NationalWatch

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.

The shutdown stalemate that has dragged on in the Senate officially ended late Monday night, and it places Congress on a path to reopen the government later this week.

Senators advanced a bipartisan funding package to end the government shutdown after a group of Senate Democrats broke from their colleagues and joined Republicans in their bid to reopen the government.

Those same eight Senate Democratic caucus members stuck with Republicans and provided the crucial votes needed to send the package to the House.

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

The votes went deep into Monday night on the shutdown’s 41st day and resulted in an updated continuing resolution (CR) being combined with a trio of spending bills in a minibus package that is now headed to the House.

Whether the Senate would get to this point was in the air for much of last week and even earlier in the day. On Monday, lawmakers were riding high after smashing through the package’s first procedural test, but concerns of objections and other procedural maneuvers threatened to derail the process.

“I think everybody’s pretty united [behind] this bill,” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said. “We want to reopen the government.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus demanded throughout the entirety of the shutdown that they would only vote to reopen the government if they received an ironclad deal on expiring Obamacare subsidies.

But that deal, or at least the one that Democrats wanted, never materialized. Instead, eight Senate Democrats took the offer that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has made since the beginning: A guarantee to vote on legislation that would deal with the subsidies.

SENATE HOPES TO BLOW THROUGH PROCEDURAL HURDLES IN BID TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT

Thune reiterated his promise and noted that a vote would come, “No later than the second week of December.” The subsidies are set to expire by the end of the year.

“We have senators, both Democrat and Republican, who are eager to get to work to address that crisis in a bipartisan way,” he said. “These senators are not interested in political games, they’re interested in finding real ways to address healthcare costs for American families. We also have a president who is willing to sit down and get to work on this issue.”

Senate Democrats did not leave completely empty-handed, however.

Included in the revamped CR, which would reopen the government until Jan. 30, was a reversal of the Trump administration’s firing of furloughed federal workers, a deal to ensure that furloughed workers would get back pay and future protections for federal workers during shutdowns.

“This was the only deal on the table,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., one of the eight that crossed the aisle to support the package, said. “It was our best chance to reopen the government and immediately begin negotiations to extend the [Obamacare] tax credits that tens of millions of Americans rely on to keep costs down.”

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., another of the eight Senate Democrats to break with Schumer, said that it was clear that Republicans weren’t going to budge on their position that healthcare would be dealt with after the government reopened. 

But it wasn’t the guarantee of a vote on the expiring subsidies that got him to splinter, it was promises that there would be protections for federal employees. 

SENATE DEMOCRATS CAVE, OPEN PATH TO REOPENING GOVERNMENT

“If you wait another week, they’re going to get hurt more, another month or even more,” Kaine said. “So what got me over the line was the pledge that they were able to give the federal employees.” 

On the House side, it appears GOP leaders are eager to move quickly on ending the prolonged shutdown.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., earlier Monday told Fox News Digital that he would bring the House back into session “immediately” upon Senate passage of the legislation.

He later told House Republicans on a lawmaker-only call that he anticipated a vote in their chamber midweek at the earliest, Fox News Digital was told.

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“We’re going to plan on voting, on being here, at least by Wednesday,” Johnson said. “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.”

Johnson signaled the House would not move to fast-track the legislation via suspension of the rules however, which would bypass procedural hurdles in exchange for raising the passage threshold to two-thirds of the chamber.

It’s not a surprising move given House Democratic leaders’ opposition to the bill.

He said, however, that the House Rules Committee should be ready to move by Tuesday at the earliest.

Rep. Elise Stefanik on Monday night accepted the World Jewish Congress’ highest honor, vowing to continue fighting antisemitism and defending what she called “the very Western values that have shaped America” just days after announcing her bid for New York governor.

Speaking before 400 guests at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, Stefanik received the Theodor Herzl Award from Ronald Lauder, the businessman and former U.S. ambassador to Austria under President Ronald Reagan. Established in 2012, the award is considered the World Jewish Congress’ highest honor and recognizes individuals who embody Herzl’s vision for a secure and self-reliant Jewish people.

“I want to thank my friend Ambassador Ronald Lauder for his steadfast leadership and his extraordinary commitment to the cause of Jewish unity and security,” Stefanik said. “Under his leadership, the World Jewish Congress has carried forward Theodor Herzl’s vision — not only of a Jewish homeland, but of a Jewish people strong, self-reliant, and respected among the nations.”

“It is deeply humbling to receive the Theodor Herzl Award from the World Jewish Congress — an organization that, for generations, has stood as the diplomatic voice and moral conscience of the Jewish people across the globe,” she continued. “You have defended Jewish communities in every corner of the world, fought antisemitism in every form, and strengthened the unbreakable bonds between Israel and the global community of free nations.”

KEY TRUMP ALLY JUMPS INTO NEW YORK GOVERNOR’S RACE DAYS AFTER SHOCKING MAMDANI MAYORAL VICTORY

Stefanik described her fight against antisemitism in Congress and on college campuses, recalling her viral 2023 hearing with the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania.

“Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university’s code of conduct?” she recalled asking what she said was a moral question, not a political one. “I expected them to say ‘yes.’ But one after another after another said, ‘it depends on the context.’ And the world heard. Let me be clear. It does NOT depend on the context.”

She said that exchange “set off a global reckoning and delivered accountability in higher education that we are still just beginning.”

STEFANIK DECRIES HOCHUL AS ‘WORST GOVERNOR IN AMERICA’ IN FIERY 2026 CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

Turning to New York, Stefanik said the state “is not just a city and state in crisis — it is the epicenter of the battle for the very Western values that have shaped America.”

“Eighty years after Kristallnacht, we must not stay silent. I will continue to call out Antisemitism. Bigotry. Jew-hatred. Anti-Americanism,” she said. “This moral fight is particularly important in New York — the beloved home to more Jews than anywhere outside of Israel — where antisemitic incidents hit an all-time high last year, the highest count in the nation.”

“My friends, Theodor Herzl’s story is not ancient history,” she said. “That is the spirit I see in this room tonight — the spirit that built Israel, the spirit that has always animated the Jewish people, and the spirit that will save New York.”

STEFANIK TO RELEASE NEW BOOK ON COLLEGE ANTISEMITISM AS SHE EYES BID FOR NY GOVERNOR

The award comes a day after billionaire philanthropist Miriam Adelson voiced support for Rep. Elise Stefanik’s New York gubernatorial bid during the Zionist Organization of America’s Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award Dinner.

Stefanik, chairwoman of the House Republican Leadership, was honored with the Zionist Organization of America’s Mortimer Zuckerman Maccabee Warrior Award for her efforts to combat antisemitism.

Introducing her at the gala, Adelson lauded Stefanik for confronting university leaders over antisemitism and invoked her late husband Sheldon Adelson’s insistence on moral conviction.

Adelson described Stefanik as “a great leader,” crediting her for defending “the Jewish people, Israel and the Free World.”

