As the government shutdown nears its fourth week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has no intention of giving in to what Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wants.

On a surface level, Schumer and Senate Democrats want a guaranteed deal on expiring Obamacare subsidies, and Thune has signaled that he is open to giving them an opportunity to negotiate on that only after the government reopens.

But what he won’t do is strike a deal in secret with Schumer, something he told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that was all too often the case when the top Senate Democrat ran the upper chamber.  

‘You know, I’ve been around here when everything’s decided by four people in Schumer’s office,’ Thune said. ‘That’s not a way to run the government.’

‘It’s not the business model that Chuck Schumer is accustomed to, and he likes to be the kingmaker and have everybody come and kiss the ring,’ he continued. ‘And I just think that’s not my style.’

Thune described his leadership style as a bottom-up approach ‘where senators get to be senators.’ That has proven true so far, in his handling of the shutdown.

He’s encouraged rank-and-file Republicans to have talks with Senate Democrats in the hopes of constructing an off-ramp from the shutdown, rather than handing down a my-way-or-the-highway edict.

And from those conversations, an offer to Senate Democrats has materialized on the expiring subsidies that would give them a vote, but only if the government reopens. And that offer comes with several caveats that Thune couldn’t guarantee an outcome on. 

‘I signaled to the Democrats that, because they’ve said, ‘Well, we want a guaranteed vote by a certain date.’ OK, I think we can make that happen,’ Thune said. ‘But they also want a guarantee they’re going to win, you know, and I can’t guarantee that. And honestly, even if I could, there’s no guarantee anything gets through the House.’

Still, with an offer for a vote on the table, Schumer and his caucus have not budged from their position. They again blocked Republicans’ attempt to reopen the government for a tenth time on Thursday, and in doing so, guaranteed that the shutdown goes into next week as lawmakers leave town for a long weekend.

A potential complication, too, is Republicans’ desire to make reforms to Obamacare subsidies, enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic but set to expire at the end of this year. In Democrats’ counter to the House-passed continuing resolution (CR), they demanded a permanent extension of the program as-is, which was a non-starter for congressional Republicans.

The Congressional Budget Office found in a report last month that permanently extending the subsidies would cost roughly $350 billion over the next decade.

Thune didn’t dive into specifics of certain reforms he and others in the Senate GOP would like to see, but he noted that reining in the cost of the program was a starting point.

‘There’s no incentive to control costs,’ Thune said. ‘And when the insurance companies are getting direct subsidies from the federal government to enroll as many people as possible, they’re going to enroll as many people as possible, even if those people don’t know they’re enrolled.’

Meanwhile, Schumer has called on President Donald Trump to get directly involved in negotiations after a meeting with the president and Republican leaders at the White House late last month was not enough to prevent the shutdown from happening.

Thune said, ‘I think that happens,’ when asked if Trump would get involved, but he noted that first, the government has to reopen.

‘That’s basically what the White House has been saying,’ he said. ‘The president does like to be, you know, obviously, he is a guy who has experience and wants to solve problems and has experience making deals, and I think he’s probably more than willing to sit down with them, but he’s not going to let them extort him.’ 

Andrea Bocelli paid President Donald Trump a visit at the White House on Oct. 17.

Trump’s special assistant, Margo Martin, shared a video of the moment on X, formerly known as Twitter.

While the Italian tenor appeared to give an impromptu performance in the Oval Office, Trump stood behind the Resolute Desk as Bocelli stood in front, wearing a black suit and tie with sunglasses on.

‘Listen to this,’ Trump said as ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ started playing in the Oval Office.

Bocelli began singing along with the track before he took a moment to laugh. He then continued to sing until the video concluded.

Another video posted by Martin shows Trump and Bocelli talking at the president’s desk and listening to a recording of a Bocelli song.

Trump told reporters Bocelli would be performing at the White House on Dec. 5, two days before the Kennedy Center Honors, according to Deadline. 

