NationalWatch

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to extend its temporary stay of a lower court order that the Trump administration immediately pay the full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for the month of November, delivering a near-term win to the administration, just hours after it appealed the matter to the high court for emergency intervention.

Trump officials had urged the Supreme Court in a supplemental brief Monday afternoon to keep in place an emergency stay handed down by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson last week. The new action keeps the stay in place through 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13.  

U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauerhad asked the Supreme Court Monday to grant an emergency stay ordering them to resume full SNAP payments before the end of the government shutdown in Congress.

At issue was whether the Trump administration must resume full SNAP benefit payments for the month of November, after they lapsed at the start of the month during the government shutdown.

States sued last month to keep the benefits in place, arguing that suspending the aid would disproportionately harm some tens of millions of vulnerable and low-income Americans in their states. 

“Because of USDA’s actions, SNAP benefits will be delayed for the first time since the program’s inception,” they said.

TRUMP, STATES BACK IN COURT OVER SNAP AS BENEFITS REMAIN IN LEGAL LIMBO

Lower courts had sided with the states in ordering the SNAP benefits to be paid in full, prompting the Trump administration to appeal the issue to the Supreme Court for emergency intervention.

In appealing the case, Trump’s legal team had argued that the lower court judges overstepped their powers, and urged the Supreme Court to keep in place an emergency stay handed down late last week by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

They cited the progress Congress has made towards resolving the ongoing shutdown, and added that, in their view, “the answer to this crisis is not for federal courts to reallocate resources without lawful authority.” 

“The only way to end this crisis — which the Executive is adamant to end — is for Congress to reopen the government,” they added.

DOJ ACCUSES FEDERAL JUDGE OF MAKING ‘MOCKERY OF THE SEPARATION OF POWERS’ IN SNAP APPEAL

States, for their part, accused the Trump administration of playing politics with SNAP benefits, or the food aid that provides benefits to roughly one in eight Americans. 

“Any further stay would prolong that irreparable harm and add to the chaos the government has unleashed, with lasting impacts on the administration of SNAP,” they told the Supreme Court in a filing of their own Tuesday morning.

“The government has offered no defensible justification for that result,” they added. “The administrative stay should be terminated, and no further stay should be granted.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a directive Saturday ordering that states “immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits,” in compliance with the court order just 24 hours earlier, and to instead allocate only the partial 65% SNAP payments for the month that the administration had agreed to.

Trump officials said that states that failed to comply would face steep economic penalties, prompting emergency intervention from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, who agreed on Monday afternoon to pause the USDA guidance, citing confusion over the guidance.

New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin described the actions to reporters Monday as the “most heinous thing” he had seen while in office. 

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“There are more children in New Jersey on SNAP than consists of the entire population of our state’s largest city,” he said in a press conference Monday, in an effort to contextualize the number of people in the Garden State alone who receive SNAP benefits.

This is a breaking news story. Check back soon for updates.

FIRST ON FOX: Federal Election Commission filings show that progressive Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, spent nearly $75,000 on luxury hotels, transportation and security this year in cities across the U.S.

Crockett’s filings show luxury hotel and transportation expenses in Martha’s Vineyard, Chicago, New York City, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, among other major cities despite representing Texas’s 30th Congressional District, which includes Dallas.

In total, Crockett’s filings show her campaign spending $25,748.87 since January on high-end hotels and limousine services.

The hotel expenses include $4,175.01 at the Ritz-Carlton and $2,304.79 at The Luxury Collection. Other hotel expenses include $5,326.52 to the West Hollywood Edition in Los Angeles, $1,173.92 to the Times Square Edition in New York City, over $2,000 to the Cosmopolitan and Aria resort in Las Vegas and $2,703.14 to the Edgartown Inn and $3,160.93 at The Coco, both in Martha’s Vineyard.

JASMINE CROCKETT DOWNPLAYS JAY JONES’ MURDEROUS TEXTS AS A ‘DISTRACTION’

Additionally, Crockett’s campaign paid Chicago-based limousine service Transportation 4 U $2,728.00 for travel, as well as $2,310.30 to DCA Car LLC, a premium car and limousine service, and $1,254.00 to Bay Area Limousine.

In its client gallery on Yelp, Transportation 4 U, which says it specializes in providing “top-tier limousine experiences tailored to your needs,” posted a picture of Crockett with the caption: “We were honored to provide transportation services for Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett during her visit to Chicago.” Crockett is pictured smiling and dressed casually in a red sweater.

In that same time frame, Crockett’s campaign also spent nearly $50,000 on security expenses despite repeatedly calling for defunding the police. In 2021, while Crockett was serving in the Texas House of Representatives, she said, “The Defund movement seeks to actually bring about healing and finally invest in our communities to make them safer, addressing the root causes of crime and by allowing the professionals to do their respective jobs. Defund is about finally being smart on crime. Defund is about lightening the load for our offices of all things they didn’t sign up for. Defund is about finally being fiscally responsible when it comes to policing in this state.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Crockett for comment on the expenses but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

TEXAS REP JASMINE CROCKETT WEIGHS SENATE BID AFTER REDISTRICTING THREATENS HOUSE SEAT

Crockett, one of the most recognizable and outspoken members of the Democratic Party, has said she is “seriously weighing” a possible run for the U.S. Senate against Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Speaking with Politico in October, Crockett said, “I am seriously weighing it to the extent that I’m about to spend a lot of money to get data.”

Crockett said she has already had conversations with a possible campaign leader and that her decision on whether to run will depend on what the data is and who the Republican nominee will be.

Currently, Cornyn, who is running to serve a fifth term, is in a bitter primary battle against Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton and Houston-area Rep. Wesley Hunt.

Crockett has been embroiled in several controversies this year, perhaps most notably her attacking Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who is paraplegic and wheelchair-bound, “Governor Hot Wheels.”

‘VERY TALENTED’: HARRIS REVEALS JASMINE CROCKETT WAS PART OF ‘SECRET PROJECT’ OF LAWMAKERS SHE WAS MENTORING

“Y’all know we got Governor Hot Wheels down there – come on now! And the only thing hot about him is that he is a hot a– mess, honey,” Crockett said.

Crockett later said her statements were misinterpreted and that she was not mocking Abbott’s disability.

She said in a statement posted on X, “I wasn’t thinking about the governor’s condition—I was thinking about the planes, trains, and automobiles he used to transfer migrants into communities led by Black mayors, deliberately stoking tension and fear among the most vulnerable.”

This statement surfaced as Crockett was already facing heavy criticism for other recent statements calling for Elon Musk to be “taken down” and for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to be “knocked over the head, like hard.”

In addition to that comment, Crockett recently came to the defense of Jay Jones, the Democratic Virginia Attorney General-elect who ignited a firestorm after his texts that privately fantasized about murdering a Republican lawmaker surfaced.