Stefanik launched her long-anticipated Republican campaign for New York governor on Friday, entering the 2026 race as she challenges Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Hochul’s office for a comment.

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Stefanik, who once criticized President Donald Trump during his first presidential run, has since become one of his staunchest defenders in Congress.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

A conservative student from Beloit College in Wisconsin says her school is blocking students from establishing a new Turning Point USA (TPUSA) club on campus and has failed to adequately protect its members from harassment and threats they have faced for trying to do so. 

On Oct. 1, Jocelyn Jordan and some of her classmates began applying to start a new Turning Point USA chapter at Beloit College, requiring them to find a faculty advisor, among a list of other requirements needed to start a club on campus. 

Every faculty member the students have asked thus far, including the dean of students, refused to help them, according to Jordan, who said she was advised to establish a group that does not have the Turning Point name attached to it. Jordan also claimed a member of the student government said that even if they were to find a faculty advisor, they still would not be able to establish a Turning Point chapter on campus.   

Meanwhile, Jordan and her classmates began promoting their club on social media around mid-October, leading to a harassment campaign targeting the students for their efforts to create a chapter of the Republican group, first founded by assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk, on their campus. The harassment initially included disturbing imagery posted on the group’s new Instagram page, referring to Jordan and her co-founders as Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members and White supremacists, but eventually devolved into threats.

TEXAS LAUNCHES EFFORT TO INSTALL TPUSA IN EVERY HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE

However, Jordan said the university dismissed the students’ initial harassment concerns, telling them there was nothing faculty could do because they could not identify who was making the harassing posts. When the harassment devolved into threats, Jordan filed a subsequent police report, a move that appeared to spur greater action from the college, which eventually banned one of the main harassers from campus, who Jordan said was an alumnus working in food service on campus at the time.

“As a student, I should feel comfortable coming to campus no matter what beliefs I have, no matter what I identify as, no matter who I want to be. And, at this moment, I don’t feel comfortable,” Jordan told Fox News Digital. “I mean, it took three and a half weeks for [Beloit College] to even address the situation, and that doesn’t give me much hope for how this is going to turn out for Turning Point.”

LOUISIANA GOP THROWS WIGHT BEHIND TURNING POINT USA CHAPTER REJECTED BY NEW ORLEANS UNIVERSITY: ‘INJUSTICE’

In addition to banning the alumnus from campus, the college also sent out an email, which Jordan described as “vague” and pointed out that it came after weeks of their complaints that fell on deaf ears, warning students about hateful rhetoric towards other students. The email did mention an incident of late that included “the depiction of other Beloit students as dangerous radicals, Nazis, or monsters seeking to cause harm.”

“I want to remind everyone that our Student Handbook states that social media harassment … is prohibited behavior,” the email added. “Engaging thoughtfully around difference is hard, but that’s why you’ve come to Beloit: to learn to do hard things well and with compassion. So let’s try this. Be kind to one another. Give the benefit of the doubt to other students.”

The harassment campaign targeting Jordan and her classmates was led in part by a now-deleted Instagram page titled “bc_friendly_fan_edits,” which posted a photo of the potential Turning Point board members at Beloit photoshopped around Charlie Kirk in a casket and Donald Trump on a cross. The same group also posted a sexualized depiction of a female Nazi with Jordan’s face juxtaposed on it. The photo was captioned “#bullythebigots.”

Another harasser sent the group’s new Instagram page direct messages calling them “cowards” and laughing about the fact they have been unable to find a faculty advisor to support them. “Careful yall. The Klan members (tpusa_beloit) are calling in their gang (local police) to invoke fear in brown people within the community because they couldn’t handle the consequences of their own actions,” said a post sent to the hopeful TPUSA chapter’s new Instagram page via its direct messages. Other posts sought to satirize Turning Point USA’s logo, using it to create a “Meet The Campus Nazis” graphic that called out all the potential chapter members.

“Our first post received over 75 comments in just one day, with more than 90% of them being hateful. We heard every name from klan members to Nazis to white supremacists. Some people even began attacking our appearances, specifically my blonde hair (which isn’t even my natural color lol) and blue eyes,” Jordan wrote in a post on Facebook and X calling out her college for the lack of response to the situation.

CHARLIE KIRK WARNED ‘ASSASSINATION CULTURE IS SPREADING ON THE LEFT’ IN EERIE ONLINE POST MONTHS BEFORE MURDER

But then the threats started coming in, and things got a little more serious. 

“The lack of accountability is showing, but the lack of consequences won’t be,” a comment on one of the hopeful TPUSA chapter’s new Instagram posts said. 

Several posts also began chastising Jordan and her classmates for getting the police involved.  

“The day a white supremacist Nazi tries me is the day I’ll get to prove why burying authoritarians is a family legacy that I will carry on,” the same harasser who threatened there would be “consequences” posted on their Instagram story. “Come after me I dare you. If I run out of ammo I won’t run out of options. Second Amendment works better when its against Nazis.”  

“Imagine hiding your klan behind the police because you couldn’t handle the consequences of your own actions. How very klan-like of you,” said another comment on one of the group’s posts.

In response to this article, Beloit College sent Fox News Digital a lengthy statement saying the school is “committed to fostering respectful open inquiry and encouraging a diversity of perspectives on campus.” The statement also insisted it was “not blocking” the students from a path to club membership, noting it has been “in full accordance with campus policies” and that all potential clubs must follow the same list of requirements.

“The college takes all allegations of threats and harassment against students seriously, including recent ones related to the students interested in forming a Turning Point USA chapter,” the statement said. “Beloit College expects all members of our community to practice compassion and respect towards each other. We are an educational institution, and students learn best within a safe and vibrant campus environment.”

The statement also confirmed that “a recent investigation” led to one individual being banned from the Beloit College campus.

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Jordan told Fox News Digital that she and her classmates are not giving in. The group is still hoping to get their Turning Point chapter a faculty advisor, so that they can become a fully functioning student organization on campus.  

In response to the alleged political bias, GOP Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Josh Schoemann called on Beloit College to “approve the chapter.” Current governor, Democrat Tony Evers, announced his plan to retire earlier this year.

“Beloit College must approve the chapter and take immediate action to protect students from harassment and threats, anything less is a failure of leadership,” Schoemann told Fox News Digital. 

“I stand with these students in their fight to establish a Turning Point USA chapter,” Schoemann added, noting that, as governor, he “will ensure that students can freely and safely express their views on campus.”

Lawyers for roughly two dozen states will head to court Monday to block the Trump administration’s attempt to penalize them for making full payments to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients. 

The filing is the latest in a chaotic, fast-moving legal saga centered on the status of the nation’s largest anti-hunger program, which supports 42 million low-income Americans and remains stalled as a result of the ongoing government shutdown.  

“Food assistance is not a political issue,” New York Attorney General Letitia James told reporters Monday. “It is a moral imperative, and no one should go hungry because their own government is refusing to feed them.“

The request for emergency intervention comes after the Trump administration on Saturday threatened to slap states who paid out the full SNAP benefits with steep economic penalties, despite an order from U.S. District Judge John McConnell, who ordered the administration to make the full SNAP payments fully available compared to just 65%, as had been previously outlined.

