. So it shows you the depths that the federal government, how much sway they have, not just within the bureaucracy of the government, but also with private organizations and private actors as well.‘

Hamadeh called the timing of his surveillance ‘interesting’ because ‘during the time period that I was challenging the results of my election in 2022 when I was running for attorney general, where that race was decided by 280 votes out of 2.5 million.’

Hamadeh continued, ‘You know, this is a very legitimate challenge. This is something that both sides of the aisle have done routinely. So you don’t know if that was a factor. And I would assume so, because at the time it was such a hostile environment with President Biden when he was in power. I mean, my God, they were calling MAGA fascists. They were calling us threats to democracy constantly.’

Hamadeh also called it ‘peculiar’ that he is a former U.S. Army Reserve intelligence officer with top secret clearance who traveled overseas both on deployment and in his personal capacity. 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced in June it would be ending the Quiet Skies program, which left some Americans subject to additional screenings at airport security.

The department says the agency was overly politicized to either benefit or hurt specific people and ran a bill of roughly $200 million annually. According to DHS, the program kept a watchlist as well as a list of people exempted. The department says Quiet Skies has not prevented any terrorist attacks but will continue to use other methods to assure safe air travel.

‘It is clear that the Quiet Skies program was used as a political rolodex of the Biden Administration — weaponized against its political foes and exploited to benefit their well-heeled friends. I am calling for a Congressional investigation to unearth further corruption at the expense of the American people and the undermining of US national security,’ DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.

The TSA’s ‘Quiet Skies’ program was established in 2010 to identify passengers for enhanced screening on some domestic and outbound international flights.

Paul said earlier this year that he received records confirming that federal air marshals surveilled now-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard during domestic flights last year, ‘reporting back information related to her appearance and even how many electronics she was observed using.’ 

‘I’m glad to see that the Senate, Senator Rand Paul got to the bottom of it and also that Department of Homeland Security has now effectively terminated the Quiet Skies program as well,’ Hamadeh told Fox News Digital. 

‘Also, it’s odd that there’s only three Republican members of Congress that were targeted. I mean, I’m assuming, there’s Democrats who have a lot of interesting travel here that I serve with as well. I’m sure that there are things that would flag them. So it makes you question what the Biden administration, who they were focusing on, who they were targeting specifically. I mean look at Tulsi Gabbard. I mean what? What a complete 180 for now to have her be running the intelligence agencies as the director of national intelligence. And it goes to show you what we were fighting.’

In a press release earlier this week, Paul commended Noem for ending the program but said the work is ‘not done.’

‘We must make sure that this program does not come back under another name. Every official who directed or approved surveillance of Americans for protected speech must be removed from office. Full transparency must become the rule rather than requiring a year of investigation,’ Paul said. ‘The result will be a process that respects the Constitution, ends real life shadow bans against Americans and gives all of us the assurance that our government is focused on protecting us, not on chasing political ghosts.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Cameron Arcand contributed to this report

A Senate Republican has a list of more than a ‘trillion dollars worth of ideas ripe for a trim’ as the federal government shutdown continues. 

Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has so far announced his plans to withhold nearly $30 billion in federal funding to blue states and cities, while Senate Democrats continue to block Republicans’ efforts to reopen the government.

And Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has some ideas for even deeper cuts. In a letter to Vought, first obtained by Fox News Digital, Ernst laid out a plan that could result in over $2 trillion in cuts to federal spending.

Her letter comes as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and most Senate Democrats have remained steadfast in their opposition to the GOP’s short-term funding extension.

‘Schumer’s Shutdown has provided a golden opportunity to slash waste, fraud and abuse in Washington,’ Ernst said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘There is no one more fitting to lead the charge than Russ Vought.’

‘I have compiled a comprehensive list of more than $2 trillion of nonessential government expenditures that should be put on the chopping block to put taxpayers first, make Washington squeal and deliver a more efficient government,’ she continued.

Ernst, who chairs the Senate DOGE Caucus, which borrowed its moniker from tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), wants to target tens of billions in expired and unexpired COVID-19 pandemic funding, consolidate unused federal office space and prevent taxpayers from ‘subsidizing’ the roughly $400 million per day in backpay owed to furloughed nonessential federal workers.