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“And I was very excited to see that he was able to pull off the win. Not that I know him – I’ve never met him, I’ve never talked to him – but because it seems like people did not get caught up in the distractions,” Crockett told host Roland Martin.

“Listen, there were still Democrats that were talking about it,” she continued. “And my deal was, say what you got to say, denounce what he did, but in this moment, do you trust this Republican attorney general to stand up when it is the state legislature that decides that they need to fight fire with fire and give us more seats out of Virginia to go to the U.S. House because they’re trying to balance out this power struggle that Trump is on?”

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., struck back at President Donald Trump after he took a swipe at her understanding of the Constitution. 

While the two have gone head-to-head for years dating back to Trump’s first term, they have reignited their longstanding quarrel in recent weeks as Trump has suggested she should return to Somalia, where she was born. Omar’s comment comes a day after the White House shared an image on X of Trump waving goodbye through a McDonald’s drive-thru window in 2024, replying to a video of Omar saying she wasn’t uneasy about being deported.

On Tuesday, Omar took a jab at Trump in response to a video where he questioned her Constitutional knowledge. 

“Unlike you, I can read and that’s why I know what the constitution says,” Omar said in a post on X. 

OMAR CELEBRATES CENSURE VOTE FAILURE, ALLEGES ‘EMERGENCY’ NEED TO GET MACE ‘HELP’ BEFORE SHE HARMS SOMEONE

Although Trump did not mention Omar by name, Trump took a shot at Omar as he criticized other Democrats like Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas in a Monday interview with Fox News.

“I look at somebody who comes from Somalia where they don’t have anything, they don’t have police, they don’t have military, they don’t have anything. All they have is crime,” Trump said in the clip. “And she comes in and tells us how to run our country. ‘The Constitution says this, the Constitution says that.’ The whole thing is crazy.”

‘SQUAD’ MEMBER, NANCY MACE CLASH ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ‘YOU BELONG IN REHAB’

“I have no worry, I don’t know how they’d take away my citizenship and like deport me,” Omar said in the clip the White House responded to, which originally was made on “The Dean Obeidallah Show” in October. “But I don’t even know like why that’s such a scary threat. Like I’m not the 8-year-old who escaped war anymore. I’m grown, my kids are grown. Like I could go live wherever I want.”

Trump repeatedly has indicated that Omar should return to Somalia, but told reporters in September that Somalia didn’t want her back.

“You know, I met the head of Somalia, did you know that?” Trump said. “And I suggested that maybe he’d like to take her back. He said, ‘I don’t want her.’”

ILHAN OMAR REFUSES TO CREDIT TRUMP FOR GAZA CEASEFIRE

However, Omar said that the story was not true.

“From denying Somalia had a president to making up a story, President Trump is a lying buffoon,” Omar said. “No one should take this embarrassing fool seriously.”

Omar’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

When asked for comment about Omar’s statement, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital: “President Trump is right.”

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Omar’s family fled Somalia for a refugee camp in Kenya during the Somalian Civil War in 1991. The U.S. granted her family asylum, and they lived in Arlington, Virginia, starting in 1995. The congresswoman obtained citizenship in the United States in the year 2000.

She was elected to Minnesota’s House of Representatives in 2016 and then in 2018 was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She is the first Somali–American woman and one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress.

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening…

-Marine-turned-psychologist’s brain breakthrough is helping veterans still fighting inside

-NYC lawmaker dares Mamdani to make good on ‘pipe dream’ pledge by inviting Netanyahu

-Senate reaches temporary truce to end record shutdown, but January battle looms

Trump lays wreath at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day

President Donald Trump participated in a wreath-laying ceremony Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery to commemorate Veterans Day and honor the nation’s fallen service members.

He was joined by Vice President JD Vance and Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins.

“This morning on these hallowed grounds where generations of American heroes rest in eternal glory, we gather to fulfill the sacred duty of every free man and woman. On Veterans Day, we honor those who have worn the uniform, who have borne the battle, who have stood to watch, and whose ranks have formed the mighty wall of flesh and blood, bravery and devotion that has defended our freedom for 250 years,” Trump said at the Memorial Amphitheater…READ MORE.

White House

VETS CLEAN HOUSE: DHS salutes veterans turned ICE agents after major arrests across the country

HOUSE OF CARDS: Trump’s 50-year mortgage may burden Americans with more debt, experts say

World Stage

TRUMP WAS RIGHT: Russia’s gas gamble backfires as Trump’s energy vision reshapes Europe

SPIES IN CLASS: Trump doubles down on 600,000 visas for Chinese students

Capitol Hill

DEMS DIVIDED: Democrat lawmaker blasts Senate colleagues for caving in shutdown deal

FAMILY FEUD: Family rift: Top Democrat’s own daughter publicly opposes her on shutdown deal

GEARING UP: Call to duty: In battle for House, Republicans and Democrats looking to veterans

CHUCK’S LAST STAND: Democrats, left empty-handed in shutdown, turn fury on Schumer

Across America 

INCREASED COSTS: ‘Woke lawfare’ exposed: Lawyer admits massive climate suit is attempt at backdoor carbon tax

PUMP THE BRAKES: NY governor pours cold water on Mamdani free bus plan

‘FULL FORCE’ OF LAW: Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Latino voter group Jolt for allegedly registering illegal immigrants

DRAWING THE LINE: Red state judge chooses new congressional map in fight that could reshape House control

POLITICAL FIGHT: From combat boots to the campaign trail: Army veteran marches into Michigan congressional race

PRICED OUT!: Top 3 reasons housing has become so unaffordable in the US and it’s not what you think

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

When Donald Trump warned European leaders years ago that their dependence on Russian gas would leave them “hostage to Moscow,” the remark was met with skepticism — and even laughter.

Three years into his second term, those same leaders are now scrambling to secure long-term contracts for U.S. liquefied natural gas as Russia’s once-dominant grip on Europe’s energy market unravels exactly as Trump predicted.

Russia’s decision to choke off gas deliveries in 2022 — an attempt to fracture Western unity and pressure Europe into abandoning Ukraine — has had the opposite effect. Its share of European Union gas imports has fallen from 45% in 2021 to under 10% today. U.S. gas now accounts for nearly 57% of Europe’s total imports, compared to roughly one-third before the war.

The cutoff accelerated a historic realignment in global energy, with U.S. LNG producers rushing to fill the void. The shift has not only blunted one of Vladimir Putin’s most powerful geopolitical weapons but also fueled an American export boom that is binding Europe more tightly to Washington than at any point since the Cold War.

