The six House Democrats who broke ranks with party leadership by voting in favor of legislation that ended the government shutdown are now opening up about their actions, with one saying, ‘The last several weeks have been a case study in why most Americans can’t stand Congress.’

Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Jared Golden of Maine, Adam Gray of California, Don Davis of North Carolina, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Tom Suozzi of New York were the six who voted with all but two Republicans to pass the bill by a 222 to 209 margin. President Donald Trump then signed the legislation late Wednesday night, putting an end to the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

‘Americans can’t afford for their Representatives to get so caught up in landing a partisan win that they abandon their obligation to come together to solve the urgent problems that our nation faces,’ Gluesenkamp Perez wrote on X. ‘The last several weeks have been a case study in why most Americans can’t stand Congress. None of my friends who rely on SNAP would want to trade their dinner for an ambiguous D.C. beltway ‘messaging victory,’ and I’m glad this ugly scene is in the rearview mirror.’

The bill keeps funding the government at the same levels during fiscal year 2025 through Jan. 30 to provide additional time to hash out a longer appropriations measure for fiscal year 2026. The measure also funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that more than 42 million Americans rely on through September. The program provides non- or low-income individuals or families the ability to purchase groceries on a debit card.

‘I just voted to reopen the government, pay federal workers, and get food assistance and other critical programs up and running again,’ Golden said Wednesday.

‘Now, with the shutdown ended, Congress should take immediate action to extend expiring Affordable Care Act premium tax credits that keep health insurance plans affordable for millions of Americans. We still have a window to pass bipartisan legislation to extend these credits,’ he also said.

Gray said in his own statement that, ‘No parent should have to choose between feeding their children and keeping the lights on because someone in Washington thinks chaos is a negotiating tactic.’

‘That’s why I voted for a bipartisan agreement that takes food assistance off the table for an entire year. So when the next shutdown happens (and in this divided Washington, there is always a next shutdown) the president cannot use hungry kids as bargaining chips again. This agreement also protects veterans, small business owners, and federal workers from being turned into political weapons,’ he said.

Suozzi noted in his statement that the ‘airport situations are becoming untenable, and government workers have gone without pay for too long.’

‘If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are willing to work together to address this health insurance affordability crisis by extending the premium tax credits, then we will have accomplished something meaningful,’ he continued. ‘If we are not successful, it will deal yet another blow to the already eroding trust in Washington, D.C., and it will be clear who failed to deliver.’

Davis released a statement on X saying in part that he voted to reopen the government ‘to support my constituents, alleviate the suffering of our families as the holidays approach, and bring vital resources to eastern North Carolina.’

Cuellar said he voted to reopen the government ‘so we can get critical programs back on track,’ adding, ‘this stability is especially important for our border communities, where so many families depend on federal agencies to keep trade, travel and public safety moving.’

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Former President Bill Clinton’s Treasury Secretary Larry Summers maintained regular contact with Jeffrey Epstein years after he was convicted on prostitution-related charges, documents released by House Republicans on Wednesday revealed.

Among the over 20,000 pages of documents released by House Republicans was a series of email exchanges ranging from 2016 to 2019 between Epstein and Summers that suggest a cozier relationship between the two than previously known. The email exchanges include banter about an unknown woman as well as discussions about politics and President Donald Trump.

On March 3, 2019, just months before his arrest, Epstein and Summers, who was also president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006 and served as the director of former President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council from 2009 to 2011, exchanged emails in which they discussed Summers’ correspondence with an unknown woman.

In an email to Epstein, Summers wrote of his interaction with the woman, saying: ‘We talked on phone. Then ‘I can’t talk later’. Dint (sic) think I can talk tomorrow’. I said what are you up to. She said ‘I’m busy’. I said awfully coy u are. And then I said. Did u really rearrange the weekend we were going to be together because guy number 3 was coming’ She said no his schedule changed after we changed our plans. I said ok I got to go call me when u feel like it. Tone was not of good feeling. I dint want to be in a gift giving competition while being the friend without benefits.’

Epstein replied just minutes later, saying, ‘shes smart. making you pay for past errors. ignore the daddy im going to go out with the motorcycle guy, you reacted well.. annoyed shows caring., no whining showed strentgh.’