TWO JUDGES RULE TRUMP ADMIN MUST KEEP SNAP BENEFITS IN PLACE AS SHUTDOWN DRAGS ON

Trump officials further 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. 

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.

States have until tomorrow morning to file their response to the Supreme Court.

The judge had scolded the Trump administration for agreeing to fund just 65% of the SNAP benefits. “It’s likely that SNAP recipients are hungry as we sit here,” McConnell said Thursday shortly before issuing the new order, which gave the USDA less than 24 hours to comply. 

In appealing the case, Trump’s legal team had argued that the judge’s order “makes a mockery of the separation of powers,” and accused McConnell of overstepping his powers as a federal judge.

“There is no lawful basis for an order that directs USDA to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions,” DOJ lawyers argued, describing his order as an “unprecedented injunction.” 

FEDERAL JUDGE RULES TRUMP MUST FULLY FUND SNAP PROGRAM BY FRIDAY

The U.S. Department of Agriculture told states in a directive on Saturday that states that failed to comply with the administration’s plans and pay only the reduced SNAP benefits could see a cancellation of federal cost-sharing benefits for SNAP, and would be otherwise fully financially “responsible for the consequences” of their actions.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin spoke out about the actions before heading to court today to seek emergency intervention. 

“We’re asking the courts to block Saturday night’s guidance and immediately make full SNAP benefits available,” Bonta said of the lawsuit. 

The group accused the Trump administration of playing politics with SNAP benefits, or the food aid that provides benefits to roughly one in eight Americans.

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

The New Jersey attorney general, Matt Platkin, described the effort by USDA to halt full SNAP payments and shift the costs to states as the “most heinous thing” he had seen while in office. 

“There are more children in New Jersey on SNAP than consists of the entire population of our state’s largest city,” he said, in an effort to contextualize the number of people in the Garden State alone who are served by the food aid program. 

“The new guidance from USDA “claimed that the steps we’ve taken to follow its earlier guidance and a court order were ‘unauthorized,’ and that we must immediately undo the actions, or we would face steep penalties,” Bonta said. 

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Trump officials separately told the Supreme Court on Monday that they will continue to seek their emergency stay of another federal judge’s order requiring them to keep SNAP benefits fully funded during the ongoing government shutdown.

The administration “still intends to pursue a stay” of that order, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the Supreme Court in a filing, barring any eleventh-hour action from Congress to reach consensus and reopen the government after the more than 40-day government shutdown. 

Following months of controversy, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation in September decrying the systemic abuse of the H-1B visa program, which he said is fueling the “large-scale replacement of American workers” that “has undermined both our economic and national security.”

To address this, Trump instituted a $100,000 fee for companies seeking to obtain an H-1B visa, a move that has been widely criticized by business leaders, especially in the tech industry.

Debate over the program has split both the American public and the GOP, with one side saying the visa holders are poaching American jobs and the other saying it is vital to U.S. competitiveness.

So, what are H-1B visas, and why have they become a political flashpoint?

TRUMP ADMIN REVEALS OVER 100 INVESTIGATIONS INTO H-1B ABUSES AS IT PLEDGES ‘EVERY RESOURCE’ TO PROTECT US JOBS

What is a H-1B visa?

A H-1B visa is a non-immigrant work visa that allows companies in the U.S. to hire highly-skilled foreign workers in specialty occupations for an initial period of three years, which can be extended to six years.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website states that the visas are meant for individuals of “exceptional merit and ability.” Individuals must have at least a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.

Which industries are the H-1B visas most common in?

By far the industry most heavily utilizing H-1B visas is the tech industry, which accounts for roughly 60 to 70 percent of all the new applications in recent years.

Other top industries include consulting and professional services, engineering and manufacturing, healthcare and medical research and higher education.

DESANTIS SAYS HE WON’T TOLERATE H-1B VISA ‘ABUSE’ IN FLORIDA UNIVERSITIES

How many foreign workers hold these visas?

There is no official figure for the number of people currently holding H-1B visas.

There is a yearly cap of 65,000 people who can obtain H-1B visas. The program allows for an additional 20,000 individuals holding master’s degrees or above. Notably, most universities and non-profit research organizations are cap-exempt, further increasing the number of people being approved each year.

The Pew Research Center estimated that about 400,000 H-1B visa applications were approved last year under the Biden administration.

Where do visa holders come from?

Nearly 3 out of every 4, 73 percent, of H-1B visa holders come from India, according to Pew. The country with the second-highest number of visa holders is China, with 12 percent. The remaining 15 percent comes from a mix of other countries, with no single country reaching the two percent threshold.

Who is against H-1B visas?

The H-1B visa program has been criticized on both sides of the political aisle, including from Trump to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

TRUMP’S $100K H-1B VISA OVERHAUL COULD HIT TECH GIANTS LIKE AMAZON AND MICROSOFT HARDEST

Critics say the current program has veered away from its original intent to attract top talent to work in the U.S. and instead is being used by employers to import cheap foreign labor, depress wages, and cut out American workers.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Senate Judiciary Chair Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, reintroduced bipartisan legislation in September to reform and close loopholes in the H-1B program to protect American workers and stop the outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries.

On the state level, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis issued guidance in October to combat the university loophole. DeSantis directed the Florida Board of Governors to end the practice of higher education institutions “importing foreign workers on H-1B visas instead of hiring Americans” by requiring universities to “put American graduates first and ensure taxpayer-funded schools serve the American workforce.”

Who supports H-1B visas?

On the other side of the debate, prominent figures such as Elon Musk have advocated for H-1B visas because the program is essential for the U.S. to maintain its competitive edge.

Shortly before Trump returned to the Oval Office, Musk said, “The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla, and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B” and pledged to “go to war” in support of the program.

However, Musk also noted his belief that “the program is broken and needs major reform.”

DOJ CALLS FOR TIPS ON EMPLOYERS FAVORING FOREIGN WORKERS IN HIRING PRACTICES

He proposed “raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically.”

Business leaders have said the H-1B program is important in competing with countries such as China, which just recently launched a similar program, called the K-visa, to attract top talent to the country. The program went into effect on Oct. 1.

The H-1B program also has the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Are Visa holders taking American jobs away?

On September 19, Trump issued a presidential proclamation titled “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers,” in which he said the H-1B visa program was being “deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor.”

Trump said this abuse has been used by companies to “artificially suppress wages, resulting in a disadvantageous labor market for American citizens, while at the same time making it more difficult to attract and retain the highest skilled subset of temporary workers, with the largest impact seen in critical science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.”

The president wrote that “the large-scale replacement of American workers through systemic abuse of the program has undermined both our economic and national security.”