TRUMP MOCKS NATO ALLIES FOR ‘FUNDING THE WAR AGAINST THEMSELVES’ WITH RUSSIAN ENERGY PURCHASES

The transformation is most visible in Central and Eastern Europe, where countries once reliant on Russian pipelines are turning west. New corridors linking LNG terminals in Poland, Greece and Croatia are channeling U.S. and Qatari gas deep into the continent. Nations such as Ukraine, Romania and Slovakia — long vulnerable to supply cutoffs — are forging contracts that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

“Central and Eastern Europe have been the most vulnerable because these were the countries that had been historically almost 100% dependent on Russian gas,” said Aura Sabadus, a senior energy analyst at the Center for European Policy Analysis. “Now we see companies in those markets securing U.S. LNG through new routes, particularly via Poland and southern corridors through Greece.”

In Athens last week, executives from major U.S. producers met with regional buyers from Greece, Poland and Ukraine to finalize new supply deals — the clearest sign yet that Europe’s energy axis has shifted. American gas now flows through the same infrastructure that once carried Russian fuel, and the geopolitical balance has flipped with it.

For the Kremlin, the toll is mounting. Energy exports once funded a third of Russia’s budget, but the loss of its most lucrative market has forced Moscow to sell oil and gas to China and India at steep discounts. Analysts say the country’s energy sector — once the backbone of its geopolitical power — has become a liability, exposing its dependence on fewer, less profitable buyers.

Greece has emerged as a key gateway for U.S. gas. On November 7, Athens signed its first long-term deal with American exporter Venture Global to import at least 700 million cubic meters annually beginning in 2030. The 20-year agreement, led by DEPA Commercial and Aktor Group, could expand to 2 billion cubic meters per year and allow Greece to re-export gas north through the Balkans toward Ukraine.

Poland is also positioning itself as a regional hub. Warsaw is negotiating to bring in additional U.S. LNG volumes — estimated at up to 5 billion cubic meters annually — for resale to Ukraine and Slovakia. Poland’s energy group ORLEN recently signed a contract with Ukraine’s Naftogaz to deliver 140 million cubic meters of American gas through terminals in Świnoujście and Lithuania’s Klaipėda.

Ukraine, meanwhile, is increasingly reliant on those routes to offset Russian losses and prepare for winter.

Sabadus said Europe’s pivot will likely accelerate as the EU debates a full ban on Russian pipeline gas and LNG by 2028. “If that law is adopted and enforced — and if long-term contracts with U.S. suppliers are secured — this won’t just be a temporary shift,” she said. “It will be a structural realignment.”

At the time of Trump’s first warnings, many European leaders dismissed them. German officials defended the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, insisting that trade would keep Russia tied to the West. Now, those same governments are racing to secure American supply as U.S. LNG terminals along the Gulf Coast operate at record capacity.

GOV. MIKE DUNLEAVY: TRUMP’S ENERGY DOMINANCE KEY TO NATIONAL SECURITY DURING PUTIN MEETING

As the U.S. cements its role as Europe’s primary gas supplier, Russia’s grip on the continent’s energy market continues to weaken. “Russia used to offer big discounts to keep buyers hooked, but as global production surges, it will have limited flexibility to compete,” Sabadus said. “U.S. LNG will become very competitive in Europe.”

The Trump administration has moved quickly to capitalize on the shift. It lifted a pause on LNG export approvals earlier this year, approved new production projects in Louisiana and Texas, and pushed for a U.S.–E.U. energy framework under which European buyers have pledged to purchase hundreds of billions of dollars in American energy over the coming decades. Officials point to a string of recent long-term contracts — including Venture Global’s deals with Italy and Germany over the summer, Greece’s agreement announced last week, and a newly signed contract between Spain’s Naturgy and Venture Global — as evidence that the “energy dominance” agenda is reshaping global trade flows.

Rob Jennings, vice president for natural gas markets at the American Petroleum Institute, said the policy shift has unleashed a wave of investment and confirmed strong demand for U.S. LNG.

“Five facilities have made their final investment decisions in the first nine months of this year, totaling about 50 million metric tons per year of new capacity — more than $50 billion in investment,” he told Fox News. Digital “It’s a really strong signal from the market.”

Jennings said the growth in exports benefits both sides of the Atlantic.

“Since 2016, the cumulative GDP impact of the U.S. LNG industry is about $400 billion, and over the next 15 years it could add another $1.3 trillion,” he said. “At the same time, more than two-thirds of U.S. LNG exports now go to Europe every single day, replacing the gas they once bought from Russia.”

Still, industry officials warn that regulatory differences could complicate future trade. Jennings pointed to two new European policies — the E.U. methane regulation and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive — that U.S. producers say could impose foreign standards on American companies.

“Those rules are effectively Europe trying to impose its own standards globally,” he said. “We hope that can be addressed as part of the trade deal, because there’s a risk they could undermine Europe’s commitment to buy more U.S. energy.”

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Europe’s realignment is far from complete. Regulatory mismatches, high transmission tariffs, and local politics still complicate integration across Central and Eastern Europe. But for now, the combination of abundant U.S. supply and new demand from coal-to-gas transitions has created what Sabadus called “a good alignment.”

“We’re entering a buyer’s market now,” she said. “There’s abundant U.S. LNG supply, and new pockets of demand are emerging in Eastern Europe as countries move from coal to gas.”

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.

DEMOCRATS, LEFT EMPTY-HANDED IN SHUTDOWN, TURN FURY ON SCHUMER

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.

SENATE ENDS 41-DAY GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN STALEMATE, SENDS BIPARTISAN DEAL TO HOUSE

“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.

MIKE JOHNSON EYES WEDNESDAY VOTE WITH END OF GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IN SIGHT

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.”

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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.

Former President Barack Obama surprised a group of veterans in a heartfelt moment after they touched down on a flight into Washington, D.C., ahead of Veterans Day to visit memorials honoring their fellow service members.

Obama boarded the plane just before the group of World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans were about to disembark for their tour, and he took to the plane’s intercom to thank them for their sacrifice in serving the country.

“Hello, everybody,” Obama said from the front of the plane, drawing gasps from the veterans who had traveled from Madison, Wisconsin. The interior of the plane was filled with American flags and red, white and blue streamers.

TRUMP RALLIES US MILITARY’S MIGHT, FLOATS ARMED FORCES PAY RAISE IN ADDRESS TO TROOPS IN JAPAN

“What!” exclaimed one person, while another veteran in a red cap and jacket could be seen in disbelief with his mouth wide open. The emotional greeting was captured in a video posted to Obama’s X account. 

“As we approach Veterans Day, I just wanted to stop by and say thank you for your extraordinary service,” the former president continued as the veterans looked on in astonishment.

“To you, your family — the sacrifices that you all made to protect our country is something that will always be honored, and we are very grateful,” he added.

Obama could then be seen shaking hands with every veteran as they exited the aircraft at Reagan National Airport, presenting each with a presidential challenge coin — a tradition in which presidents give coins as a symbol of appreciation for service or contributions to the nation.