Months before that, in November 2018, Summers forwarded Epstein an email from a woman he had corresponded with the comment: ‘Think no response for a while probably appropriate.’

Epstein replied, ‘She’s already begining to sound needy 🙂 nice.’

On July 15, 2018, Epstein emailed Summers, ‘new york soon?’

‘Unsure. What is up’ Summers replied.

The next day, Epstein wrote, ‘wed presidnt [sic] of united nations, interesting person for you.’

Shortly after midnight, Summers replied, ‘Do the Russians have stuff on Trump? Today was appalling even by his standards.’

Epstein replied: ‘My email is full with similar comments… he thinks he has charmed his adversary… he has no idea of the symbolism — he has no idea of most things.’

In another exchange from 2017, Epstein wrote, ‘I have met some very bad people ,, none as bad as trump. not one decent cell in his body.. so yes- dangerous.’

In a November 2016 email to Epstein, Summers wrote: ‘Spend zero effort on anything about me w trump. Seeing his approach to conflict of interest, his Putin proximity, and his mindless response on Castro death I’m best off a million miles away. Until they are deeply humbled by the f—ups that are sure to come, I serve myself and country best by doing nothing that involves loyalty to them.’

A month before, Epstein emailed Summers, ‘trump roles (sic) out Clintons four accusers. recall our dinner?’ To which Summers replied just hours later, ‘No. what happened? R u about to be dragged in?’

Summers was previously known to have a connection to Epstein. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2023 on another exchange in which Summers asked Epstein for advice on fundraising for a project by his wife, Harvard professor Elisa New.

Fox News Digital reached out to a spokesperson for Summers but did not receive a comment by the time of publication.

A bill to end the record-breaking U.S. government shutdown is headed to President Donald Trump’s desk after more than 42 days.

Federal funding legislation aimed at opening the government passed in the House Wednesday evening, ending the weeks-long fiscal standoff that has largely paralyzed Congress since Oct. 1. Republicans on the House floor erupted in cheers when the bill prevailed while the majority of Democrats quietly exited the chamber.

The White House said Trump would sign the bill at 9:45 p.m. this evening.

Six Democrats voted with all but two Republicans to pass the bill with a 222 to 209 margin. The Democrats who voted in favor of the legislation are Reps. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Adam Gray, D-Calif., Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash, and Don Davis, D-N.C.

When the House took its initial vote on federal funding legislation on Sept. 19, just one Democrat — Golden — voted with the GOP.

The vast majority of House Democrats opposed the bill, however, including their senior ranks.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., reiterated to reporters hours before the vote that Democrats were frustrated the bill did not do anything about COVID-19 pandemic-era healthcare subsidies under Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Those enhanced tax credits expire this year.

‘House Democrats are here on the Capitol steps to reiterate our strong opposition to this spending bill because it fails to address the Republican healthcare crisis, and it fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit,’ Jeffries said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sounded optimistic in comments to reporters Wednesday morning ahead of the vote, however.

‘I wanted to come out and say that we believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight,’ Johnson said. ‘It was completely and utterly foolish and pointless in the end.’

Some drama threatened to crack House GOP unity earlier in the day, however, as some Republicans in the lower chamber seethed over a last-minute provision added to the bill that allows senators whose communications were tapped during former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe to sue the federal government for $500,000 each.

Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Austin Scott, R-Ga., and Morgan Griffith, W.Va., all shared concerns with the measure but said they would not extend the government shutdown over it.

Johnson appeared to placate their and others’ concerns, at least for now, with a promise to vote next week on separate legislation repealing that provision.

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., told reporters he would vote against the bill over its inclusion, however.

‘I’m not voting to send Lindsey Graham half a million dollars,’ he told reporters.

He and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted against the final bill, but their opposition was not enough to sink legislation.

Meanwhile, the shutdown’s effects on the country have grown more severe by the day.

Many of the thousands of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who had to work without pay were forced to take second jobs, causing nationwide flight delays and cancellations amid staffing shortages at the country’s busiest airports. Millions of Americans who rely on federal benefits were also left in limbo as funding for critical government programs ran close to drying out.