She also wants to go after nearly $1.6 trillion in unspent funding ‘stashed away in secret slush funds,’ clawback billions in the Biden-era electric vehicle charging station program, railroad projects in blue states, end research into ‘silly science projects’ like shrimp on treadmills, and streamline ‘duplication and unnecessary overlap within’ the Department of War, among many others.

‘This is by no means an exhaustive list, and I will be providing many more recommendations soon,’ Ernst wrote in the letter. ‘My team and I stand ready to help you make some prime cuts during this Schumer Shutdown.’

Meanwhile, there appeared to be no off-ramp in sight to end the now three-day government shutdown.

Senate Democrats are also unfazed by Vought and President Donald Trump’s desire to target their states and cities with cuts, with many arguing that the administration was already carrying out those tactics.

Still, Senate Republicans hope that enough Democrats peel off and vote to reopen the government. So far, three members of the Democratic caucus have done so — Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Angus King, I-Maine. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was pressed about President Donald Trump seemingly changing his campaign position on Project 2025 amid the government shutdown Friday.

‘During the campaign, President Trump said that he did not know anything about Project 2025. Now, he knows about it. Is that the blueprint for shrinking the government?’ Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Leavitt during the press briefing Friday afternoon. 

Project 2025 is a roughly thousand-page policy proposal crafted by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank during the 2024 election cycle. 

Leavitt made no mention of the policy proposal in her response, arguing any decisions on layoffs of federal government employees or cuts to federal programs are up to what the ‘president and his team and his Cabinet secretaries ultimately decide.’ 

‘And the president trusts his Cabinet secretaries to identify where there is waste, fraud and abuse. We pointed out this morning — or Russ Vought tweeted about this morning — a Chicago rail project that was canceled,’ Leavitt said. ‘We paused $2.1 billion in Chicago infrastructure projects, specifically the Red line extension and the Red and Purple modernization projects, and it’s because the administration is concerned that the Biden administration was handing out taxpayer dollars to pay for this construction based on DEI.’ 

The Department of Transportation ‘is reviewing the race-based contracting on unconstitutional grounds,’ she said. ‘And in the meantime, the Department of Transportation funds for these projects are on hold. So I guess this answers both of your questions. This would be an example of that.’

Project 2025 became a lightening rod of criticism among Democrats during the 2024 election, as the Harris–Walz campaign claimed it was rife with ‘dangerous’ policies stretching from abortion to the economy. 

Trump denied knowing details about the policy blueprint from the campaign trail. 

‘I know nothing about Project 2025,’ Trump said in July 2024. ‘I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.’

On Thursday, after the government shutdown, Trump posted to Truth Social that he was set to meet with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) chief Russell Vought, describing him as the man of ‘PROJECT 2025 Fame.’ 

Vought was one of the architects behind the Project 2025 policy proposal. 

‘I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,’ Trump posted on Thursday, setting of renwewd criticsms of Project 2025. 

Leavitt’s comments come as Trump and OMB map out a plan to roll out layoffs and cut government programs amid the government shutdown. 

Top Republican officials appear to be at odds with each other over how to portray the fallout from the ongoing government shutdown.

Senate Democrats are still refusing to budge from their demands for Obamacare subsidy extensions to be included in a short-term federal funding bill, so it is likely the government will stay shut down at least until next week.

It has given President Donald Trump and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) wide discretion over what agencies and project operations will look like, as well as the federal workforce.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has sought to portray those decisions as difficult tasks for Trump and OMB Director Russ Vought, particularly the administration’s push to permanently lay off federal workers the longer the shutdown goes on.

Johnson told Fox News Digital in an interview earlier this week that Trump is ‘very bothered’ by the position Democrats have put the government in and is concerned about its lasting impact on Americans. 

He also told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow on Thursday that Vought is in an ‘unenviable’ position, and while there ‘could be some good that comes out of it, if we limit the size and scope of government’ that ‘it is not a job that he relishes.’

And while Trump has heaped blame on Democrats for the shutdown’s impact on Americans, he’s struck a different tone when discussing its political fallout in recent days.

Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday that he would meet with Vought ‘to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut.’