THIS VETERANS DAY, LET’S DO MORE THAN JUST SAY ‘THANK YOU’ TO OUR NATION’S HEROES

“Ahead of Veterans Day, I was honored to welcome a flight of veterans and their families as they arrived in D.C.,” Obama said in the X post.

“To all those who bravely served our country, thank you to you and your family for your extraordinary service,” he added. “The sacrifices that all of you made to protect our country will be honored today and every day.”

The veterans were aboard a flight organized by Honor Flight, a nonprofit launched in 2005 that provides free trips to Washington, D.C., memorials for veterans. The group operates in 46 states, has transported more than 300,000 veterans and is funded entirely by donations and volunteers, according to its website.

The veterans were met at the arrivals gate by streams of well-wishers.

“I had tears in my eyes,” said Army veteran Joe Parr. “I just couldn’t believe that there were that many people around who remembered us and were there to greet us. It was just unbelievable.”

Capt. Mary Quigley, a U.S. Navy veteran and volunteer, said it was the first time she had seen a president greet one of the flights.

“A leader who’s going to show up and tell you that your service was worth something — I think that’s the important part — so I think it was a great thing,” Quigley said.

Quigley said it was important that veterans are welcomed and acknowledged for their sacrifice, noting that many who returned home from past wars weren’t offered the same ovation.

“Back then, you got off the plane, and you had no welcome, and people were almost booing you,” said U.S. Army veteran Greg Adkins.

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U.S. Navy veteran Nels Swenson echoed those sentiments.

“I’m real happy that now, with current troops, they come back from deployments and they get welcomed back really nicely — because that’s what should happen,” Swenson said. “So it’s being recreated in this flight. It makes me feel good.”

Seventy-nine veterans and their families made the trip, according to reports.

President Donald Trump participated in a wreath-laying ceremony Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery to commemorate Veterans Day and honor the nation’s fallen service members.

He was joined by Vice President JD Vance and Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins.

The president is scheduled to deliver remarks.

This is a developing news story; check back for updates.

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. 

SENATE VOTE TO END GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IGNITES DEMOCRAT CIVIL WAR

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. “Senator 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.

SENATE DEMOCRATS EYE EXIT FROM RECORD-BREAKING SHUTDOWN AS PRESSURE INTENSIFIES

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. 

“Senator 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 President Donald 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.

SCHUMER’S SHUTDOWN SCHEME EXPLAINED: DEMS DOUBLE DOWN ON OBAMACARE CREDITS AS STANDOFF DRAGS ON

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.

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

“Pathetic,” Newsom said.

President Donald Trump on Monday defended his administration’s plan to offer 600,000 visas to Chinese students — a move that has drawn criticism from within conservative circles.

Fox News’ Laura Ingraham pressed Trump during an interview on The Ingraham Angle, questioning how the proposal was “pro-MAGA” if it crowded out spots for American students and whether universities were “getting rich” from Chinese money.

Trump argued that foreign students — particularly from China — are vital to keeping U.S. universities financially stable, adding that cutting the number of Chinese students in half would cripple the system.

“We do have a lot of people coming in from China. We always have, China and other countries. We also have a massive system of colleges and universities. And if we were to cut that in half, which perhaps makes some people happy, you would have half the colleges in the United States would go out of business,” he said.

SURVIVOR OF CHINA’S CULTURAL REVOLUTION WARNS AGAINST LETTING 600,000 CHINESE STUDENTS STUDY AT US COLLEGES

“I actually think it’s good to have outside, countries. Look, I want to be able to get along with the world, not the French, though,” he added.

“The Chinese, they spy on us, they steal our intellectual property,” Ingraham shot back.

“Do you think the French are better?” Trump said.

“Yeah,” Ingraham replied.

“I’m not so sure,” Trump said, citing French tariffs.

Trump continued to frame the issue in economic terms, saying Chinese students pay far more in tuition than Americans and help sustain the system.

TRUMP IGNITES CONSERVATIVE BACKLASH AFTER OPENING DOOR TO 600,000 CHINESE STUDENTS: ‘WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?’

“It’s not that I want them, but I view it as a business,” he said. “One thing you don’t want to cut half of the people, half of the students from all over the world that are coming into our country, destroy our entire university and college system. I don’t want to do that.”

Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea last week, saying the two leaders reached agreement on “almost everything.” Following the meeting, China reportedly held off on some of its toughest export restrictions for critical minerals, while the U.S. delayed plans to impose triple-digit tariffs.

The remarks mark a reversal from earlier this year, when the Trump administration said it would “aggressively revoke” Chinese student visas amid espionage concerns. In August, Trump changed course and announced plans to expand the program dramatically.

More than 277,000 Chinese students studied in the U.S. during the 2023–2024 school year, according to the Institute of International Education — the second-largest foreign student population after India. That figure is down from a peak of over 372,000 in 2019–2020.

The comments come as the State Department has intensified its visa crackdown, revoking more than 80,000 nonimmigrant visas — including about 8,000 student visas — since the start of Trump’s term. Officials say many were revoked over criminal activity or participation in rallies against U.S. support for Israel.

Former national security advisor Michael Flynn criticized Trump’s comments on X, writing: “Sorry Mr. @POTUS if we didn’t allow 600K Chinese spies to steal even more intellectual property and other ideas about how to dominate are our way of life, it wouldn’t make a dent in U.S. colleges and universities.”

“We simply don’t need to help the Chinese anymore with their plans to be the sole superpower this century,” Flynn added. “They’ve been ripping us off for years. Because of that they have significant advantages over us now—and they have zero desire nor intent to make America great again.”

China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law requires all citizens to cooperate with Chinese Communist Party intelligence efforts in the name of national security.

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China expert Gordon Chang, whose father fled Mao Zedong’s communist government after earning a master’s degree in the U.S., called the visa proposal “wrong-headed.”

“Taking away spots in schools from Americans and giving them to future Chinese Communists is wrong, and admitting students who have been weaponized by the CCP to commit acts of espionage is extraordinarily dangerous,” Chang told Fox News Digital. “American presidents for decades have allowed China’s regime to maintain in our country organizations and extensive networks of agents and diplomats that surveil, intimidate, and coerce Chinese and other students.”

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.

MIKE JOHNSON SPEAKS OUT AFTER SENATE BREAKTHROUGH ON GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

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 5 LONGEST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS IN HISTORY: WHAT HAPPENED, HOW THEY ENDED

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.

JOHNSON WARNS US ‘BARRELING TOWARD ONE OF THE LONGEST SHUTDOWNS’ IN HISTORY

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.

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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.

President Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a jury’s civil lawsuit verdict that he sexually abused and later defamed former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll.

Trump’s lawyers argued in a filing that allegations leading to the $5 million verdict were “propped up” by a “series of indefensible evidentiary rulings” that allowed Carroll’s lawyers to present “highly inflammatory propensity evidence” against him.