At the heart of the issue was Democratic leaders’ refusal to back any funding bill that did not also extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Democrats argued it was their best hope of preventing healthcare price hikes for Americans across the U.S.

Republicans agreed to hold conversations on reforming what they saw as a broken healthcare system, but they refused to pair any partisan priority with federal funding.

In the end, a compromise led by the Senate — which saw eight Democrats in the upper chamber join colleagues to pass the bill in a 60 to 40 vote — included a side deal guaranteeing the left a vote on extending the enhanced subsidies sometime in December.

Johnson has made no such promise in the House, however.

And the lack of a guarantee on extending those subsidies has angered progressives and Democratic leaders.

‘What were Republicans willing to give in the end, other more than a handshake deal to take a future vote on extending the healthcare subsidies?’ Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., said Wednesday. ‘We all know that a future vote is the equivalent of asking two wolves and a chicken to vote on what’s for dinner. It is dead on arrival.’

Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, criticized Democrats for prolonging the shutdown for little payoff.

‘They literally got absolutely nothing except for a total and complete surrender, that accomplished nothing more than hurting American families,’ he said.

The bill kicks the current federal funding fight to Jan. 30, by which point House GOP leaders said they were confident they’ll finish work on a longer-term deal for fiscal year 2026.

It also includes full-year federal spending for the Department of Agriculture, the legislative branch, and the Department of Veterans Affairs — three of 12 annual appropriations bills that Congress is tasked with passing annually.

‘There are nine remaining bills, and we’d like to get all of those done in the next few weeks. And, so, [House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.] and his appropriators will be working overtime,’ House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital.

Asked if he thought they’d get it done by that date, Cole said, ‘I think we can.’

The record-breaking U.S. government shutdown appears to be on a path to finally ending after 43 days.

Federal funding legislation aimed at opening the government survived a key test vote in the House later Wednesday, teeing it up for final passage in a matter of hours.

That means the bill could hit President Donald Trump’s desk as soon as Wednesday night, likely ending what has been the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

The White House announced that Trump would sign the bill in a statement of administration policy obtained by Fox News Digital.

‘The Administration urges every Member of Congress to support this responsible, good faith product to finally put an end to the longest shutdown in history,’ the statement said.

The bill advanced through a procedural hurdle known as a rule vote, which is where lawmakers decide whether to allow legislation to get debated before a final vote on passage.

Rule votes generally fall along partisan lines and are not an indication of whether a bill will be bipartisan.

The vast majority of House Democrats still oppose the bill, but it’s possible that at least several moderates will defy their leaders to support it.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., reiterated to reporters hours before the vote that Democrats were frustrated the bill did not do anything about COVID-19 pandemic-era healthcare subsidies under Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Those enhanced tax credits expire this year.

‘House Democrats are here on the Capitol steps to reiterate our strong opposition to this spending bill because it fails to address the Republican healthcare crisis, and it fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit,’ Jeffries said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sounded optimistic in comments to reporters Wednesday morning ahead of the vote.

‘I wanted to come out and say that we believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight,’ Johnson said. ‘It was completely and utterly foolish and pointless in the end.’

Meanwhile, the shutdown’s effects on the country have grown more severe by the day.

Many of the thousands of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who had to work without pay were forced to take second jobs, causing nationwide flight delays and cancellations amid staffing shortages at the country’s busiest airports. Millions of Americans who rely on federal benefits were also left in limbo as funding for critical government programs ran close to drying out.

At the heart of the issue was Democratic leaders’ refusal to back any funding bill that did not also extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Democrats argued it was their best hope of preventing healthcare price hikes for Americans across the U.S.

Republicans agreed to hold conversations on reforming what they saw as a broken healthcare system, but they refused to pair any partisan priority with federal funding.

In the end, a compromise led by the Senate — which saw eight Democrats in the upper chamber join colleagues to pass the bill in a 60 to 40 vote — included a side deal guaranteeing the left a vote on extending the enhanced subsidies sometime in December.

Johnson has made no such promise in the House, however.

