The Senate’s compromise to end the ongoing partial government shutdown survived an important hurdle on Monday night, teeing up the legislation for a vote in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The House Rules Committee, the final gatekeeper before most bills get a chamberwide vote, advanced the upper chamber’s deal with the White House with little internal discord among Republicans on the panel.

But the measure could face issues on the House floor during a second procedural hurdle called a ‘rule vote,’ which needs a simple majority of lawmakers to unlock debate and a vote on final passage. House votes normally fall along partisan lines, and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will need virtually all GOP lawmakers to vote in lockstep to succeed.

The current partial shutdown, affecting roughly 78% of the federal government, is in its third day after Congress failed to send its remaining spending bills to President Donald Trump’s desk by Jan. 30.

House lawmakers passed an initial set of bipartisan bills to finish funding the government through the end of fiscal year (FY) 2026, Sept. 30, but Democrats rebelled against the plan en masse in protest of Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

Senate Democrats walked away from the deal in protest of its funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), after federal law enforcement shot and killed a second U.S. citizen during anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demonstrations in Minneapolis.

Trump has responded by removing Customs and Border Protection (CBP), whose agents shot the second person, from the Midwest city, and replacing senior officials leading the crackdown there.

But Democrats are demanding further guardrails, like judicial warrants, to restrict agents in Minneapolis even further.

The resulting compromise would fund areas of government that were caught up in the political standoff — the departments of War, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and Education — while simply extending the current federal spending levels for DHS for two weeks.

That two-week span is aimed at giving lawmakers time for more bipartisan negotiations on a longer-term deal.

The Senate passed the new deal on Friday, but House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is sharply divided from his counterpart, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in his position.

Despite Schumer and Senate Democrats negotiating the plan with Trump’s White House, Jeffries told Johnson not to rely on House Democrats’ support to pass the bill.

It’s a stunning division between the top two Democrats in Congress, and one that will leave House Republicans largely on their own for much of the process of ending the shutdown.

But Trump managed to quell another rebellion on the conservative side earlier on Monday, easing at least one headache for House GOP leaders.

At least four House Republicans signaled they could vote against their own party during the rule vote on Tuesday over its exclusion of an unrelated measure requiring proof of citizenship in the voter registration process.

The president posted on Truth Social earlier Monday demanding ‘NO CHANGES’ to the current deal, effectively undercutting conservatives’ push for the legislation.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., had been leading a group of conservatives threatening to tank the rule vote if the SAVE America Act was not attached.

But Luna told reporters on Monday night that she and Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., both changed their minds after getting assurances from the White House that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., would force a vote on the bill — called the SAVE America Act.

‘As of right now, with the current agreement that we have, as well as discussions, we will both be a yes on the rule,’ Luna said. ‘There is something called a standing filibuster that would effectively allow Senator Thune to put voter ID on the floor of the Senate. We are hearing that that is going well and he is considering that…so we are very happy about that.’

It’s not clear if it’s enough for other House Republicans, however, some of whom are upset over the new deal opening up the need for bipartisan discussions on reining in Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Johnson can only lose one House GOP vote for the funding deal to survive a chamber-wide rule vote.

In the meantime, nearly 14,000 air traffic controllers are expected to work without pay. Members of the military could also miss paychecks if the shutdown goes on long enough, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will be limited in its ability to communicate public health updates to Americans.

Planned Parenthood announced it is voluntarily dropping its lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s ability to withhold Medicaid payments under a provision in President Donald Trump’s tax bill.

The organization sued in July after President Donald Trump signed a spending bill that included prohibiting federal funding from going to abortion providers, a section of the legislation that Planned Parenthood attorneys argued unfairly targeted their clinics and would leave patients with even fewer health care options.

In December, a federal appeals court ruled that the administration could continue to withhold Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.

A separate lawsuit filed by a group of mostly Democratic states suffered a similar setback in January but remains ongoing, and a related case filed in Maine was voluntarily dismissed in October.