“President Trump has clearly and consistently denied that this supposed incident ever occurred,” Justin Smith, one of Trump’s lawyers, and his co-counsel wrote in the filing, according to The Associated Press. “No physical or DNA evidence corroborates Carroll’s story. There were no eyewitnesses, no video evidence, and no police report or investigation.”

Carroll sued Trump twice after she released a book in 2019 that claimed Trump raped her during a brief encounter in a department store dressing room in New York City in the 1990s. Trump vigorously denied the claims, saying he had never met Carroll, that she was not his “type” and that she fabricated the incident to sell books. His vocal and repeated criticisms and denials led to Carroll’s defamation allegations.

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS $83.3 MILLION E. JEAN CARROLL JUDGMENT AGAINST TRUMP

Trump’s lawyers accused the trial judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, of warping federal evidence rules to bolster Carroll’s “implausible, unsubstantiated assertions.” They also said that by upholding the verdict, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was in conflict with other federal appeals courts on how such rules should be applied.

In September, when Trump’s lawyers first indicated they would appeal to the Supreme Court, Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said, “We do not believe that President Trump will be able to present any legal issues in the Carroll cases that merit review by the United States Supreme Court,” the AP reported.

A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team told the AP the Supreme Court appeal was part of the president’s crusade against “Liberal Lawfare.”

“The American People stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes,” the statement said.

TRUMP ARGUES SCHUMER ‘MADE A MISTAKE’ AMID DEMOCRAT LEADER’S PARTY INFIGHTING

A three-judge appellate panel upheld the verdict in December 2024, rejecting Trump’s claims that Kaplan’s decisions spoiled the trial. Then in June, 2nd Circuit judges denied Trump’s petition for the full appellate court to take up the case. That left Trump with two options: accept the result and allow Carroll to collect the judgment, which he’d previously paid into escrow, or fight on in Supreme Court.

Trump skipped the 2023 trial but testified briefly at a follow-up defamation trial last year that ended with a jury ordering him to pay Carroll an additional $83.3 million.

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The 2nd Circuit upheld that verdict on Sept. 8, with a three-judge panel calling the jury’s damages awards “fair and reasonable.” Trump has since asked the full appellate court to hear arguments and reconsider the ruling.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom, Ashley Oliver and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Vice President JD Vance’s office hit back Monday at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who used a Philadelphia press conference to criticize Vance while outlining the state’s contingency plan to keep SNAP (food stamp) benefits flowing during the government shutdown.

Shapiro had joined 24 states to successfully sue the USDA over November’s SNAP benefit suspension. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania itself was not a plaintiff, as Republican Attorney General David Sunday was not involved.

Shapiro referenced Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy” and the Ohioan’s strong bonds with his elders in Breathitt County, Kentucky – the heart of Appalachia – as he lit into what he described as the vice president’s “bull—- politics” that belie his Appalachian roots.

“America has a president and a vice president that don’t give a damn about all Americans,” he added.

SCHUMER, DEMS CALL ‘BULL—-‘ ON TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OVER FOOD STAMP SHUTDOWN THREAT

Vance press secretary Taylor Van Kirk responded in comments to Fox News Digital on Monday, saying the governor should “take a look in the mirror if he wants to see who is to blame for this Democrat shutdown.”

She said Shapiro and Democrats supported “Schumer’s shutdown” and in doing so “screwed over working-class men and women.”

“While little Josh was whining like a child about the problems his own party created, the Trump administration has been crafting a deal with commonsense Democrats to reopen the government and fund SNAP benefits,” Van Kirk added.

YOUNGKIN DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY OVER ‘DEMOCRAT SHUTDOWN’ DEPLETING SNAP BENEFITS FOR 850K VIRGINIANS

Shapiro had joined his fellow Montgomery County Democrat Val Arkoosh to discuss the SNAP freeze’s effects and what he and Arkoosh – the state’s human services chief — were doing to help affected families.

When a reporter told Shapiro that Vance criticized the court order demanding the release of SNAP funds, the governor said that he would expect President Donald Trump to do so but that Vance’s history wouldn’t presage the same response.

“JD Vance is a total phony… [he] rose to some prominence by writing a book about growing up in Appalachia, where there’s a whole lot of people who get SNAP,” Shapiro said.

VANCE BLAMES SCHUMER’S FEAR OF AOC PRIMARY CHALLENGE AS SHUTDOWN CAUSE

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), led by permanent co-chair Gayle Manchin and 2025 co-chair Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland, considers 423 counties from Alabama to New York part of Appalachia, including three-quarters of Pennsylvania. ARC reported 1.4 million families in its region are on SNAP, including 14% of families in Appalachian Pennsylvania.

“[Vance] made millions of dollars on the backs of telling their stories, and then he turned his damn back on those very people who he likes to write about and claim as his own,” Shapiro said.

He added that Vance professes to be a person of faith, and cited a passage from the book of Deuteronomy that says people should respond to those in need with an open hand.

IN A SNAP, TRUMP BLAMED FOR BLOCKING FOOD ASSISTANCE TO LOW-INCOME FAMILIES

“So for JD Vance now to turn around after claiming all these things his whole life and literally go to court to stop hungry people from eating, that is not only phony, it’s shameful.”

“You’ll excuse me for getting emotional about it, but when I see hungry people in my state who are hungry because of JD Vance’s bull—- politics, that makes me angry. And that’s why I went to court.”

At the presser, Shapiro explained that Arkoosh’s office was able to fund SNAP through a state disaster declaration and directing millions of dollars to food banks through the Feeding Pennsylvania program.

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“Republicans in Congress must work across the aisle to quickly reopen the government and protect food assistance and access to health care for the millions of people in Pennsylvania and around the country still at risk because of this continued inaction,” Arkoosh said in a statement.

The war of words could preview a potential 2028 matchup as both Vance and Shapiro are considered top potential contenders for their parties’ presidential nominations next cycle.

FIRST ON FOX: House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, will not seek re-election in 2026.

The senior Republican lawmaker will have finished serving a decade in Congress when he leaves at the end of next year.

“I have a firm conviction, much like our founders did, that public service is a lifetime commitment, but public office is and should be a temporary stint in stewardship, not a career,” Arrington said.

And the conservative Texan told Fox News Digital he felt he was leaving on a high note, having played a key role in crafting President Donald Trump’s big, beautiful bill.

DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD OF TRUMP CUT NEW JERSEY REPUBLICANS DOWN TO SIZE

“It was a very unique, generational impact opportunity, to be almost ten years into this and to have the budget chairmanship, and to lead the charge to successfully pass that and to help this president fulfill his mandate from the people,” Arrington said. “It just seems like a good and right place to leave it.”

He cited multiple legislative items across his tenure as Budget Committee chair when asked what he took pride in, but added, “It’s more of changing the narrative and the culture in Congress and in my party that I’m most proud of.”