‘I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,’ Trump continued. ‘They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’

Johnson also gave an emphatic defense of Vought during House Republicans’ lawmaker-only call with the OMB director Wednesday, Fox News Digital was told.

The speaker cast the impending federal layoffs as a difficult position for Vought to be in, and one that Democrats placed him in by refusing the GOP’s funding plan.

‘Russ is not the grim reaper,’ Johnson said, Fox News Digital was told.

On Thursday evening, however, Trump shared an AI-generated video on Truth Social featuring Vought as a grim reaper-like character set against a parody version of Blue Oyster Cult’s song ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper.’

The video showed Vought walking through an office full of workers and through a hall of portraits featuring top Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

‘Russ Vought is the reaper. He wields the pen, the funds and the brain,’ the voiceover sings. ‘Dems, you babies, here comes the reaper.’

Johnson broached the different signals during a press conference on Friday, telling reporters that Trump does not take ‘great pleasure’ in the shutdown’s disruptions but is ‘trolling the Democrats,’ because ‘that’s what President Trump does.’

Asked to square those two points, Johnson said the mockery was exclusively aimed at Democrats.

‘The effects are very serious on real people, real Americans. We support federal employees who do a great job in all these different areas. But what they’re having, trying to have fun with, trying to make light of, is to point out the absurdity of the Democrats’ position,’ Johnson said.

‘They’re using memes and all the tools of social media to do that. Some people find that entertaining. But at the end of the day, the decisions are hard ones. And I’m telling you, they’re not taking any pleasure in that.’

While Trump’s messaging can appear to undercut that of House GOP leaders’, it could also be a strategy to squeeze Democrats on two separate planes as they continue to resist Republicans’ federal funding strategy.

Republicans are pushing a relatively flat extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 federal funding levels through Nov. 21 in order to give lawmakers more time to hash out a longer-term deal for FY 2026.

They’ve pointed out that it’s a similar measure to what Democrats have approved 13 separate times under former President Joe Biden.

But Democrats, infuriated by being sidelined in the federal funding discussions, are withholding support unless Republicans include language extending Obamacare subsidies that were temporarily enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Republican leaders have signaled openness to discussing the credits, which expire at the end of 2025 without congressional action, but have said those talks are better kept separate from federal funding.

The White House did not immediately respond when reached for comment on Trump and Johnson’s messaging, but Fox News Digital did receive an automated reply that stated, ‘Due to staff shortages resulting from the Democrat Shutdown, the typical 24/7 monitoring of this press inbox may experience delays. We ask for your patience as our staff work to field your requests in a timely manner.’

‘As you await a response, please remember this could have been avoided if the Democrats voted for the clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government open. The press office also cannot accommodate waves requests or escorts at this time. Thank you for your attention to this matter,’ the message said.

Japan is on track to get its first female prime minister after the leading conservative party elected Sanae Takaichi as its new leader. 

Takaichi, the former economic security minister of Japan, beat Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the son of popular former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, in a runoff in an intraparty vote on Saturday by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Takaichi is replacing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba as the party looks to regain public support and stay in power. 

Despite suffering major election losses, the Liberal Democratic Party remains by far the largest in the lower house and determines Japan’s leader because opposition groups are highly splintered.

In the first round of voting, Takaichi finished first with 183 votes and Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi placed second with 164. Because neither candidate reached a majority in the first round, the winner was determined in an immediate two-way runoff. 

The LDP, whose consecutive losses in parliamentary elections in the past year have left it in the minority in both houses, sought a leader who can quickly address challenges both domestic and international, while seeking cooperation from key opposition groups to implement its policies.

Takaichi, a hard-line conservative who’s cited former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as her hero, has called for strengthening Japan’s military, and taking a tougher stance against China and North Korea. She also opposes same-sex marriage and retains ties to nationalist groups. 

Takaichi also faces a possible summit with President Donald Trump, who could demand that Japan increase its defense spending. A meeting is reportedly being planned for late October. Trump will travel to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea starting Oct. 31.

The LDP also needs help from the opposition, which it has long neglected. The party will likely look to expand its coalition with the moderate centrist Komeito with at least one of the key opposition parties, which are more centrist.

A parliamentary vote is expected in mid-October.  

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Senate Democrats blocked Republicans’ attempt to reopen the government again, all but guaranteeing that the government shutdown rolls through the weekend.