TRUMP ADMIN REVEALS OVER 100 INVESTIGATIONS INTO H-1B ABUSES AS IT PLEDGES ‘EVERY RESOURCE’ TO PROTECT US JOBS

As such, Trump imposed a $100,000 fee, effective Sept. 21, 2025. The restriction will expire one year from the effective date.

Trump also directed his administration to “initiate a rulemaking to prioritize the admission as nonimmigrants of high-skilled and high-paid aliens.”

Meanwhile, another DHS rule will narrow the definition of “specialty occupation” that will allow the department officials to increase worksite compliance inspections before and after an H-1B petition, and require the petitioner’s employer to make the application directly — a move to stop companies from bringing in H-1B immigrants and then contracting them to other companies.

What’s next?

The debate over H-1B visas promises to continue in the coming months and years.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has sued the Trump administration to stop its implementation of the $100,000 application requirement, which it says would “make it cost-prohibitive for U.S. employers, especially start-ups and small and midsize businesses, to utilize the H-1B program.”

The lawsuit argues that the new fee is unlawful because it overrides provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act that govern the H-1B program, including a requirement that fees be based on the costs incurred by the government in processing visas.

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The chamber previously warned that restrictions on the H-1B program “have the potential to inflict serious harm upon many American companies.”

The case is currently ongoing. It remains to be seen whether Congress will ultimately weigh in one way or another on the issue.

Turning Point CEO Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk, attended the swearing-in of family friend Sergio Gor as President Donald Trump’s new ambassador to India.

Gor was sworn in during a packed ceremony in the Oval Office on Monday, where Trump invited Erika Kirk to speak.

“Charlie loved you,” she told Gor, highlighting her late husband’s friendship with Gor. “He would have been the first phone call when he found out if you were going to be taking this position.”

Gor was appointed as the U.S. ambassador to India in October.

CHARLIE KIRK URGED YOUTH TO REJECT ‘SEXUAL ANARCHY’ AND HOOKUP CULTURE, PASTOR RECALLS

“The way that I was able to witness the two of you work together for years and to champion and support the president was absolutely humbling to witness, and I am so proud of you and Charlie is going to be with you every single day in spirit,” Erika Kirk added. “I will be praying for you every day because I know that this is just the beginning of an incredible opportunity for you.”

Erika Kirk’s husband, conservative icon Charlie Kirk, was assassinated while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University in September.

Gor is the co-founder of Winning Team Publishing alongside Donald Trump Jr. The company has notably published several of Trump’s best-selling books, as well as several books written by Charlie Kirk. 

‘I MARRIED THE LOVE OF MY LIFE’: ERIKA KIRK WEEPS WHILE WATCHING VIDEO OF LATE HUSBAND

Gor was sworn in by Vice President JD Vance. 

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“This is an honor of a lifetime,” Gor told Trump after being sworn in. “What you have achieved in 10 months has been historic, has surpassed any other presidency.”

“I fully believe what you will achieve in the next three years will never be beaten,” he added.

The White House seems ready for Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., to leave the U.S. and go back to Somalia, where she was born.

On Monday, the White House shared on X an image of President Donald Trump waving goodbye through a McDonald’s drive-through window in 2024 in response to a video of Omar saying she wasn’t concerned about being deported.

“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.”

Omar’s office and the White House did not immediately respond to request for comment from Fox News Digital.

‘SQUAD’ DEM DISHES OUT CAMPAIGN CASH TO ANTI-ISRAEL NONPROFIT TIED TO ‘TERRORIST UNIVERSITY’

The image of Trump the White House shared was from October 2024 during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania where he worked at a McDonald’s fry station.

Omar’s family evacuated Somalia to head to a refugee camp in Kenya during the Somalian Civil War in 1991. The U.S. eventually granted her family asylum, and they came to Arlington, Virginia, in 1995 before heading to Minneapolis in 1997. Omar became a U.S. citizen in 2000.

Trump recently has suggested that Omar should return to Somalia, and said in a post on Truth Social Nov. 1 that “She should go back!” The post accompanied a video of Omar speaking Somali.

OMAR SILENT ON ANTI-ICE POST DESPITE NBC BACKTRACKING ON VIRAL SOCIAL MEDIA NARRATIVE

Likewise, Trump also told reporters in September that Somalia wasn’t interested in Omar returning.

“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.’”

In response, Omar said that the story was fabricated and called the president’s credibility into question.

AS ‘SQUAD’ TURNS ASSIMILATION INTO ‘DIRTY WORD,’ EXPERT URGES US LEADERS TO RENOUNCE FOREIGN LOYALTIES

“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.” 

Trump has sparred with Omar dating back to his first administration. For example, he blasted Omar and a few other progressive lawmakers known as “The Squad,” and said that they should all return to their “broken and crime infested” countries.

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As a result, Omar said in a social media post in 2019 that Trump was “stoking white nationalism bc you are angry that people like us are serving in Congress and fighting against your hate-filled agenda.”

Omar was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, after serving for two years in Minnesota’s House of Representatives. She became the first Somali–American woman and one of the first Muslim women to be elected to Congress.

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.”

He told House GOP lawmakers that the earliest possible vote he could anticipate would be on Wednesday morning, but he later shifted that estimate to the afternoon or evening that day given some Republicans’ schedules this week.

SENATE DEMOCRATS CAVE, OPEN PATH TO REOPENING GOVERNMENT

At least several House lawmakers would have to shift district events marking Veterans Day on Tuesday to return by Johnson’s deadline.

One Republican on the call said they would fly to D.C. early on Wednesday morning due to a large-scale event with military veterans the day prior, Fox News Digital was told.

Johnson signaled the House would not move to fast-track the legislation via suspension of the rules, which would bypass procedural hurdles in exchange for raising the passage threshold to two-thirds of the chamber.

SENATE DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS REACH DEAL TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT

Fox News Digital was told the House Rules Committee, the final barrier before a chamber-wide vote, could consider the legislation as early as Tuesday.

It’s not a surprising move, given House Democratic leaders’ opposition to the bill.

Several House Democrats have also declared they will vote against the measure because it does not include any guarantees on extending COVID-19 pandemic-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year.

The House could send President Donald Trump a bill to end the government shutdown as early as Wednesday evening if their current estimates hold.

But their movements will largely depend on what happens in the Senate, where eight Democrats joined Republicans Sunday night to break a filibuster on the shutdown’s 40th day.

But there are several votes left and procedural roadblocks that could be weaponized that could grind the Senate’s march to advance its package to the House to a halt. If all 100 senators agree to fast-track the process, the package could move as quickly as Monday night.

But if not, the bipartisan plan could stagnate in the upper chamber for several days.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., was optimistic that the Senate could finish its work Monday night but said that would be up to Senate Democrats.

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“Obviously, there are objections from the left, but as long as the votes are there to proceed, we will move forward, and hopefully without a lot of disruption or delay or fanfare right now,” Thune said. “The point is, we are on a path to get the government reopened, and we should try to get it done as soon as possible.”