And the lack of a guarantee on extending those subsidies has angered progressives and Democratic leaders.

‘What were Republicans willing to give in the end, other more than a handshake deal to take a future vote on extending the healthcare subsidies?’ Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., said Wednesday. ‘We all know that a future vote is the equivalent of asking two wolves and a chicken to vote on what’s for dinner. It is dead on arrival.’

The full House will now vote on the legislation during the 7 p.m. hour.

The bill kicks the current federal funding fight to Jan. 30, by which point House GOP leaders said they were confident they’ll finish work on a longer-term deal for fiscal year 2026.

‘There are nine remaining bills, and we’d like to get all of those done in the next few weeks. And, so, [House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.] and his appropriators will be working overtime,’ House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital.

Asked if he thought they’d get it done by that date, Cole said, ‘I think we can.’

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that President Donald Trump ‘remains in exceptional physical health’ after concerns have swirled in recent months, including when the president received an MRI scan in October. 

‘As stated in the memo provided on October 10th, President Trump received advanced imaging at Walter Reed Medical Center as part of his routine physical examination,’ Leavitt said during Wednesday’s White House press briefing. ‘The full results were reviewed by attending radiologists and consultants, and all agreed that President Trump remains in exceptional physical health.’ 

The response followed a member of the media asking for additional details as to why Trump received an MRI during a checkup at Walter Reed National Military Center in Maryland in October. 

‘I got an MRI, it was perfect,’ Trump told reporters on Air Force One in October. 

‘I gave you the full results,’ he added. ‘We had an MRI, and the machine, you know, the whole thing, and it was perfect.’ 

The checkup in October has been described as routine by the administration, with Trump’s physician reporting that Trump is in ‘exceptional health.’ 

Media outlets and others have fanned the flames of concerns around Trump’s health earlier in 2025 when he was spotted with swollen legs in July while attending the FIFA Club World Cup final in New Jersey, as well as when other photos that same month showed him with bruises on his hands.

Leavitt said in July, while reading a health memo, that Trump’s swollen legs were part of a ‘benign and common condition’ for individuals older than age 70, while the bruising on his hands was attributable to ‘frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin.’

Navy Capt. Sean P. Barbabella, the physician to the president, wrote in a memorandum to Leavitt following the October checkup that the visit was part of an ongoing health maintenance plan that included ‘advanced imaging, laboratory testing and preventative health assessments conducted by multidisciplinary team of specialists.’

Barbabella said in his October summary that Trump, ‘remains in exceptional health, exhibiting strong cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, and physical performance.’ 

The checkup was Trump’s second in 2025, following an April visit that Barbabella said found Trump ‘remains in excellent health.’

Leavitt added Wednesday that Trump is slated to hold a dinner later that evening, which she said might include press attendance where the media could see Trump’s physical state themselves. 

‘I know all of you will see with your own eyes later this evening when he opens up his dinner to the press, and perhaps you will see him when he signs the bill to reopen the federal government,’ she said. ‘So stay tuned on plans for that.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report. 

Vice President JD Vance praised President Donald Trump’s ‘bulldozer’ approach to public health, calling it a necessary force that ‘just had to happen,’ during remarks at Wednesday’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) summit.

The summit, held at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., was centered on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement — aimed at improving nutrition, eliminating toxins, preserving natural habitats and fighting the chronic disease epidemic in the U.S.

‘That is a good summary of Donald J. Trump is that he takes a bulldozer to Overton windows every single day,’ Vance told the HHS secretary during the event. ‘It just had to happen… One of the criticisms that Bobby will always get, and I always think it’s such b——-, excuse my language… [is that] sometimes there’s this attack where people say that conclusion is not supported by the science, or this or that conclusion is a conspiracy theory.’

‘Science, as practiced in its best form, is that if you disagree with it, then you ought to criticize it, and you ought to argue against it. You can’t shut down the debate,’ Vance continued. ‘If you look at all the big public health debates that we’ve had in this country over the last 20 or 30 years… they tried to silence the people who were saying things that were outside the Overton window. As we found out the hard way over the last few years, it was very often that people who were outside the Overton window were actually right, and all the experts were wrong.’