After a day off to observe Yom Kippur, lawmakers made little progress in finding an off-ramp to end the shutdown, which entered its third day on Friday. And as the government remains closed, both sides appear to be digging further into their positions.

Senate Republicans’ attempt to reopen the government failed on a largely party-line 54-44 vote for a fourth time, with the same trio of Senate Democratic caucus members — Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.; and Angus King, I-Maine — joining most Republicans in backing the bill.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., plans to bring the bill to the floor again and again in a bid to chip away at Democrats’ largely unified front. He lamented the work that could be happening, like advancing spending bills and negotiating other bipartisan priorities, on the Senate floor rather than repeating the same exercise of trying to reopen the government. 

‘They have taken hostage the federal government and, by extension, the American people, who are the only losers in this,’ Thune said. ‘Everybody’s talking about who wins and who loses and who gets the blame. That’s not what this is about. This is about doing what’s in the best interest of the American people. And what’s in the best interest of the American people is keeping the government open and operating so it can continue to work on their behalf.’ 

Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., demand that they get a seat at the table to negotiate a bipartisan continuing resolution (CR).

Their main rallying cry has been pushing for an extension to expiring Obamacare tax credits, which Senate Republicans have said they would consider only after the government is reopened. While the credits don’t expire until the end of the year, Democrats argue that if Congress doesn’t act now, people who use Obamacare will see their healthcare premiums skyrocket.

‘We know Americans want this, and we know many of my Republican colleagues want this as well,’ Schumer said. ‘But failure to act would be devastating. And Republicans know it. Even Donald Trump knows it. He talked about it a little bit with us in the White House.’

When asked if the pressure would mount to a point where Democrats cave, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., told Fox News Digital, ‘We’re on the right side of history right now.’

Republicans largely agree it is an issue that should be dealt with, but they also want reforms in the program rather than the blanket, permanent extension that Democrats suggested in their counter-proposal.

Some Democrats also view the shutdown as a way to stand up to President Donald Trump.

‘The truth is, we shut down the government because Republicans wouldn’t negotiate, because Donald Trump wants to shut down,’ Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said. ‘He’s just bragging in the Oval Office about how good a shutdown will be for him. And we’re going to talk about the consequences of Republicans continuing to push these giant healthcare increases on people and the consequences of a lawless president.’

The administration is not resting on its laurels either and has targeted funding in blue cities and states, along with threats of mass firings beyond the typical furloughs of nonessential federal employees to get congressional Democrats to blink.

Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought announced Friday that $2.8 billion in Chicago infrastructure project funding would be put on hold to prevent ‘race-based contracting,’ a move that came on the heels of $18 billion in infrastructure money in New York City and $8 billion in ‘Green New Scam’ funding from going to 16 blue states being withheld earlier this week.

Thune argued that the administration is what Democrats ‘have wrought’ by continuing to withhold their votes. 

‘They are allowing the administration to do the very thing that, back in March, they said they didn’t want to give them the authority to do,’ he said. ‘And that’s to make decisions just like that. But that’s what’s going to happen.’ 

Meanwhile, bipartisan talks are brewing in the background, though no real deal nor compromise has materialized.

There have been suggestions of extending the credits for another year after the government is reopened or doing a shorter CR to match up with the beginning of open enrollment on Nov. 1. But Republicans engaged in talks are more keen to keep the government open until at least Nov. 21 to allow appropriators to finish their work on spending bills.

‘Nobody’s married to any of this, but we’ve got to get the 45 days in effect first,’ Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said. 

President Donald Trump signed an order Monday offering a U.S. guarantee for Qatar’s security, a significant commitment for the rising non-NATO Arab ally.

‘The United States shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States,’ the order, made public Wednesday, read in no uncertain terms.

‘In the event of such an attack, the United States shall take all lawful and appropriate measures — including diplomatic, economic, and, if necessary, military — to defend the interests of the United States and of the State of Qatar and to restore peace and stability.’

The guarantee represented a level of support typically offered to Washington’s closest allies. It came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for a Sept. 9 Israeli strike on his territory. 

The strike was targeted at Hamas but killed one Qatari security official in the process.

Qatar also was attacked by Iran in June in a strike targeted at its U.S. base.