Schumer didn’t say whether Democrats would block any attempt to move the process along but did blame President Donald Trump and Republicans for the shutdown, which stretched into its 41st day on Monday.

Whether Senate Democrats are in line with a cohesive strategy to block the package remains to be seen. But Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., told Fox News Digital that he “didn’t hear anything” about objections or blocks during the Democratic caucus’ closed-door meeting Sunday night.

Democrats didn’t get what they were looking for after pushing the nation into its longest shutdown on record, but to Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., that doesn’t necessarily mean they came away empty-handed. 

Kaine said that although Democrats failed to achieve concessions on the emergency Obamacare COVID-era subsidies at the center of the 41-day standoff, it was the resolution’s language on federal employees that ultimately drew his support.

Kaine, who brokered the bill’s prohibition against reductions in force (RIFs), joined seven other Democrats to advance the legislation.

MIKE JOHNSON SPEAKS OUT AFTER SENATE BREAKTHROUGH ON GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

“We reached a meeting of the minds at about 5:45 this afternoon. I walked into the caucus meeting with just a kind of deadpan face, and they were like, ‘What’s going on?’ I said, ‘We’ve got the language we need.’”

“Why did they finally give me the moratorium on mischief on RIFs? They needed my vote,” Kaine said. 

Kaine said Republicans may have been more inclined to meet his demands on federal employees following Democratic victories on election night last week in Virginia, New Jersey, New York and California.

The bill that cleared the Senate’s filibuster hurdle on Sunday would fund the government through Jan. 30. It also includes three of the government’s 12 year-long spending bills; language on the legislative branch, agriculture, and Veterans Affairs and military construction.

It did not include any language on extending the expiring Obamacare tax credits that Democrats had demanded. Democrats, led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wanted at least a one-year extension of those subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year.

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BECOMING LONGEST IN US HISTORY AS DEMOCRATS DIG IN ON OBAMACARE

Instead, Kaine secured a guarantee that the Trump administration would not conduct any more mass federal worker layoffs — at least until Jan. 30. The bill also requires the government to reinstate the employees it let go during the shutdown, with back pay included.

Ahead of the agreement he reached on Sunday, Kaine had told his party’s leadership he might break with the majority of Democrats if it meant protecting federal employees from further layoffs.

“He disagreed,” Kaine said of his conversation with the minority leader. “I went to Sen. Schumer at the start of this and told him, ‘Here’s where I am, and here’s where I’m likely to be. I’m with you for a long time, but if there’s a path forward that can help this federal workforce, which is so huge in Virginia, you [have to] know I’m going to be real sensitive to that.’” 

Virginia has the third-largest federal workforce presence of any state, according to research by the Library of Congress.

SENATE RETURNS TO WORK AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN NEARS LONGEST IN US HISTORY OVER OBAMACARE FIGHT

The restrictions against RIFs could extend beyond the January lifetime of the spending bill. 

“The CR has a provision that automatically comes into the next CR,” Kaine said, referring to the short-term spending package commonly referred to as a continuing resolution or CR. “It’s kind of wonky. There’s a separate provision that says once it’s in, it stays in unless it’s affirmatively repealed.”

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When asked if the government shutdown was worth it, Kaine said he thought so.

“To federal employees who are not going to be traumatized by RIFs going forward? Yeah,” he said.

A large van covered in rotating digital posters circled Midtown Manhattan last week after democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won a dramatic New York City mayoral election.

New Hampshire Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s campaign sent in a van covered with ads reading: “NYC business owners: Mamdani got you down? Come on up to New Hampshire for no Communism, less red tape, and less taxes,” and various phases encouraging New Yorkers to head north.

“New Hampshire has a lot to offer anyone who is looking to leave NYC ahead of the Mamdani regime,” Ayotte told Fox News Digital. “We are the safest state in the nation, the best for economic opportunity, and we have some of the lowest taxes anywhere. Whether you own a business or just want to keep more of your hard-earned money — come on up to the Granite State. We’d love to have you!”

Mamdani, who has pledged to raise taxes in order to fund his vision of free buses and free childcare, was elected mayor of New York City Tuesday.

‘DEMOCRATS ARE NERVOUS’ ABOUT POTENTIAL ZOHRAN MAMDANI VICTORY, NEW REPORT WARNS

“Come to New Hampshire,” one slide on the side of the truck read. “We’ll help your business make the switch, and you can keep more of your hard-earned money!”

The mayor-elect has not shied away from his commitment to implementing socialist policies in the Big Apple, and his tax hike proposals have reportedly discouraged individuals from moving to the city and are pushing some New Yorkers to flee the five boroughs altogether.

Fox News Digital’s Kristen Altus spoke with developer Isaac Toledano, the CEO of Miami-based BH Group, who said that his company has closed more than $100 million in signed contracts, which is twice as much as the previous year, from New York buyers in just the past few months.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI LAUNCHES ANTI-TRUMP TOUR ACROSS FIVE BOROUGHS IN NEW YORK CITY

“During COVID the first exodus was less about taxes, and more about access to schools and a more ‘normal’ way of life. Don’t get me wrong, taxes were a motivation, but not the sole motivation,” Mitch Roschelle, real estate expert and managing director at Madison Ventures, told Fox News Digital.

“Fast forward to the Mamdami era. The next exodus from NYC will be led by residents who are already paying their fair share and do not want to fund the bevy of social welfare programs that lay ahead,” Roschelle added.

According to a report from the Office of the New York State Comptroller, the population of NYC fell 5.3% from April 2020 to July 2022. For comparison, the number of New Yorkers that left the city during that time is more than the entire population of Long Beach, California.

“The exodus may not be immediate, and I suspect it will be tied to the school year for families,” Roschelle continued. “The spring will be the big test of the prevailing group—think about migration.”

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“That said, any change in public safety, or a major tax increase on the ‘rich’ will dramatically accelerate exits from NYC,” Roschelle added.

Mamdani will be officially sworn into office on Jan. 1, 2026.

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston.

EXCLUSIVE: The leader of the House’s most conservative group is tentatively giving his blessing to the Senate’s bipartisan deal to end the government shutdown.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital he was leaning in favor of supporting the legislation, though he added he was still reviewing its final details.

“As it currently is formatted, I would probably be a ‘yes’ vote,” Harris said.

The “one caveat,” he added, was a push by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to overturn a measure in the bill cracking down on the sale of some “intoxicating hemp provisions.”

MIKE JOHNSON SPEAKS OUT AFTER SENATE BREAKTHROUGH ON GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

“If that provision is removed then … I can’t support the bill,” Harris said. “We have to close the 2018 Farm Bill loophole that allows hemp-derived products to be sold with intoxicating THC levels. And in many states, it’s even sold to children. We have to reverse that.”

The Senate broke its weeks-long government funding impasse on Sunday night. Eight Democrats joined all Republicans, except for Paul, to overcome a filibuster on an updated spending bill.

It’s possible the Senate could strike a unanimous agreement to move quickly on the legislation, but all eyes are on Paul to see if he will drag out the process in protest of the hemp provision.