“I’m from a rural district and I can tell you, raising the profile among urban and suburban members as to the unique challenges of rural America and the unique contributions of rural America — like food security and energy independence and how much the nation depends on these plow boys and cowboys in rural areas — that’s another thing I’m proud of,” he said.

Arrington said he had faith Republicans in Washington would pick up his mantle of fiscal hawkishness, or as he’s often called it, “reversing the curse” of public debt.

“The president’s committed to it, he talks about it all the time. He’s actually doing something about it with very difficult decisions, not politically popular decisions. This is all about political will,” Arrington said. “Trump’s doing it. Mike Johnson is committed to it… And we have a growing number of fiscal hawks who are absolutely dogged on this issue.”

But he said he would continue to push for further fiscal reforms for his remaining year on Capitol Hill, including another budget reconciliation bill to follow up on the big, beautiful bill.

“I don’t know where the Senate Republicans are. I don’t know where the president is and can’t speak for the White House. But the House is at the ready,” Arrington said. “It’s been our most consequential tool to support the president and the strength of the country, and I don’t see any reason we wouldn’t utilize it to its fullest extent.”

The West Texas Republican said he had not given much thought to what he would do next but said he wanted to “remain in the fight,” adding he would seek a “new leadership challenge” that “allows me to make the biggest difference on as many people as I can.”

SCOOP: HOUSE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN ARM ANCHORS MAMDANI TO VULNERABLE DEMOCRATS

“And then I would say…I am looking forward to quality time with my wife and kids and focusing on my leadership and service, not in the people’s house, but in my own house,” Arrington said.

He said he hoped to “make a difference” in the lives of his two young sons and daughter.

Arrington’s Lubbock-anchored district leans heavily Republican, meaning it’s unlikely to flip to blue in the 2026 midterms.

And come the end of his time next year, the conservative lawmaker said he would leave with no regrets.

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“I’m thankful that God called me and gave me the grace to succeed and to achieve the things that we’ve achieved,” Arrington said.

“His grace looks like the members of Congress that I’ve been doing battle with, my budget hawks who I’ve been in the trenches with, my constituents who I run into in the grocery store, who want to pray with me right there in the aisle while I’m checking out. The grace of God looks like my wife being both mom and dad about two-thirds of the time, because I’m in Washington doing battle for the country.”

He finished, “Did I make my share of mistakes? You bet. Did I learn along the way? You bet I did. But we left [the country] better than we found it, and it gives me great satisfaction.”

Senate Democrats want to curb President Donald Trump’s ability to unilaterally resume nuclear testing, as the president suggested the U.S. would do on an “equal basis” with Russia and China moving forward.

While Trump did not elaborate and clarify what reinstating nuclear testing would involve, Senate Democrats are seeking to put some limitations in place for the executive branch amid concerns that launching the first nuclear test in more than 30 years would prompt near-peer adversaries like China to follow.

As a result, Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., introduced the No Nuclear Testing Without Approval Act Friday. The measure prohibits the U.S. from conducting a nuclear test unless a foreign state first conducts a nuclear test, and would require Congress to sign off on such nuclear tests.

“Restarting nuclear testing would be reckless and unnecessary,” Kelly said in a Friday statement. “We’ve already conducted more than a thousand tests and know our warheads work. This would just risk triggering a dangerous chain reaction, potentially encouraging countries like China to do the same and advance their own technology.”

ENERGY SECRETARY REVEALS HOW US NUCLEAR TESTS WILL WORK

Trump’s call to reinstate nuclear testing struck a chord with those in Nevada, where the bulk of U.S. nuclear testing from 1951 to 1992 was conducted at the Nevada Test Site. The area is now known as the Nevada National Security Site, which aims to safeguard the U.S.’ nuclear weapons stockpile. 

But the site is the only location currently in the U.S. where a nuclear test could be administered, according to the lawmakers.

“Nevadans were blindsided when President Trump said he could revive the outdated, misguided practice of detonating nuclear weapons just 60 miles from my hometown of Las Vegas,” Cortez Masto said in a Friday statement. “No administration should have the authority to set off nuclear bombs on American soil without any oversight or outreach to the states that would bear the burden of these dangerous tests.”

Likewise, Rosen emphasized the gravity of resuming nuclear testing, and said that “a decision of this magnitude should not be made lightly or on a whim by an erratic President.”

Reps. Steven Horsford and Susie Lee, both Democrats from Nevada, are expected to introduce companion legislation in the House.

RUSSIA DRAWING UP PLANS TO CONDUCT NUCLEAR TESTS AFTER TRUMP ANNOUNCEMENT

Trump announced in October just ahead of a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping that the U.S. would revive nuclear weapons testing — even though the U.S. has not done so since 1992.

“They seem to all be nuclear testing,” Trump later told reporters on Air Force One. “We don’t do testing — we halted it years ago. But with others doing testing, it’s appropriate that we do also.”

It wasn’t immediately clear what Trump meant in terms of reviving nuclear testing, since no country has launched a known nuclear test since North Korea in 2017. China and Russia last conducted known tests in the 1990s, when Russia was still the Soviet Union.

The White House told Fox News Digital Monday that Trump had made his stance clear and that testing would occur on a reciprocal basis. 

“Democrats should spend less time trying to usurp the president’s executive authority and more time working with the administration to advance peace through strength,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said. 

TRUMP BREAKS 33-YEAR NUCLEAR TESTING SILENCE AS WORLD BRACES FOR DANGEROUS NEW ARMS RACE

Even so, experts said that Trump may have been referring to beefing up testing of nuclear-powered weapons, or moving ahead with secretive, low-yield nuclear weapons testing.

Furthermore, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that testing will involve “the other parts of a nuclear weapon” and that nuclear explosions wouldn’t occur. 

“I think the tests we’re talking about right now are systems tests,” Wright said in an interview with Fox News November 3. “These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call noncritical explosions.”

Trump’s statement came days after Russia announced it had successfully tested its new, nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, which NATO has dubbed “Skyfall.”

As a result, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said it’s critical the president responds to those like Russian President Vladimir Putin, who have nuclear weapons.

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“When you have a madman that has nuclear weapons like Putin does and he starts rattling his saber, it’s important for the president to respond,” Risch told reporters on Oct. 30. “And he responded in a way that is reasonable.”

Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

House Democrats attempted a last-ditch maneuver to secure an extension of COVID-19-era emergency Obamacare subsidies on Monday. 

Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., took to the floor in a pro forma session asking the mostly empty chamber to unanimously approve its passage.

“I ask unanimous consent to extend the ACA tax credits,” Ivey said, referring to Obamacare.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS DIVIDED OVER OBAMACARE AS GOP EYES FIX AFTER SHUTDOWN

If successful, Ivey’s motion would have allowed the bill to clear the chamber without a single vote. His attempt failed, however, as the chair, Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., drowned out Ivey by gaveling over his motion.