Bocelli’s representatives did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Bocelli’s visit to the White House came just before the President of the United States welcomed the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for the high-stakes summit. 

It is unclear if Bocelli’s visit and Zelenskyy’s are connected.

The federal judge assigned to oversee the criminal case against former Trump national security advisor John Bolton is an Obama-era appointee who made headlines during both Trump administrations for halting or pausing some of his most sweeping executive orders. 

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, a 2014 appointee to the federal bench in Greenbelt, Maryland, is far from the only judge whose rulings have been viewed by Trump allies as unfavorable to the administration. Dozens of judges have issued temporary orders and injunctions during Trump’s second term aimed at pausing or blocking certain directives while courts consider their merits.

But Chuang is noteworthy for being the judge who in 2017 issued a nationwide injunction blocking Trump’s revised ‘travel ban’ from taking force. The March 2017 executive order suspended travel for 90 days from six majority-Muslim countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — and paused the entry of asylum seekers for 120 days.

Chuang ruled that Trump’s order was likely motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment, describing it as a revised ‘realization’ of Trump’s ‘long-envisioned Muslim ban,’ which he had floated repeatedly during his first presidential bid.

‘Simply because a decisionmaker made the statements during a campaign does not wipe them from the ‘reasonable memory’ of a ‘reasonable observer,” he said in the injunction, which was quickly appealed to the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. 

Shortly after Trump took office in January, Chuang again drew the administration’s ire when he blocked Trump and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from continuing efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development. In a 70-page ruling, he said the actions likely violated the U.S. Constitution ‘in multiple ways.’

The preliminary injunction was the first to attempt to constrain DOGE, which at the time had already cut 98% of USAID staffers. The 4th Circuit also set aside Chuang’s ruling on appeal several weeks later, clearing the way for DOGE to continue its efforts to gut USAID. 

Chuang has also presided over lesser-known cases, including temporarily suspending in-person requirements for women who were seeking the morning-after pill during the COVID-19 pandemic. That decision was later reversed by the Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision.

Trump’s executive actions and orders have sparked 220 lawsuits since January, according to a litigation tracker from Lawfare Media. 

Many of the early actions were blocked by federal judges, including Chuang, through emergency orders or temporary injunctions pending review.

(Court watchers and legal experts attribute this imbalance to congressional inaction, which has prompted an increase in executive orders by the last four presidents and, in turn, more judicial review.)

Like other federal judges who have held up Trump’s agenda, if only temporarily, in his second term, Chuang’s orders have been castigated by the president’s allies and some Republicans in Congress.

Earlier this year, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., introduced a House resolution seeking to impeach Chuang and five other federal judges who had challenged Trump administration actions. (The attempt prompted a stern warning from the New York City Bar Association, which cited ‘grave concerns’ about the effort.)

Bolton appeared Friday in federal court in Greenbelt, Md., where he pleaded not guilty to 18 counts.

Bolton’s indictment makes him the third Trump foe to have been indicted in federal court in as many weeks, following the high-profile indictments brought against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. But his case has not touched off the same concerns or allegations of political retribution as the others.

The investigation into Bolton’s handling of classified materials moved forward in part during the Biden administration, and career prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office signed off on the charges — a contrast to the cases against Comey and James, which were brought by Trump’s former attorney Lindsey Halligan.

A magistrate judge ordered Bolton released on the condition that he remain in the continental United States and surrender his passport, which he did. His next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 21.

President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social Friday that he commuted the sentence of disgraced former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., after several campaign finance violations.

‘George Santos was somewhat of a ‘rogue,’ but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison,’ Trump wrote. 

‘I started to think about George when the subject of Democrat Senator Richard ‘Da Nang Dick’ Blumenthal came up again…. This is far worse than what George Santos did, and at least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!’ President Trump added.

‘George has been in solitary confinement for long stretches of time and, by all accounts, has been horribly mistreated. Therefore, I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY.’