Overall, however, Harris said the legislative package “looks pretty favorable” from what he’d seen so far — noting the rest of his right-wing House GOP caucus likely felt the same.

“We’re still unpacking the entire package, but with the exception of the [reversal of federal layoffs], I think that the members are pretty favorable toward … the rest of the package,” Harris said.

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.

SENATE VOTE TO END GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IGNITES DEMOCRAT CIVIL WAR

It would also give lawmakers some headway with that mission, advancing legislation to fund the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration; the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction; and the legislative branch.

They are three of 12 individual bills that are meant to make up Congress’ annual appropriations, paired into a vehicle called a “minibus.”

In a victory for Democrats, the deal would also reverse federal layoffs conducted by the Trump administration in October, with those workers getting paid for the time they were off.

It also guarantees Senate Democrats a vote on legislation extending Obamacare subsidies that were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic, which are set to expire at the end of this year.

Extending the enhanced subsidies for Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), was a key ask for Democrats in the weeks-long 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 in Congress.

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Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said both publicly and privately that he would not promise Democrats a vote on the enhanced Obamacare subsidies in the House in exchange for their support.

Harris told Fox News Digital that he did not believe such a vote would pass the House or Senate.

“The COVID-era extensions, I think there is no way that that passes either chamber,” he said, referring to “clean, straight-up extensions” specifically.

A district judge in Utah is expected to make a blockbuster ruling on Monday on which of three congressional maps the red state will use in the 2026 midterm elections.

The decision by Utah District Judge Dianna Gibson on which map she chooses could determine if Democrats have a fighting chance next year of flipping one of the state’s current four Republican-controlled U.S. House seats.

Utah is the latest state to find itself smack in the middle of the high-stakes redistricting showdown between President Donald Trump and Republicans versus Democrats to shape the midterm battlefield in the fight for the House majority.

The faceoff over redistricting in Utah, a state Trump carried by nearly 22 points in last year’s presidential election, was triggered by a lawsuit by the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government, which prompted Gibson to throw out the state’s current congressional map. The plaintiffs argued that the current map favored Republicans.

NEWSOM TAKES VICTORY LAP AFTER LANDSLIDE REDISTRICTING VICTORY IN CALIFORNIA

Gibson’s move required the GOP-controlled state legislature to draw a new map, which lawmakers approved last month.

The map drawn by the legislature could give Democrats a chance of flipping a U.S. House seat in two of the state’s four districts.

Gibson, who will choose between the legislature’s map and two others drawn up by the plaintiffs, said she would rule by Nov. 10, which is the day Utah Lt. Gov Deidre Henderson said any new congressional map must be in place to be used in next year’s elections.

TRUMP-BACKED REDISTRICTING PUSH TURNS MIDWESTERN STATE INTO NEXT POLITICAL BATTLEGROUND

The ruling in Utah comes six days after California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, a ballot initiative which will temporarily sidetrack the left-leaning state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and return the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democrat-dominated legislature.

That is expected to result in five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts in California, which would counter the passage earlier this year in the reliable red state of Texas of a new map that aims to create up to five right-leaning House seats.

“California stepped up. Now, we are taking this fight across the country — helping Democrats in other states push back against Trump’s election rigging,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement to Fox News Digital last week, as he pointed to the push by Trump and Republicans for rare mid-decade redistricting.

It’s part of a broad effort by Trump’s political team and the GOP to pad the party’s razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats. Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio have drawn new maps as part of the president’s push.

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Trump is aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections.

Illinois and Maryland, two blue states, and Virginia, where Democrats control the legislature, are moving towards redistricting or are seriously considering, as are the red states of Indiana, Kansas, and Florida.

FIRST ON FOX: The political wing of a fiscally conservative political advocacy group with a powerful grassroots outreach operation is taking sides in a Republican Senate primary battle. The winner will move on to a race for a key swing state seat that the GOP aims to flip next year.

Americans for Prosperity Action (AFP Action) on Monday announced it is backing former Republican Sen. John E. Sununu’s 2026 bid to return to the Senate in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.

The Senate battle in New Hampshire is one of a handful in next year’s midterm elections that will determine if the GOP is able to not only defend but possibly expand its majority in the chamber.

The endorsement of Sununu, who is facing off against former Sen. Scott Brown for the GOP nomination, was shared first with Fox News Digital on Monday.

FORMER GOP SENATOR RUNNING TO FLIP KEY SWING STATE SEAT SAYS HE WANTS TO ‘WORK WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP’

“John Sununu is exactly the kind of principled leader New Hampshire needs in the U.S. Senate,” AFP Action Director Nathan Nascimento said in a statement. “His deep roots in the Granite State and proven record of advancing limited government principles, cutting wasteful spending, and driving smart regulatory reform make him uniquely qualified to represent New Hampshire’s values in Washington.”

The endorsement by AFP Action is the third in 2026 Senate races, following their backing of former Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley in North Carolina and former Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan, who’s making his second straight Senate run. But it’s the group’s first endorsement in a Senate race where President Donald Trump remains neutral to date.

FORMER REPUBLICAN SENATOR ON POTENTIAL BID TO FLIP SWING STATE SEAT RED: ‘THIS IS A RACE I KNOW I CAN WIN’

Sununu is a former three-term representative who defeated then-Gov. Shaheen in New Hampshire’s 2002 Senate election. But the senator lost to Shaheen in their 2008 rematch.

Shaheen announced earlier this year that she wouldn’t seek re-election in next year’s midterms and Republicans are working to flip the seat as they aim to not only defend but expand their 53-47 Senate majority.

Now, after nearly two decades in the private sector, Sununu is returning to the campaign trail in New England’s only swing state.

It’s been 15 years since Republicans won a U.S. Senate election in swing-state New Hampshire. But Sununu is confident he can break his party’s losing streak.

“This is a race I know I can win,” Sununu said in a recent Fox News Digital interview. “It’s the right message, the right set of issues, and also the right person.”

Sununu is a brand name in New Hampshire politics. The former senator’s father, John H. Sununu, is a former governor who later served as chief of staff in then-President George H.W. Bush’s White House. And one of his younger brothers is former Gov. Chris Sununu, who won election and re-election to four two-year terms steering the Granite State.

SCOOP: FORMER TRUMP AMBASSADOR SHOWCASES MAJOR FUNDRAISING HAUL IN BATTLE TO FLIP DEM SENATE SEAT

But Sununu won’t have a smooth path to the GOP nomination.

Brown, who was elected and served three years in the Senate in neighboring Massachusetts, and who, as the 2014 GOP Senate nominee in New Hampshire, narrowly lost to Shaheen during her first re-election, jumped into the race in late June.

“John can have all the support of the DC insiders and special interest groups in the world, and it won’t matter because New Hampshire primary voters know he’s not one of them,” Brown said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

And Brown emphasized, “Like John, AFP has gone all-in on stopping President Trump. And like John, they have failed each time because they’re out of touch with our party’s base and relics from the past. History has a way of repeating itself, because New Hampshire voters are always smarter than the insiders give them credit for.”