A third lawsuit filed in Maine by a network of medical clinics that was also impacted by the spending bill was voluntarily dismissed in October.

Planned Parenthood moved on Friday to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts.

‘The goal of this lawsuit has always been to help Planned Parenthood patients get the care they deserve from their trusted provider. Based on the 1st Circuit’s decision, it is clear that this lawsuit is no longer the best way to accomplish that goal,’ the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and Planned Parenthood Association of Utah said in a joint statement.

Under the tax provision in Trump’s spending bill, Medicaid payments would be stopped if providers like Planned Parenthood primarily offered certain services, including abortion, and received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023.

Planned Parenthood was not specifically named in the legislation, but the organization’s leaders have said the law is intended to affect their clinics across the country, as Republicans at the federal and state level continue to target the organization.

Federal law bans taxpayer money from covering most abortions, but many Republicans have long argued that abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood used Medicaid money for other health services to subsidize abortion.

Planned Parenthood said 23 of their health clinics have been forced to close due to Trump’s spending bill. More than 50 clinics closed in 18 states last year, with most located in the Midwest.

‘President Trump and his allies in Congress have weaponized the federal government to target Planned Parenthood at the expense of patients — stripping people of the care they rely on,’ Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.

‘Through every attack, Planned Parenthood has never lost sight of its focus: ensuring patients can get the care they need from the provider they trust,’ she continued. ‘That will never change. Care continues, as does our commitment to fighting for everyone’s freedom to make their own decisions about their bodies, lives, and futures.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The House Republican majority just got reduced to a perilously slim one-vote margin thanks to a Democrat’s victory in Texas over the weekend.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., swore in newly minted Rep. Christian Menefee, D-Texas, on Monday evening, bringing the overall House of Representatives margin to 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats.

That means if a bill gets no Democratic support and the House is in full attendance, losing more than one GOP vote will result in a 216-216 tie — meaning it would fail to pass.

Johnson is no stranger to dealing with slim margins and has eked out significant GOP victories while dealing with majorities between two and three seats. 

But this is a particularly difficult week for House GOP leaders who are scrambling to end an ongoing partial government shutdown.

The House is expected to vote on a funding compromise hashed out between Senate Democrats and the White House sometime on Tuesday, and Republicans will need nearly everyone in lockstep for the legislation to survive a chamber-wide ‘rule vote.’

Rule votes are procedural hurdles that traditionally fall along partisan lines.

Menefee, a former attorney for Houston’s Harris County, won a special congressional election in a left-leaning district in Texas that has been vacant for nearly a year.

He’s replacing the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Texas, who died while in office in March 2025.

The Associated Press reported that Menefee defeated former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards, a fellow Democrat, in Saturday’s runoff election to fill the seat left vacant when Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner died last March.

Sylvester, a former longtime state lawmaker, served two terms as Houston mayor before winning election to Congress in 2024 to fill the seat of the late longtime Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.

While Texas has redrawn its congressional maps for the 2026 midterms, as part of the high-stakes redistricting battle between President Donald Trump and Republicans versus Democrats, the special election used the state’s current district lines.

The addition of another lawmaker into the House Democrats’ ranks will give Republican leadership in the chamber further headaches.

And House GOP leaders are painfully aware of the politically difficult situation they’re in.

‘They’d better be here,’ Johnson said of his Republican members last month. ‘I told everybody, and not in jest, I said, no adventure sports, no risk-taking, take your vitamins. Stay healthy and be here.’

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have agreed to testify in the House Oversight Committee’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation after lawmakers moved toward holding them in criminal contempt of Congress.

The committee said in a post on X that the Clintons were ‘trying to dodge contempt by requesting special treatment,’ adding that ‘The Clintons are not above the law.’

Angel Ureña, deputy chief of staff to Bill Clinton, confirmed in a post on X that both Clintons will appear before the panel.