The White House railed against the ‘Democrat shutdown’ for ‘jeopardizing national security’ because 80% of the federal agency charged with protecting the U.S. nuclear stockpile will be furloughed in the coming days, the administration told Fox News Digital. 

‘The Democrat shutdown is now jeopardizing our national security,’ White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital Friday afternoon. ‘By refusing to pass the clean, bipartisan funding extension, the Democrats are causing funds to run out for critical programs, resulting in furloughs of personnel at the National Nuclear Security Administration who manage our nuclear stockpile.

‘This is reckless and could be completely avoided if the Democrats simply voted to reopen the government and stopped holding the American people hostage.’

An administration official confirmed to Fox Digital that 80% of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s staff will be furloughed because available funds will soon be expended. 

The National Nuclear Security Administration operates within the U.S. Department of Energy, maintains the nation’s nuclear stockpile and works to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons in foreign nations. 

The agency will next enter minimum safe operations, meaning remaining employees will focus on maintaining physical security, cybersecurity, nuclear safety and emergency management, according to an administration official. 

‘We have not furloughed anyone yet, but we will be out of funds by tomorrow or early next week,’ Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Bloomberg News Friday of the upcoming furloughs. ‘So, we will be forced to do that if this shutdown continues.

‘We’ve been paying them to date, but, starting tomorrow, Monday at the latest, we’re not going to be able to pay those workers. If that continues on for long, they may get other jobs,’ Wright told Bloomberg, putting ‘the sovereignty of the country,’ at stake.

The administration official told Fox News Digital at there will be significant impacts on the agency’s nuclear deterrence mission as various offices shutter during the shutdown, and consequences of the shutdown are expected to last beyond the eventual reopening of the government. 

‘As our adversaries build more silos and weapons, we will be turning off the lights,’ the administration official said. 

Republican lawmakers also have sounded off on the upcoming furloughs, including Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers during a House news conference on Friday. 

‘We were just informed last night the National Nuclear Security Administration, the group that handles the nuclear stockpile, that the carryover funding they’ve been using is about to run out,’ he said. ‘These are not employees that you want to go home. They are managing and handling a very important strategic asset for us. They need to be at work and being paid.’ 

The U.S. government has been in the midst of an ongoing shutdown since Oct. 1, when Senate lawmakers failed to pass funding legislation for 2026.

The Trump administration and Republicans have since pinned blame for the shutdown on Democrats, claiming they sought taxpayer-funded medical benefits for illegal immigrants. Democrats have denied they want to fund healthcare for illegal immigrants and instead have blamed Republicans for the shutdown.

‘Every day that Republicans refuse to negotiate to end this shutdown, the worse it gets for Americans — and the clearer it becomes who’s fighting for them,’ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told Fox Digital earlier in October of the shutdown. 

‘Each day our case to fix healthcare and end this shutdown gets better and better, stronger and stronger because families are opening their letters showing how high their premiums will climb if Republicans get their way.’ 

The Supreme Court on Friday set a Dec. 8 date to hear oral arguments in a case centered on President Donald Trump’s authority to fire heads of independent agencies without cause.

This closely watched court fight could overturn a longstanding court precedent and further expand executive branch powers. At issue is Trump’s attempted firing of Rebecca Slaughter, the lone Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission. Trump fired Slaughter and another Democratic member of the FTC in March, though that commissioner has since resigned. 

Slaughter sued earlier this year to block her removal, and a lower court judge ordered her temporarily reinstated to her role on the FTC while the case continued to play out on its merits.

The Trump administration appealed the case to the Supreme Court in September. The justices agreed to hear the case and stayed the lower court ruling that ordered her reinstated — allowing Trump, for now, to proceed with Slaughter’s removal from the FTC.

The court’s willingness to take up the case is seen by many as a sign that the justices plan to revisit the Supreme Court precedent in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States — a 1935 case in which justices unanimously blocked presidents from removing the heads of independent regulatory agencies without cause, and only in limited circumstances.