Brown was referencing the 2024 Republican presidential primary endorsements of Trump rival Nikk Haley by both AFP Action and by Sununu.

AFP Action’s national and New Hampshire political teams met with both candidates before deciding to endorse Sununu.

“John E. Sununu is an unapologetic and proven champion of New Hampshire values like limited accountable government, personal responsibility and free markets. He is the perfect antidote for what’s wrong with Washington today and will make the Granite State proud in the U.S. Senate,” AFP regional director Greg Moore said.

AFP, the influential and deep-pocketed grassroots network founded by the billionaire Koch Brothers, highlights that in the 2024 election cycle, it and AFP Action engaged in a record-breaking 647 races, knocking on 20 million doors, and reaching 30 million voters. And the group says they expect “to significantly exceed those 2024 metrics across the board” in the 2026 cycle.

“We will put our unrivaled grassroots operation in full support of this effort and will work to ensure that this race becomes about the issues that matter most to New Hampshire residents and not about the political noise that has become a feature of politics lately,” Moore emphasized.

Republicans are working to expand their 53-47 majority in next year’s midterms. And Shaheen’s seat in New Hampshire is a top GOP target, along with battleground Michigan, where Democrat Sen. Gary Peters isn’t running for re-election, and Georgia, where Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff faces a rough road to securing a second six-year term in the Senate.

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“We believe that this will be among the most competitive races nationally this year, and we feel that AFP Action can make a huge impact in getting John E. Sununu back in the Senate,” Moore said.

Ahead of AFP Action’s announcement, Brown landed the endorsement of former Republican Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire.

Sununu defeated then-Sen. Smith in the 2002 GOP Senate primary, and Brown topped Smith in the 2014 primary.

“I got to know Scott during the 2014 campaign when we ran against each other, and have come to appreciate his hustle, hard work and focus on New Hamsphire,” Smith said in a statement on Sunday.

The winner of next September’s GOP primary will likely face off in the general election with four-term Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, who is the frontrunner for his party’s Senate nomination.

The eight critical votes that advanced a short-term spending package on Sunday evening and put the government on the path to re-opening also tore the seams of Democratic Party unity, bringing scrutiny to its shutdown strategy and leadership.

One of the eight said that the plan Democrats had rallied around at its outset had crumbled.

“After six weeks — going on seven weeks — that path wasn’t working,” Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said. “It wasn’t going to happen. The question was: Does the shutdown further the goal of achieving some needed support for the extension of the tax credits? Our judgment was that it will not produce that result.”

“The evidence for that is almost seven weeks of fruitless attempts to make that happen. Would it change in a week? Or another week? Or after Thanksgiving? There’s no evidence that it would.”

SHUTDOWN IGNITES STRATEGIST DEBATE: WILL TRUMP AND GOP PAY THE POLITICAL PRICE IN 2026?

To other Democrats, it’s the party’s top figures who led a losing effort.

“Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced. If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif, said in a post on social media on Sunday.

The government first plunged into a shutdown 40 days ago on Oct. 1 when Democrats rejected a short-term spending bill advanced by Republicans in the House meant to keep the government afloat until Nov. 21. Democrats had demanded that lawmakers first consider expiring COVID-era Obamacare subsidies set to phase out at the end of the year. Republicans, who saw spending and the tax credits as completely unrelated, refused to negotiate on the tax credits during the shutdown.

Ultimately, Republicans avoided any substantive concessions on the Obamacare credits.

The package advanced by the Senate on Sunday looks to reopen the government through Jan. 30, 2026, and also includes a bundle of three yearlong spending bills to fund Veterans Affairs, the country’s agriculture expenses and the legislative branch. 

In return, Democrats who voted for the package secured the inclusion of language that prevents the Trump administration from conducting mass layoffs of federal workers through Jan. 30 and guarantees back pay for federal employees fired since the beginning of the shutdown. Additionally, they secured a stand-alone vote on the tax credit subsidies to be considered later this year, although that vote remains likely to fail without the needed Republican support.

To some Democrats, a failure to secure an extension — or even a partial extension — of the Obamacare subsidies was unacceptable.

GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN AFTER CONGRESS DEADLOCKS ON SPENDING DEAL

“I cannot support a deal that still leaves millions of Americans wondering how they are going to pay for their healthcare or whether they will be able to afford to get sick,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said of the proposal.

“That’s not a deal. It’s an unconditional surrender that abandons the 24 million Americans whose healthcare premiums are about to double,” Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., said in a post on X. 

But after 40 days of waiting, frustrations over the lack of an off-ramp didn’t just come from the senators who voted to advance the legislation. 

“I just don’t get what the point is of delaying even longer,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said moments after opposing the bill. “I want Republicans to grow a backbone and say, ‘Regardless of what Donald Trump says, we’re going to restore these cuts on healthcare,’ but it looks like I’ve lost that fight. So, I don’t want to impose more pain on people who are hungry and who haven’t been paid.” 

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who pledged to vote against the package over its silence on Obamacare subsidies, said he understood the cracks in the party’s unity. 

SPEAKER JOHNSON FLIPS SCRIPT ON DEM LEADERS WITH STAUNCH WARNING AGAINST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

“On healthcare, I’d like to keep trying,” Coons said. “But I understand, I respect my colleagues who are saying it’s time.” 

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A final vote on the spending package is expected to take place in the Senate early this week. After that, it must clear the House of Representatives before it can become law and reopen the government.

A federal judge appointed by former President Ronald Reagan announced in an op-ed published Sunday that he resigned from his position, relinquishing his lifetime appointment to speak out against President Donald Trump, whom he views as eroding judicial independence and using the law to reward allies and punish opponents.

Mark Wolf, who was appointed by Reagan in 1985, said in The Atlantic that he had looked forward to serving on the bench for the rest of his life but felt compelled to resign.

“My reason is simple: I no longer can bear to be restrained by what judges can say publicly or do outside the courtroom. President Donald Trump is using the law for partisan purposes, targeting his adversaries while sparing his friends and donors from investigation, prosecution, and possible punishment,” he wrote.

“This is contrary to everything that I have stood for in my more than 50 years in the Department of Justice and on the bench. The White House’s assault on the rule of law is so deeply disturbing to me that I feel compelled to speak out. Silence, for me, is now intolerable.”

FORMER SUPREME COURT JUSTICE WARNS PARTISANSHIP PLAYS ‘TOO MUCH OF A ROLE’ IN JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

The former federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts said he began his career in public service at the Department of Justice in 1974, several years after the Watergate scandal.

Wolf served under former President Gerald Ford’s Attorney General Edward Levi, who he argued helped shape his views on what it means to uphold the rule of law and to seek justice in a nonpartisan way.

“I decided all of my cases based on the facts and the law, without regard to politics, popularity, or my personal preferences. That is how justice is supposed to be administered—equally for everyone, without fear or favor. This is the opposite of what is happening now,” he wrote.