‘They negotiated in good faith. You did not,’ Ureña wrote. ‘But the former president and former Secretary of State will be there and look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone.’

The committee is examining what the Clintons may have known about Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, including scrutiny of Hillary Clinton’s role overseeing U.S. efforts to combat international sex trafficking while serving as Secretary of State.

A source familiar sent Fox News Digital text of the email the Clintons’ attorneys sent to the House Oversight Committee confirming they would testify on terms set by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky.

‘Please be advised, and please advise the Chairman, that my clients accept the terms of your letter and will appear for depositions on mutually agreeable dates,’ the text read. ‘As has been the Committee’s practice, please confirm the House will not move forward with contempt proceedings, as the Chairman stated in his letter this morning.’

Ranking member Robert Garcia said the message amounted to full compliance with the committee’s demands.

‘I mean, they sent us and the Republicans affirmation that they’ve accepted every single term that James Comer has asked for, and that they’re willing to come in and testify,’ Garcia said.

Comer, however, disputed that characterization, telling Fox News Digital the agreement lacked specificity.

‘The Clintons’ counsel has said they agree to terms, but those terms lack clarity yet again, and they have provided no dates for their depositions,’ Comer said. ‘The only reason they have said they agree to terms is because the House has moved forward with contempt. I will clarify the terms they are agreeing to and then discuss next steps with my committee members.’

Democrats on the committee have pointed out that Comer has not pushed to hold others who did not appear in contempt, nor has he made any threats against the DOJ for failing to produce all of its documents on Epstein by a deadline agreed to by Congress late last year. The department has produced a fraction of the documents expected so far.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard detailed her ongoing election security assessment in a letter to congressional lawmakers Monday, saying President Trump ‘specifically directed’ her to be present for the execution of a search warrant in Fulton County, Georgia last week as part of the probe.

Gabbard sent a letter, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, addressed to Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn. The letter was also sent to House and Senate leadership, as well as GOP leadership on both committees.

The letter is in response to one sent last week by Warner and Himes, in which they request Gabbard brief them on why she was present at the FBI search of an election office in Fulton County, Ga. last month.

Gabbard announced in April 2025 that ODNI was investigating electronic voting systems in order to protect election integrity.

In the letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, Gabbard said President Trump ‘specifically directed’ her to be at the FBI’s execution of a search warrant on the Office of the Clerk of the Court of Fulton County, Georgia last month—on Jan. 28, 2026.

‘For a brief period of time, I accompanied FBI Deputy Director Bailey and Atlanta Acting Special Agent in Charge Pete Ellis in observing FBI personnel executing that search warrant, issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia pursuant to a probable cause finding,’ she writes.

Gabbard said her ‘presence was requested by the President and executed under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security, including counterintelligence (CI), foreign and other malign influence and cybersecurity.’

‘The FBI’s Intelligence/Counterintelligence divisions are one of the 18 elements that I oversee,’ she said.

Gabbard said that in twelve FBI field offices across the country, including the Atlanta Field Office, the senior FBI official (assistant director in charge or special agent in charge) is ‘dual-hatted as my Domestic DNI-Representative.’

‘The Domestic DNI-Rep program was established in 2011 through a Memorandum of Understanding between the ODNI and FBI,’ Gabbard explained. ‘Domestic DNI-Reps are distributed by region and focus on specific domestic issues of concern or interest, including threats to critical infrastructure.’

Gabbard said that she has visited ‘several’ of her Domestic DNI-Reps across the country.

‘While visiting the FBI Field Office in Atlanta, I thanked the FBI agents for their professionalism and great work, and facilitated a brief phone call for the President to thank the agents personally for their work,’ Gabbard said. ‘He did not ask any questions, nor did he or I issue any directives.’

Gabbard stressed that the ODNI’s Office of General Counsel ‘has found my actions to be consistent and well within my statutory authority as the Director of National Intelligence.’