Justices signaled as much in their directions to lawyers for the Trump administration and Slaughter. 

They ordered both parties to address two key questions in their briefs: whether the removal protections for FTC members ‘violates the separation of powers and, if so, whether Humphrey’s Executor, should be overruled,’ and whether a federal court may prevent a person’s removal from public office, ‘either through relief at equity or at law.’

Their review of the case also comes as justices have grappled with a flurry of lawsuits filed this year by other Trump-fired Democratic board members, including by National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Gwynne Wilcox and Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) member Cathy Harris, two Democratic appointees who were abruptly terminated by the Trump administration this year. 

The Supreme Court in May granted Trump’s request to remove both Wilcox and Harris from their respective boards while lower court challenges played out, though the high court did not invoke the Humphrey’s Executor precedent in the short, unsigned order.

It also comes as the Supreme Court is slated to hear oral arguments in another key case centered on Trump’s attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, with oral arguments set for January.

The court’s approach in the Slaughter case may signal how it will handle arguments in Trump’s attempt to oust Cook the following month.

New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa faced off in their first general election debate on Thursday night, and, with no live audience, supporters flooded 50th Street outside 30 Rock, cheering on their preferred candidates with campaign signs and lobbing verbal attacks at their opponents. 

With less than three weeks until Election Day, the debate gave voters their clearest side-by-side look yet at the candidates vying to lead the nation’s largest city.

On the debate stage, candidates made commitments to delivering affordability and public safety for New Yorkers. Outside the venue, while speaking to Fox News Digital, Mamdani supporters told Fox News Digital they are ready for change, while those cheering on Cuomo said they were voting for him for his experience. 

‘He’s very experienced,’ Emily, a Cuomo supporter who lives in Brooklyn, told Fox News Digital. ‘I feel that he’s going to keep our city safe and that he is going to keep small businesses alive and that he just has the right amount of experience for the job.’

New York state Sen. Robert Jackson, who was cheering on Mamdani from across 50th Street, said Cuomo already had his chance to deliver for New Yorkers as governor, telling Fox News Digital Cuomo ‘was not the leader that we wanted. He never came through on it.’

On the flip side, Jackson praised Mamdani for getting New Yorkers excited about politics, explaining that he loved Mamdani’s ‘straightforward’ and ‘no nonsense’ policies.

However, both Emily and Anthony Braue, a Bronx union worker, said Mamdani’s policies are driving their support for Cuomo. 

‘Giving away free stuff is not the answer,’ Brau said, telling Fox News Digital he appreciates how Cuomo supports union workers, wants to build infrastructure in New York City and make it a safer place to live. 

Emily added that Mamdani is ‘not experienced,’ and his ‘policies seem too extreme.’

‘Nothing’s free. Giving free stuff means the hard-working people’s taxes are going to pay for the free stuff,’ Braud said. ‘There’s nothing free. It never works out. It might be a good selling campaign pitch, but I don’t think it’s the right thing.’

Braue said he couldn’t understand why members of the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, a union supporting hospitality workers, were across the street cheering for Mamdani. Ahead of the debate, the New York City Police Department designated three respective pens for supporters to gather. 

‘I don’t know exactly what they’re doing over there,’ he said. ‘They should be on this side with the rest of the union workers, but everyone’s got their own opinion. They’re entitled to it.’

After Thursday night’s debate, Mamdani met with a roundtable of union workers at the Service Employees International Union headquarters Friday morning in Manhattan. 

‘The reason I support Zoran Mandani is because he’s a make-it-make-sense politician,’ SEIU member Pedro Francisco told Fox News Digital ahead of the debate. ‘He really understands what this city needs. The city needs to be affordable for all of us.’

While acknowledging that Cuomo is a ‘great politician’ with great ideas, Francisco said, ‘Cuomo was the past, Zohran is the present and the future of New York City.’