Vance went on to say the country could not advance unless Americans become comfortable with people who are ‘willing to challenge orthodoxy.’

He also vowed to keep Appalachia in the forefront of the conversation, noting residents have higher premature mortality rates due to a long history of being failed by the public health system.

‘You know what really p—– people off — when they realize that their loved ones are dying much sooner than everybody else,’ said Vance, whose autobiography, ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ details his own upbringing in Appalachia. ‘That is a big part of the story of what’s going on in Appalachia, and why I think so many people in Appalachia feel left behind.’

He described himself as ‘the golden boy’ of Appalachia, admitting he feels guilt about the many people who grew up in families like his and have not had an easy life or the same amount of economic opportunity.

‘That gives me a sense of purpose because I want those people to have the same opportunities that I’ve had,’ Vance said. ‘But it also gives me a great sense of anger, because we never should have gotten to the point that we are today. The reason that we have, is because of failed leadership over generations.’

When discussing the people of Appalachia, he said they are people who, ‘though they don’t have much, would take the shirt off their back and give it to a complete stranger, because that’s what you do.’

‘If you go back to America’s biggest wars — World War I, World War II, Vietnam — which were the counties that filled their draft quotas with volunteers instead of with draftees?’ Vance posed. ‘It’s very often the parts in deep Appalachia where you’ve got grinding poverty, but you’ve also got this incredible love of country.’

‘So if any place in this country deserves not to be left behind, it’s Appalachia… These are people who deserve to live better, healthier lives, but they really have been left behind by this country’s leadership,’ Vance added.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said he doesn’t want to blow up Obamacare, but he does want to give Americans another option.

Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made their core shutdown argument about expiring Obamacare subsidies that they argued, if allowed to sunset at the end of this year, would lead to millions of Americans seeing their healthcare premium costs skyrocket.

But Scott and other Republicans contend that simply extending the current subsidies would see billions in taxpayer money funneled to insurance companies, without a dime actually finding its way to the pockets of Americans looking for insurance options.

His plan would ‘let the person be a consumer,’ he told Fox News Digital from an interview in his office.

‘I just think we ought to fix Obamacare,’ Scott said. ‘So the way I think about it is, look, if you want to buy off the exchange, you know, an Obamacare product, do it. If that’s what you want. I mean, leave that there.’

‘But I know what a consumer is going to do,’ he continued. ‘Consumers are going to be way more creative of how they take care of themselves.’

Scott said his idea, in a sea of burgeoning possibilities on what to do next when it comes to answering the healthcare issue raised by congressional Democrats, would directly send any kind of Obamacare subsidy money directly to a Health Savings Account (HSA).

His plan, which he’s been working on in the background for some time, was given extra credence when President Donald Trump on Saturday recommended to Senate Republicans that ‘the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over.’

‘In other words, take from the BIG, BAD Insurance Companies, give it to the people, and terminate, per Dollar spent, the worst Healthcare anywhere in the World, Obamacare,’ Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social.

Trump’s post was in response to Schumer and Democrats’ counter-offer to reopen the government, which Republicans quickly rejected, that would have extended the Obamacare subsidies by one year.

Should the subsidies be permanently extended, which was baked into Democrats’ original demand at the beginning of the shutdown, it would cost $350 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Scott viewed the latest proposal as nothing but pure politics and something that Republicans would never vote for.

‘It’s all about politics. It’s not about people,’ he said. ‘So I think Schumer and the Democrats are heartless. They’re absolutely heartless.’

It’s also an idea that Scott said he had spoken to the president about before.

Republicans have railed against the current state of the subsidies, which were enhanced under former President Joe Biden during the COVID-19 pandemic. The enhancement blew off the income cap on the subsidies, allowing people making well above the poverty line to qualify for them.

Scott blasted the current state of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies, but he noted that he was not suggesting that the subsidy be completely done away with.

‘You could be making $250,000 a year, so you’re paying for these people that are making $250,000 a year, and you’re paying with your taxes for them,’ Scott said. ‘How? Tell me how that makes sense.’

He hopes to have his legislative proposal done quickly, as others in the GOP are similarly floating ideas on how to tackle the issue of expiring subsidies and rising healthcare costs.