Last week, FBI agents were seen carrying out a search at an election hub in Fulton County, Georgia, a location that became ground zero for concerns and complaints about voter fraud beginning in 2020. 

The search warrant authorized the seizure of election records, voting rolls and other data tied to the 2020 election, according to a copy of the warrant reviewed by Fox News.

Gabbard went on to address specific questions initially posed by Warner and Himes, first, detailing how election security ‘is a national security issue.’

‘Interference in U.S. elections is a threat to our republic and a national security threat,’ she writes. ‘The President and his Administration are committed to safeguarding the integrity of U.S. elections to ensure that neither foreign nor domestic powers undermine the American people’s right to determine who our elected leaders are.’

Gabbard said that President Trump ‘tasked ODNI with taking all appropriate actions’ under her statutory authorities towards ‘ensuring the integrity of our elections and specifically directed by observance of the execution of the Fulton County search warrant.’

Gabbard again noted that ODNI has been ‘actively reviewing intelligence reporting and assessments on election integrity’ since she took office.

‘As part of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center’s responsibility to lead, manage, and coordinate counterintelligence matters related to election security, NCSC personnel traveled with me to Fulton County to support this effort,’ Gabbard wrote. ‘They were not present during the execution of the warrant.’ 

Gabbard goes on to stress that the DNI has ‘broad authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security.’ Gabbard also added that ODNI is ‘the lead intelligence agency in the Joint Cyber Planning Office,’ which coordinates and oversees the nation’s strategy to secure critical cyber infrastructure, ‘including cyber infrastructure used for elections.’

Gabbard also told lawmakers that ODNI ‘will not irresponsibly share incomplete intelligence assessments concerning foreign or other malign interference in U.S. elections.’ 

‘As I publicly stated on 10 April 2025, there is information and intelligence reporting suggesting that electronic voting systems being used in the United States have long been vulnerable to exploitation that could result in enabling determined actors to manipulate the results of the votes being cast with the intent of changing the outcome of an election,’ she wrote.

‘ODNI and the IC continue to collect and assess all available intelligence concerning this threat to ensure the security and integrity of our elections,’ she said.

In April 2025, Gabbard said ODNI is investigating election integrity. She said, at the time, that ODNI had ‘evidence of how electronic voting systems have been vulnerable to hackers for a very long time and vulnerable to exploitation, to manipulate the results of the votes being cast.’ Gabbard made the comments during a Cabinet meeting, stressing to the president that the information ‘further drives forward your m mandate to bring about paper ballots across the country so that voters can have faith in the integrity of our elections.’ 

Meanwhile, in the letter, Gabbard explained that the process of assessing the intelligence ‘ensures that the IC’s finished intelligence products are objective, independent of political considerations, and based on all available sources.’

‘I will share our intelligence assessments with Congress once they are complete,’ she said.

Gabbard said that the National Security Act of 1947 specifically highlights that the law does ‘not require that the president obtain approval from the congressional intelligence committees before initiating a significant intelligence activity.’

‘Moreover, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia issued the search warrant on the Office of the Clerk of The Court of Fulton County under seal,’ she writes. ‘As such, I have not seen the warrant or the evidence of probable cause that the DOJ submitted to Court for approval.’

She added: ‘Therefore, the ODNI had no ability, authority, or responsibility to inform the committees about the search warrant ahead of its execution.’

President Trump last week touted Gabbard on her work to protect elections in the U.S. 

‘She’s working very hard on trying to keep the election safe. And she’s done a very good job,’ Trump said. ‘And they, as you know, they got into the votes, you got a signed judge’s order in Georgia…And you’re going to see some interesting things happening. They’ve been trying to get there for a long time.’

Meanwhile, the Justice Department sued Fulton County in December seeking access to ballots related to the 2020 lawsuit, though the FBI’s search appears unrelated. 

Fulton County is fighting the lawsuit and says the Justice Department has not made a valid argument for accessing the records.

Fox News’ Breanna Deppisch contributed to this report.