The order falls short of a NATO-style defense pact — it hasn’t been ratified by the Senate, so it isn’t binding.

It came as Netanyahu and Trump, during a visit to the White House Monday, announced a 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza, brokered with Qatari mediation. Hamas has not yet accepted the plan.

U.S. relations with Doha have come a long way since 2017, when Trump accused Qatar of harboring terrorism: ‘The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level,’ Trump said at the time.

From there, Qatar became a major non-NATO ally to the U.S. in 2022 under President Biden and is home to Al Udeid Air Base, one of the U.S.’ largest Middle East bases and a key hub for U.S. Central Command operations.

The nation is now gifting the U.S. with a new plane to serve as Air Force One.

Qatar welcomed the president’s executive order in a statement saying it reflects ‘the strong and longstanding ties between Doha and Washington.’

‘Qatar remains committed to working with the United States and international partners as a trusted mediator to address shared challenges, advance conflict resolution through diplomatic means, and support sustainable peace in the region,’ the statement said.

A security guarantee has long been a goal for Qatar and other Gulf allies like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The nation has hosted a Hamas political office since 2012, but local officials say they were asked to do so by the U.S. to establish a line of communication for negotiations.

Before Qatar was involved in mediating the Gaza ceasefire, it was a bridge for U.S. and Taliban talks before the withdrawal in 2021 and has worked on prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine. This year it’s been involved with the U.S. in working out a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, signed at the White House in June.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is sending a pointed signal to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as the 2025 government shutdown is poised to enter a second week.

The leader of the House of Representatives canceled chamber activities for next week, effectively directing lawmakers to remain in their home districts until at least Oct. 14.

Johnson appears to be raising the stakes on Senate Democrats, who keep refusing the GOP’s plan to fund government agencies on a short-term basis in favor of making demands on healthcare that Republicans are calling unreasonable.

Originally, the House had been slated to return to a regular legislative schedule on Oct. 7. The full House was last in session on Sept. 19.

Johnson warned earlier on Friday that the House may not return until Schumer and Democrats agreed with Republicans’ bill.

‘We passed it, and it’s been rejected by the Senate,’ the House speaker told reporters during a news conference. ‘So the House will come back into session and do its work as soon as Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government. That’s plain and simple.’

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told Fox News Digital during his own Friday news conference that he would summon his Democratic caucus back into D.C. next week whether Republicans were there or not.

Meanwhile, two sources told Fox News Digital earlier on Friday that it was one of several strategies that House GOP leaders were considering, but were waiting to see how the Senate’s Friday afternoon vote played out.

It was the fourth time Senate Democrats rejected the GOP’s funding plan, a mostly flat extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 government funding levels. The measure, called a continuing resolution (CR), would also include $88 million in security funding for lawmakers, the White House and the judicial branch — which has bipartisan support.

But Democrats in the House and Senate were infuriated by being sidelined in federal funding talks. 

They have been pushing for an extension of Obamacare subsidies enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those enhancements would expire by the end of 2025 without congressional action.

Democrats have also introduced a counter-proposal for a CR that would keep the government funded through Oct. 31 while reversing the GOP’s cuts to Medicaid made in their ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill.’

The counter-proposal would have also restored federal funding to NPR and PBS that was cut by the Trump administration earlier this year.

Republicans have panned that plan as a non-starter full of partisan demands, while pointing out that Democrats have voted for a ‘clean’ measure similar to the GOP proposal 13 times during former President Joe Biden’s time in office.

Canceling next week’s House votes also puts off the probability that lawmakers would have to vote on making the Department of Justice release even more files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., needed just one more person to sign onto a petition aimed at forcing a vote on the Epstein files — a signature they would have gotten if Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., was sworn in next week following her special election victory.

House GOP leaders have panned that petition as unserious and superfluous, having already directed the House Oversight Committee to investigate the DOJ’s handling of Epstein’s case.

Johnson told Fox News Digital earlier this week that he was concerned the bipartisan measure was written in a way that it would not protect sensitive information regarding Epstein’s victims.

When asked about Johnson’s move during his own Friday news conference, Schumer told reporters, ‘Johnson and the House Republicans care more about protecting the Epstein files than protecting the American people.’