‘Let the consumer be the buyer of healthcare,’ he said. ‘Any dollars we’re going to give to spend on it goes to the consumer and let them buy what they want to buy.’

The Supreme Court revealed on Monday it will consider a lawsuit, originally brought by the Republican National Committee, over whether counting ballots that arrive after Election Day is lawful.

The case will examine a state law in solid red Mississippi that allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they are received up to five days after the election. 

The RNC, which has fought to stop late-arriving ballots over allegations that they undermine trust in the vote counting process, argues the state law conflicts with federal law and is hoping the Supreme Court will ban them nationwide.

David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, emphasized that the court would not be weighing in on the legality of mail-in ballots, which are accepted in some form in every state, or whether ballots could be cast after Election Day.

‘What this case is about is whether a ballot that was cast on or before Election Day, sealed in an envelope, placed in the U.S. Mail and received by a state some days later can be counted if a state law says that that’s okay,’ Becker told Fox News Digital.

Mississippi’s rule went into effect in 2020, when many states implemented new emergency election policies over COVID-19. Well over a dozen, both red and blue, accept late mail-in ballots if they are postmarked by Election Day. 

The RNC sued over the law and secured a win at the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, leading Mississippi to bring the matter to the Supreme Court. The state argues ‘election’ means voters’ final choice, which occurs when ballots are cast by Election Day. Receipt of ballots that are marked and submitted effectuates the voters’ choice but are ‘not part of the election itself,’ Mississippi told the Supreme Court in a filing. As such, the state argues, federal law does not prohibit short, post-Election Day windows to receive ballots cast on time. 

Becker warned of repercussions that could come of the Supreme Court upholding the 5th Circuit’s ruling, saying it could invite a host of new litigation because close races could come down to ballots cast by Election Day that arrive a day or two after the election because of U.S. Postal Service delays.

‘We as a society do not want a bunch of ballots coming in the day or two after, delivered late, not because of the voter but because of the Postal Service, and having those ballots being the margin of victory in a close race,’ Becker said.

In a statement, RNC chairman Joe Gruters echoed broader sentiments of election security hawks who have taken issue with late-arriving ballots.

‘Allowing states to count large numbers of mail-in ballots that are received after Election Day undermines trust and confidence in our elections,’ Gruters said.

‘Elections must end on Election Day, which is why the RNC led the way in challenging this harmful state law. The RNC has been hard at work litigating this case for nearly two years, and we hope the Supreme Court will affirm the Fifth Circuit’s landmark decision that mail-in ballots received after Election Day cannot be counted.’

The end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history is finally in sight, with the House of Representatives set to vote on a federal funding bill later Wednesday evening.

House lawmakers are set to take a procedural vote in the 5 p.m. hour on whether to allow debate on the measure. If the legislation survives, a final vote is expected in the 7 p.m. hour.

The government has been shut down for 43 days as Democrats and Republicans hotly debated the merits of the GOP’s initial federal funding bill, a short-term extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 spending levels through Nov. 21.

The vast majority of Democrats are still against the legislation, including House Democratic leadership, but GOP lawmakers across several ideologically diverse factions have signaled confidence in a nearly unified Republican vote.

House Freedom Caucus Policy Chairman Chip Roy, R-Texas, said he heard no dissent on the bill from his band of fiscal hawks.

‘I’m not going to speak for everybody, but I think there’s general support. So you know, I’m unaware of any opposition of significance,’ he told reporters Tuesday night.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said, ‘Nothing’s ever easy around here. But, look, I didn’t notice any dissent … I think the votes will be there on our side.’

But with a razor-thin majority, House GOP leaders can only afford to lose two Republican votes at most to pass the bill without relying on any Democrats.

‘I’m very hopeful,’ House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital when asked if Republicans had the votes to pass the bill. ‘I think you’re seeing just a few Democrats come to their senses. It should be a lot more.’

Meanwhile, the shutdown’s effects on the country have grown more severe by the day.

Many of the thousands of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who had to work without pay were forced to take second jobs, causing nationwide flight delays and cancellations amid staffing shortages at the country’s busiest airports. Millions of Americans who rely on federal benefits were also left in limbo as funding for critical government programs ran close to drying out.