Jim Golden, a 67-year-old New Yorker, agreed that ‘it’s time for a change, simple as that.’

‘We’ve screwed up this city enough, and it’s time to let some other people try and fix it. It’s a mess,’ he said. 

Mamdani, Cuomo and Sliwa all greeted their supporters ahead of the debate on Thursday night, with Mamdani sparking the most raucous commotion as he marched through a gaggle of reporters and glad-handed his supporters lined up along a police barricade. 

Thursday’s mayoral debate was hosted by NBC 4 New York/WNBC and Telemundo 47/WNJU, in partnership with Politico. Election Day is Nov. 4 in New York City in the race to replace Mayor Eric Adams, who suspended his re-election campaign last month. 

Andrea Bocelli paid President Donald Trump a visit at the White House on Oct. 17.

Trump’s special assistant, Margo Martin, shared a video of the moment on X, formerly known as Twitter.

While the Italian tenor appeared to give an impromptu performance in the Oval Office, Trump stood behind the Resolute Desk as Bocelli stood in front, wearing a black suit and tie with sunglasses on.

‘Listen to this,’ Trump said as ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ started playing in the Oval Office.

Bocelli began singing along with the track before he took a moment to laugh. He then continued to sing until the video concluded.

Another video posted by Martin shows Trump and Bocelli talking at the president’s desk and listening to a recording of a Bocelli song.

Trump told reporters Bocelli would be performing at the White House on Dec. 5, two days before the Kennedy Center Honors, according to Deadline. 

Bocelli’s representatives did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Bocelli’s visit to the White House came just before the President of the United States welcomed the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for the high-stakes summit. 

It is unclear if Bocelli’s visit and Zelenskyy’s are connected.

Several Democrat senators seemed ready to expand COVID-era Obamacare tax credits holding up spending legislation needed to reopen the government — but less willing to grapple with what that would mean for the country’s expenses.

‘I’ll disagree with the framing of deficit increase,’ Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said when asked about the program’s implications for the country’s bottom line.

Others, like Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., declined to respond.

The country plunged into a shutdown at the beginning of the month when lawmakers failed to agree on a short-term spending extension that would have funded the government through Nov. 21. But the disagreement wasn’t about the package itself. In 2021, Congress temporarily expanded eligibility for Obamacare’s enhanced premium tax credits subsidies, meant to help Americans pay for their health insurance plans amid the uncertainty of the pandemic. That increased eligibility sunsets at the end of 2025. Democrats have made the program’s continuation a key condition in support for any spending package.

Republicans need at least seven Democrats to advance spending legislation in the Senate, where Republicans must clear the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster. The GOP holds 53 seats in the chamber.

According to the Committee of a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal policy think tank, continuing the expanded credits could cost upwards of $30 billion annually.

Where Republicans see the expiration as an opportunity to return government spending to pre-COVID levels and shrink the national deficit, Democrats have expressed alarm over recipients who could face an abrupt end to their federal assistance.

‘You have literally millions of Americans who will no longer be able to afford their health insurance or will be thrown off health insurance when the tax credits that make the Affordable Care Act affordable expire at the end of this year,’ Coons said, referring to the 2010 health care reforms that put Obamacare into law.

Other Democrats pointed to healthcare as the key consideration at play.

‘Republicans need to restore healthcare to the American people. That’s my position,’ Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said.

Findings by KFF, a healthcare policy think tank, indicate that over 90% of the 24 million Obamacare enrollees make use of the enhanced credits.

Democrats have voted against reopening the government 10 times since the start of the shutdown.

Lawmakers like Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, have pushed back on Democrat opposition, noting that the credits were always designed to be temporary — and that Democrats were the ones who included the sunset provision to begin with.

‘This is a pre-determined crisis by the Democrats,’ Curtis said. ‘They’re the ones who put the expiration date on these.’

That’s also the position of Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark.