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

Wolf’s successor was selected and nominated after he became a senior judge in 2013, and the seat was officially filled by Judge Indira Talwani in 2014.

“I hope to be a spokesperson for embattled judges who, consistent with the code of conduct, feel they cannot speak candidly to the American people,” he told The New York Times.

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White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement to Fox News Digital that judges who “want to inject their own personal agenda into the law have no place on the bench.”

“Here’s the reality: with over 20 Supreme Court victories, the Trump Administration’s policies have been consistently upheld by the Supreme Court as lawful despite an unprecedented number of legal challenges and unlawful lower court rulings,” Jackson said. “And any other radical judges that want to complain to the press should at least have the decency to resign before doing so.”

With a deal to end the record government shutdown taking shape, President Donald Trump is turning to foreign policy at the start of the week.

On Monday, Trump will host Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House, the first official visit by a Syrian leader to Washington. Officials describe the meeting as a landmark attempt to bring Damascus back into the diplomatic fold after years on the international sidelines.

WHITE HOUSE PREPARES TO WELCOME SYRIAN PRESIDENT AL-SHARAA FOLLOWING SANCTIONS RELIEF

It will be the third meeting between Trump and al-Sharaa this year, as Syria’s new leadership works to rebuild a shattered nation and restore ties with Arab states and the West following the end of Bashar al-Assad’s 14-year civil war.

In a move paving the way for the talks, Washington eased key restrictions on Syria’s leadership ahead of the meeting.

On Friday, the United States lifted sanctions on al-Sharaa, mirroring a United Nations Security Council move a day prior, ahead of his meeting with Trump. According to a notice on the U.S. Treasury Department’s website, the Specially Designated Global Terrorist designations were removed from both Sharaa and Syria’s interior minister, Anas Khattab.

SENATE DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS REACH DEAL TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT

The White House meeting also comes against the backdrop of a grinding government shutdown that has paralyzed federal agencies and left Washington mired in a political standoff over funding.

Senate Republicans and Democrats have reached a deal to end the impasse on Sunday evening, but the government won’t officially reopen until the House, which has been out of session for nearly six weeks, approves the agreement. The measure would then go to President Trump for his signature.

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Speaking to reporters at the White House on Sunday evening, Trump said a deal to end the government shutdown was within reach.

“It looks like we’re very close to the shutdown ending,” he said.

The shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, has become the longest in U.S. history. It’s the 21st government shutdown since 1976 and the longest since a 34-day standoff over funding for Trump’s border wall halted operations from December 2018 to January 2019.
 

The Senate struck a late-Sunday deal to begin the path to reopening the government after eight Democrats joined Republicans to reach 60 votes, sparking backlash from those who opposed the resolution.

Democratic leaders voiced intense opposition, arguing that the continuing resolution fails to address the nation’s worsening health care challenges. Several prominent lawmakers spoke out immediately following the vote, framing it as a test of priorities and moral leadership.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D–N.Y., condemned the measure, calling it a “Republican-made health care crisis.”

“America is in the midst of a Republican-made health care crisis — a crisis so severe, so urgent, and so devastating for American families that I cannot support a continuing resolution that fails to address it,” Schumer said.

SENATE DEMOCRATS CAVE, OPEN PATH TO REOPENING GOVERNMENT

Schumer said that Democrats have continually pushed for meaningful reforms to the health care system.

“For months and months, Democrats have been fighting to get the Senate to address the health care crisis,” he said. “This bill does nothing to ensure that the crisis is addressed. I am voting no, and I will keep fighting for months and months.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–VT) delivered a forceful rebuke, criticizing both Republicans and the eight Democrats who joined them in supporting the resolution.

“Tonight, eight Democrats voted with the Republicans to allow them to go forward on this continuing resolution. And to my mind, this was a very, very bad vote,” Sanders said. “What it does, first of all, is it raises healthcare premiums for over 20 million Americans by doubling, and in some cases tripling or quadrupling. People can’t afford that when we are already paying the highest prices in the world for healthcare.”

SANDERS CALLS OUT 8 SENATE DEMOCRATS FOR ‘VERY, VERY BAD VOTE’ ON GOVERNMENT FUNDING MEASURE

He went on to warn of the broader consequences of the legislation.

“It paves the way for 15 million people to be thrown off of Medicaid. While care act studies show that will mean some 50,000 Americans will die every year unnecessarily. And all of that was done to give a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the 1%.”

Sanders links the vote to broader political trends and said it ignores the message voters have sent in recent elections.

“As everybody knows, just on Tuesday, we had an election all over this country, and what the election showed is that the American people wanted us to stand up to Trumpism — to his war against working-class people, to his authoritarianism,” Sanders said. “That is what the American people wanted. But tonight, that is not what happened.”

Despite his disappointment, Sanders vowed to continue pushing for expanded access to health care.

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

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., also spoke out following the vote, sharing a video message on X alongside a seething assessment of the funding bill’s failure to address healthcare costs.

“Millions of Californians are at risk of losing their insurance or facing dramatically higher health care costs. Tonight’s vote does NOTHING to address this Republican health care crisis,” Schiff said.

In the video, Schiff recounts his “no” vote, calling the moment symbolic of the bleak outlook for health care reform under the current bill.

“So, I just voted no on the Republican funding bill. I am outside the Capitol. It’s dark and raining, and that seems all too appropriate for this moment because that funding bill has nothing in it to help people afford their health insurance. That bill has nothing in it that’s going to bring costs down. That bill has nothing in it that’s going to make sure that people with pre-existing conditions can afford their health insurance,” Schiff said, in part.

He continued: “We owe our constituents better than this. We owe a resolution that makes it possible for them to afford their health care. [The] system [is] already badly broken enough. This just prevented it from getting worse.”

Schiff also joined Schumer in describing the shutdown and the vote on Sunday as a “Republican health care crisis.”

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Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., posted a late-night video from his office, expressing deep frustration over the outcome and warning that the vote could embolden President Donald Trump.

His caption read: “I got back to my office after the vote tonight and recorded this. There’s no way to sugarcoat what happened tonight. And my fear is that Trump gets stronger, not weaker, because of this acquiescence. I’m angry — like you. But I choose to keep fighting.”

Murphy also reflected on the vote’s implications for both democracy and health care, saying Democrats must continue to stand firm despite the political cost.

“The American people do not want Democrats to be bullied into submission. They want Democrats to fight for their healthcare. They want Democrats to fight Trump’s illegality,” the senator said, in part.

“I didn’t want this shutdown. I want it to end — but not at any cost. This shutdown hurt, it did — but unfortunately, I don’t think there is a way to save this country, to save our democracy, without there being some difficult, hard moments along the way.

…I’m angry about it. And I’m just gonna get up tomorrow and go to work to try to convince all of my colleagues that this is a unique moment — and the necessity to stand and fight, even when it’s hard, even when it involves pain, is necessary.”