Ivey’s unorthodox maneuver highlights divisions among Democrats as the government looks toward a resolution on the shutdown, and it comes after the Senate advanced a bill on Sunday evening that would reopen the government through Jan. 30.

‘THE PANDEMIC’S OVER’: GOP, DEM SENATORS SPAR ON CAMERA OVER COSTLY OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES

Since the beginning of the shutdown, Democrats led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., have demanded that lawmakers extend expiring emergency subsidies passed in 2021 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that the supplemental funding will phase out at the end of the year, Democrats have raised alarm that a sudden stop to federal assistance will leave many policyholders facing higher premiums overnight.

But the resolve to continue holding out over the credits cratered among Democrats on Sunday when eight of them voted with Republicans to put the government on track to end the 40-day government shutdown that began on Oct. 1. 

OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES AT CENTER OF DEM SHUTDOWN FIGHT ‘FUEL’ HEALTHCARE COST INFLATION, CONSERVATIVES SAY

Democrats in the House of Representatives have largely called the vote a capitulation to Republican demands, noting that Democrats have not secured any substantive agreements on the subsidies themselves.

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Having cleared the threat of a filibuster on Sunday evening, the Senate will likely advance the short-term spending bill within the next two days. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said the House will consider it as soon as possible once it passes the Senate.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the only Republican who broke with his party and voted no on the test vote to break a filibuster on the deal to reopen the government.

Paul voted nay because he wanted a guarantee of a change in the bill regarding hemp.

The measure prevents “unregulated sales” of “intoxicating hemp-based” products at gas stations and small retailers. It preserves the sale of non-intoxicating CBD in other hemp-related products.

So if the Senate got 60 votes last night to break the filibuster and only needs 51 to pass the bill, why is the Senate stymied by Paul?

GOVERNMENT LIMPS DEEPER INTO SHUTDOWN CRISIS WITH NO DEAL IN SIGHT

It’s about speed.

Buckle up for this next part. It gets complicated.

The vote last night was on breaking a filibuster to proceed to the original House-passed spending measure from September. That needed 60 yeas.

HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO WHAT TO EXPECT TONIGHT ON THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Therefore, the Senate has just broken a filibuster to begin work on the bill.

By rule, the Senate can run out 30 hours of debate after breaking the filibuster, unless Paul relents. That would get us to a minor procedural vote to actually get on the bill by dawn Tuesday morning.

That is, unless there’s an agreement with Paul — or, for that matter, other Democratic senators to expedite things.

But wait. There’s more.

The intention of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. — and this was done with a wink and a nod to secure an agreement last night — is for him to file what’s called a “substitute” amendment. A substitute simply removes the House’s old bill text and replaces it with the new spending package.

But because this is a substitute amendment, Thune must then file cloture to break a filibuster on that. By rule, Thune could not do that until Tuesday. Cloture petitions require an intervening day before ripening. So that means the Senate could not vote to break a filibuster on the substitute (e.g. the new bill) until Thursday. Again, that needs 60 yeas. And if there’s no deal, the Senate could bleed out another clock before voting yes or no on the substitute. Presumably that would be Friday.

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN RISK GROWS AFTER DEMS BLOCK TRUMP-BACKED EXTENSION FOR A 2ND TIME

But we’re not done yet.

If the Senate adopts the new text on Friday, then Thune must file cloture again on the underlying bill on Friday, wait a day (Saturday) and then have a vote to break a filibuster on that (again needing 60 votes) Sunday.

This scenario means that the Senate would finally pass the newly revamped spending bill next Monday. And it would mean that the House doesn’t tackle the bill until Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

So it really stretches out the government shutdown.

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That said, this is probably not going to happen. That’s doing things by the book.

But it’s also why it’s in the interest of Thune to get a deal with Paul to accelerate things. Otherwise, Paul or the Democrats who oppose the bill can really slow things down and extend the shutdown.

Rama Duwaji, the wife of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, is reminiscent of Hunter Biden, according to a leading U.S. artist, because of her rising profile, connections and politically charged “sketches.”

“She will be vastly promoted by the art establishment because of who she is and what she is communicating,” conservative political artist Jon McNaughton told Fox News Digital.

His comments came after Duwaji had been sharing her mostly black-and-white drawings online for months.

“In the art world, who you are can have a huge effect on marketability. Just look at Hunter Biden,” he added. “Hunter gained notoriety for his art through his political connections.”

MAMDANI’S GOD SQUAD: THE CLERICS, ACTIVISTS AND POLITICAL OPERATIVES WHO HAVE HIS BACK

As democratic socialist Mamdani, 34, was about to be elected as New York City mayor, Duwaji shared a post on Instagram about art.

“Things I saw in October that made me want to make art,” she wrote, before listing 14 artistic items she enjoyed.

“I don’t recall seeing an elected official’s spouse do this,” said McNaughton. “They seem like a couple that share the same values and politics. Her art is likely to resonate with those who elected him,” he added. “It feels like a student sketchbook of ideas.”

The former president’s son, meanwhile, launched his own art career in 2021, exhibiting abstract works.

His paintings reportedly sold for as much as $500,000, per The Washington Post. 

In an interview with The New York Times, Hunter said painting “put my energy towards something positive.”

“It keeps me away from people and places where I shouldn’t be,” he added.

MEET MAMDANI’S RADICAL ADVISORY CIRCLE THAT INCLUDES COMMUNIST ACTIVIST, ANTI-ISRAEL ADVOCATES

Despite maintaining a low profile during her husband’s campaign, Duwaji stirred some controversy when she shared an Instagram post in October of a Palestinian influencer known for celebrating Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks, according to media reports.

Per the New York Post, the Brooklyn-based animator and illustrator posted an image honoring Saleh al-Jafarawi. She reportedly captioned her post, “Beloved Jafarawi,” followed by four broken-heart emojis.

“As she explained in her posts, her art reflects her personal beliefs and serves as a way to communicate her heart and mind to others,” added McNaughton.

“For those who resonate with her message, it will make perfect sense — though it’s unlikely to change anyone’s mind. Ultimately, it stands as a reflection of herself,” he added.

DNC EMBRACES SOCIALIST MAMDANI AS RESURFACED ANTI-ISRAEL REMARKS RAISE ALARM: ‘BIG TENT PARTY’

In March, Duwaji also shared a post depicting Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian-Algerian activist detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“On Saturday night, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian-Algerian activist, was snatched by ICE from his Columbia-owned apartment in NYC without notice,” Duwaji wrote on Instagram, next to an animated sketch of Khalil.

“This is an attack on freedom of speech, and sets a scary f—ing precedent for anyone who speaks up for what’s right. Resist,” she wrote.

The artist, a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Communication Arts and Design program, also shared a post in October with an animated sketch of a boat with the title, “Eyes On The Global Sumud Flotilla.”