At the heart of the issue was Democratic leaders’ refusal to back any funding bill that did not also extend COVID-19 pandemic-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year. Democrats argued it was their best hope of preventing healthcare price hikes for Americans across the U.S.

Republicans agreed to hold conversations on reforming what they saw as a broken healthcare system, but they refused to pair any partisan priority with federal funding.

The initial bill passed the House on Sept. 19 but stalled in the Senate for weeks, when Democrats sank the bill more than a dozen times.

However, after weeks of stalemate and the clock running down on their Nov. 21 bill, a new compromise emerged that got support from eight Senate Democrats to carry it across the finish line.

The new legislation would extend FY 2025 federal funding levels through Jan. 30, to give negotiators more time to strike a longer-term deal for FY 2026.

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.

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.

A side deal struck in the Senate also guaranteed Senate Democrats a vote on legislation extending the enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., however, has made no such promise in the House.

If passed on Wednesday night, the legislation heads to President Donald Trump’s desk for a signature.

When asked about the bill on Tuesday, a White House official told Fox News Digital, ‘President Trump has wanted the government reopened since the first day Democrats shut it down. The action in the Senate is a positive development, and we look forward to seeing it progress.’

Former first lady Michelle Obama revealed on a recent episode of her podcast that she was left infuriated by a moment on Air Force One in 2009 when she debated whether to wear Bermuda shorts while on vacation — which ultimately led to controversy. 

‘The fact that we had to spend time thinking about that kind of stuff in ways that my husband didn’t — it was really infuriating,’ Obama said during an episode on her podcast, ‘IMO With Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson,’ which she co-hosts with her brother. ‘Then an article, a negative article, still happened.’ 

The former first lady explained that in August 2009 she and the former president were set to depart Air Force One for a hike in the Grand Canyon while on their first vacation since the inauguration earlier that year. While she fretted over what attire would be appropriate for a first lady and not draw public criticism, Barack Obama did not need to put effort into thinking about his outfit, she recounted. 

‘It was 100 degrees,’ Michelle Obama remembered of the conversation. ‘Barack — I was like, ‘Well, what are you wearing?’ He was like, ‘Well, I’m gonna throw on some sneakers, I’m gonna take my jacket off and roll my sleeves up’ because that’s what men can do. White shirt, no collar, no tie. That was how he changed.’

Michelle Obama said she debated whether to wear hiking shorts or a dress before landing on wearing Bermuda shorts. 

‘I can’t wear hiking shorts there, and I can’t wear a dress to hike,’ she said. ‘That would be crazy. People would call me ‘disconnected’ and ‘un-American.’ I’m at the Grand Canyon in a tea-length dress with flats? I was like, ‘That’s not how people go to the Grand Canyon.”

‘I eventually opted for the thing that felt mostly me,’ Michelle Obama continued. ‘And it was the Bermuda shorts. Because if we’re going on a hike, this is how a normal person would go on a hike.’

The former first lady did face backlash for the attire, as pundits at the time criticized that a first lady wearing shorts while departing Air Force One was too casual, with outlets running headlines such as, ‘Who Wears Short Shorts? Michelle Obama,’ ‘First lady’s shorts draw some long, hard looks,’ and ‘Michelle Obama: The Shorts Heard Round the World.’

Michelle Obama said in 2013 that she would not wear shorts again on Air Force One after the 2009 outfit caused ‘a huge stink.’ She explained at the time that she made the more relaxed choice because ‘we’re on vacation.’

First lady Melania Trump also has faced backlash over her wardrobe attire, including in 2017 when she wore a baseball cap and jeans to visit Texas after Hurricane Harvey that was viewed by some critics as too casual, and again in 2018 when she wore a green jacket while on a trip to visit the border that read, ‘I really don’t care. Do u?’ 

Melania Trump later told the media she wore the jacket as a message to the liberal media and other critics: ‘I want to show them that I don’t care,’ she told ABC News in 2018. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Michelle Obama’s office Tuesday for additional comment on the matter but did not immediately receive a reply.