‘My concern is that [the credit expansion] was done during the pandemic, because of the pandemic. The pandemic is over. As a result, you’ve got people making $300,000 on a subsidy.’

‘So, what we need to do is get the government open, not hold the American people hostage and start talking, because there will be some people that are hurt,’ Boozman added.

Boozman isn’t the only Republican concerned about both: ballooning government costs and the Americans who would have to adjust their payments to afford healthcare without the subsidies.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who has cautioned against sudden shifts to healthcare programs, said talks to advance both priorities haven’t made much progress. 

‘I’m trying to figure out a way that we can ensure that healthcare coverage for Americans remains, and we’re not making much headway this week,’ Murkowski said. 

Other Senators hinted that talks were advancing in some way but declined to describe them.

‘I’m not getting engaged right now, because I may or may not be involved in any negotiations on what the ultimate resolution of this will be. At this point, until the Democrats open the government, I’m not going to discuss details,’ Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said.

Both chambers of Congress left Washington, D.C., for the weekend. The Senate will return Monday.

Republican lawmakers have spent the week sharpening their attacks on Saturday’s nationwide day of protests against President Donald Trump, which many GOP leaders dismissed as ‘Hate America’ rallies.

Cities across the country are expected to see hundreds of thousands of people come out for the ‘No Kings’ movement, and several congressional Democrats have even said they will attend.

Republicans have seized on the protests as a product of far-left activism, while at the same time arguing Democrats have held firm against the GOP’s plan to end the government shutdown in a bid to please that far-left base.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox Business Network he hoped that Democratic leaders who attended would be more willing to accept the GOP’s plan after the demonstrations were over — but he did not sound overly optimistic.

‘It’ll be a collection of wild leftist policy priorities, and that’ll be on display for the whole country. After that’s over, I hope there’s a few Democrats over here who will come to their senses and return to governing the country,’ Johnson said.

‘Right now, I don’t think— it’s my assumption and all of ours that they would not make that concession before that rally’s over because they don’t want to face the angry mob. I mean it’s sad, but that’s where we are.’

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., dodged a question on whether he would attend one of the rallies on Friday, telling reporters, ‘I haven’t finalized my schedule for the weekend given, you know, the sensitivities around the government shutdown. I’m still very hopeful that Republicans will decide to show up for work so we can get the government back open.’

‘But I support the right of every single American to participate in the rallies that are going to take place this week and showing up to express dissent against an out-of-control administration,’ he said.

However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would attend one of the protests, as did House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.

Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, predicted more top Democratic figures would go but, like Johnson, signaled hope that they would acquiesce to Republicans’ demands when it was over.

‘My guess is if they don’t want a primary from the left, they’ll probably find a way to sneak it into their schedule. The real question that’s going to be is, do they have the fortitude after Saturday to come back and open up the government?’ Nunn told Fox News Digital earlier this week.

‘They should be doing it today. But if they feel like they’ve got to appease their base, then they better come to Jesus on Sunday and figure out a way to help them get back to the business of taking care of the American people.’

House GOP leaders also criticized the rallies at nearly every one of their daily shutdown press conferences this week.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Friday that Schumer was ‘more concerned’ with ‘impressing the ‘Hate America’ rally crowd that’s coming up here tomorrow than he is about not solving all of our problems tomorrow.’

And House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Tuesday of the rallies’ place in the shutdown fight, ‘The rumor is that they can’t end the shutdown beforehand, because a small but very violent and vocal group is the only one that’s happy about this.’

‘If they shut it down beforehand, then they’ve got to deal with that group beforehand. If they make it through that, then at least they’ve made it through their Hate America rally, and then they can get this thing done,’ Emmer said.

The House passed a bill to keep the federal government funded at current levels through Nov. 21, called a continuing resolution (CR), mostly along party lines last month.

It’s since failed 10 times in the Senate, with a majority of Democrats rejecting any spending deal that does not also include an extension of COVID-19 pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies that will expire at the end of this year without congressional action.