INSIDE THE MAMDANI MACHINE: SOROS CASH, SOCIALISTS AND RADICAL IMAMS ENGINEERED ZOHRAN MAMDANI’S PATH TO POWER

“Her art has a modern illustrative quality, woodcut aesthetic, and a mix of Gothic and Art Nouveau,” explained McNaughton.

“Every good idea begins with a sketch. We work out the concept using simple forms and later develop it into something more. I’ve seen many sketchbooks of students similar to these. That’s not an insult, just an observation,” he said.

“Her animation of ‘Eyes on Jenin’ reminded me of George Floyd with the knee on the neck. She uses the same visualization that led to the BLM riots,” he added.

“The painting uses the metaphor of a knee on the neck like the George Floyd death.”

MAMDANI’S GOD SQUAD: THE CLERICS, ACTIVISTS AND POLITICAL OPERATIVES WHO HAVE HIS BACK

Duwaji met Mamdani on the dating app Hinge in 2022. They became engaged in October 2024, celebrating their engagement in Dubai.

The couple later married in a civil ceremony in New York City in early 2025 and held a three-day Indian wedding in Uganda in August.

“Art has a powerful capacity to bring focus to a movement. While some people perceive political art as propaganda, artists throughout history have used their creations to speak for or against the political tide,” said McNaughton.

“Most galleries and museums look for a great story, and being on the correct side of politics opens doors and boosts sales,” he added.

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“It’s only considered propaganda if it’s commissioned by the state, or if you happen to be conservative. Pun intended,” McNaughton concluded.

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

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening…

-Top Dem Gov accuses JD Vance of “betraying” his home Appalachia with SNAP fight

-Dem senator reveals deal that secured shutdown’s fate — says it was ‘worth it’ to stop federal layoffs

-New Hampshire governor recruits NYC business owners fleeing Mamdani ‘regime’

Mike Johnson eyes Wednesday vote with end of government shutdown in sight

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is anticipating the House could vote to end the government shutdown as early as Wednesday, Fox News Digital is told.

The House GOP leader held a lawmaker-only call late on Monday morning where he urged Republicans to return to Washington as soon as possible for what is expected to be just a single day of voting before a full session week begins on Nov. 17.

“We’re going to plan on voting, on being here, at least by Wednesday,” Johnson said, Fox News Digital was told. “It is possible that things could shift a little bit later in the week, but right now we think we’re on track for a vote on Wednesday. So we need you here.”…READ MORE.
 

White House

‘FEAR MACHINE’: FDA moves to lift ‘black box’ warnings from hormone therapies for menopause symptoms

TESTING TUG-OF-WAR: Democrats fight to block Trump’s ‘reckless and unnecessary’ call to restart nuclear testing

‘LIPSTICK ON A PIG’: WATCHDOG: How universities are rebranding DEI to skirt Trump’s crackdown

World Stage

CROSSED THE LINE: Chinese diplomat threatens to cut off new Japanese PM’s head over Taiwan comments

MOSCOW’S GAME: Russia’s Lavrov says he is ready to meet Rubio but won’t budge on Ukraine terms

Capitol Hill

CHECK-IN CHAOS: Shutdown may be ending but flight disruptions are far from over, here’s what the numbers show

GAVELED DOWN: Democrats attempt last-ditch effort to save Obamacare subsidies as shutdown end draws near

CHANGING OF GUARD: Another House Dem drops out of 2026 rat race as party faces generational reckoning

SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: Senate hopes to blow through procedural hurdles in bid to reopen government

ON THE HOUSE: House conservative leader gives blessing to Senate shutdown deal, with ‘one caveat’

GROUNDED NATION: Johnson orders lawmakers back to DC ‘right now’ as shutdown sparks travel chaos

DEMS IN CHAOS: Senate vote to end government shutdown ignites Democrat civil war

Across America 

NO REVERSAL: Supreme Court rejects appeal from county clerk who sought to overturn same-sex marriage decision

FEDS VS SANCTUARY: Portland-area county declares state of emergency over ICE activity, as police probed for helping DHS

DRAWN CONNECTIONS: Mamdani’s wife’s ‘student sketchbook’ art is Hunter Biden effect all over again, says US artist

ELECTION UPHEAVEL: Every county in blue state shifted farther to the left in latest high-stakes election: data

BOUNDARY BRAWL: Judge set to choose new congressional map in fight that could reshape House control

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

FIRST ON FOX: A Republican activist who was a top supporter last year of President Donald Trump’s bid to win back the White House is hoping to break the GOP’s losing streak in a key congressional swing seat.

Elizabeth Girard, who served as co-chair of Trump’s 2024 campaign in New Hampshire, on Monday formally launched her campaign for the swing state’s open 1st Congressional District, which Republicans haven’t captured in over a decade.

“I’ll work with President Trump and my colleagues to deliver tangible results and ensure our state’s future stays bright for generations to come,” Girard said in a statement and an accompanying video that was shared nationally first with Fox News Digital.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2025 ELECTIONS

The district, which stretches from Manchester east to Portsmouth and north to the White Mountains, is one of the GOP’s top targets as Republicans aim to not only protect but expand their razor-thin House majority in next year’s midterm elections.

SCOOP: HOUSE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN ARM ANCHORS MAMDANI TO VULNERABLE DEMOCRATS

The 1st District was once one of the leading congressional swing seats in the country, but Democrats have won five straight elections in the district, including the last four by Rep. Chris Pappas. But with the seat opening up as Pappas runs for the Senate in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Republicans see an opportunity to flip the House seat.

In her announcement, Girard pledged to bring “results-drive, commonsense leadership to Washington — and to amplify New Hampshire’s voice.”

She said her priorities, if elected, would include lowering the cost of living and healthcare in New Hampshire, empowering small businesses and innovators to thrive, and “providing care for veterans and seniors who build and defended this nation.”

Girard joins a crowded Republican primary field that also includes auto dealer and real estate developer Anthony DiLorenzo, Hollie Noveletsky — a former New Hampshire GOP vice chair who came in second in the 2024 Republican congressional primary in the district — state Rep. Brian Cole, and Bedford Republican Committee Vice Chair Melissa Bailey.

Seven Democrats are running for their party’s nomination, including former Portsmouth city councilor Stefany Shaheen, who is the daughter of Sen. Shaheen, and Maura Sullivan, a New Hampshire Democratic Party vice chair, runner-up to Pappas in the 2018 congressional primary, and a U.S. Marine veteran who served in the Defense Department during former President Barack Obama’s administration.

Girard, a 2016 graduate of the University of New Hampshire, served as president of the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women (NHFRW). She also ran unsuccessfully for the state’s open Republican National Committeewoman seat.

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Girard was still NHFRW chair when she endorsed Trump at a campaign rally in December 2023, which broke the organization’s longstanding rule of not taking sides in a GOP primary. She promptly resigned from her leadership role with the group to become a Trump co-chair in New Hampshire.