Month: November 2025

President Trump signed a government funding package at the White House late Wednesday, formally ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. (per CBS News.) The President, surrounded by Republican members of Congress and some members of his Cabinet,  signed the funding bill that the House passed earlier Wednesday evening.

After 43 days, the longest government shutdown in U.S. history came to an end Wednesday night as the House voted 222–209 to pass a Republican-backed funding bill, sending it to President Donald Trump for his signature. Two Republicans opposed the measure, while six Democrats crossed party lines to support it.

The legislation, already approved by the Senate in a 60–40 vote earlier this week, extends funding for most federal agencies through January 30. It also provides full-year appropriations for veterans programs, military construction, and nutrition assistance programs such as SNAP and WIC. Additionally, it guarantees back pay for furloughed federal workers and reverses Trump administration firings that occurred during the shutdown.

The bill’s passage followed a tense standoff that paralyzed Washington for weeks. The Senate’s breakthrough came after eight Democrats joined Republicans to move the legislation forward, ending the prolonged impasse that had disrupted millions of government employees and services.

House Speaker Mike Johnson criticized Democrats for holding out in hopes of attaching an extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits to the bill, calling the strategy “utterly pointless and foolish.” He added, “This outcome was totally foreseeable. I said this would be the outcome when all this began back in mid-September. They did it anyway.”

Democratic leaders pushed back, vowing to continue their fight for health care affordability. “House Democrats will continue our fight to lower the high cost of living, decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis and extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits,” said Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark, and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar in a joint statement.

Jeffries said he intends to introduce a discharge petition that would force a House vote to extend ACA subsidies for three years, urging moderate Republicans to join Democrats in the effort. “Over the past several weeks, a handful of Republicans claimed to be interested in addressing the healthcare crisis that they have created in America … Now is the time for so-called traditional Republicans to join with House Democrats, sign the discharge petition and force a vote on our bill to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits for three years,” he said.

Johnson, however, declined to guarantee a future vote on the issue, arguing that the ACA’s subsidy system needs reform. “Am I going to guarantee a vote on ACA unreformed COVID-era subsidies that is just a boondoggle to insurance companies and robs the taxpayer? We got a lot of work to do on that,” Johnson said. “We, the Republicans, would demand a lot of reforms before anything like that was ever possible.”

Wednesday marked the House’s first full session in 54 days, after Johnson had sent members home in late September. Lawmakers were called back to Washington earlier this week amid nationwide travel disruptions caused by unpaid air traffic controllers affected by the shutdown.

While the funding bill ends the immediate crisis, it leaves unresolved disputes over health care and spending priorities that are expected to resurface by mid-December, when Senate Democrats are due a promised vote on the expiring ACA tax credits — setting up the next budget showdown on Capitol Hill.

Editorial credit: Amy Lutz / Shutterstock.com

House Democrats on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday released newly obtained emails between convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and author Michael Wolff, some of which reference President Trump.

The batch of emails — part of more than 23,000 documents turned over by Epstein’s estate — includes multiple exchanges spanning from 2011-2019. The material, which lawmakers say they are still reviewing, features messages that appear to touch on Trump’s past interactions with Epstein and his awareness of Epstein’s trafficking activities. Portions of the emails were redacted to protect victims’ identities.

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, said the newly released emails raise serious questions about Trump’s connection to Epstein and the possible withholding of related documents. Garcia said in a statement: “The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover These latest emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the president.”

Garcia also urged the Department of Justice to make all Epstein-related materials public. “The Department of Justice must fully release the Epstein files to the public immediately,” he said, adding that the committee “will continue pushing for answers and will not stop until we get justice for the victims.”

In one message dated April 2, 2011, Epstein wrote to Maxwell, “i want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump..[victim] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned. police chief. etc. im 75 % there.” Maxwell responded, “I have been thinking about that…”

Another email exchange from December 2015 — months after Trump launched his first presidential campaign — shows Epstein and Wolff discussing how the then-candidate might respond if asked about Epstein on CNN. Wolff wrote, “I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you—either on air or in scrum afterwards.” Epstein replied, “if we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?” Wolff responded, “I think you should let him hang himself… If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you valuable PR and political currency… Of course, it is possible that, when asked, he’ll say Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in a Trump regime.”

A later message from January 1, 2019, again mentions Trump: “[Victim] mara lago. [redacted]. trump said he asked me to resign. never a member ever. . of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”

Epstein and Trump were known to have socialized in overlapping circles in New York and Florida during the 1980s and 1990s, but Trump has long said he severed ties with Epstein around 2004. Epstein was later indicted on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019 and died by suicide in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in his trafficking network.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back sharply, accusing Democrats of “selectively leaking emails to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.” She claimed the redacted name in the messages was Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April and who “repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions.”  Leavitt reiterated that Trump expelled Epstein from Mar-a-Lago decades ago “for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre,” and dismissed the latest revelations as “bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments.”

The latest disclosures come as lawmakers continue pressing for full transparency on Epstein’s ties to powerful figures. The House’s return to session this week could advance a bipartisan push to force the Justice Department to release the complete Epstein files.  Trump has not personally commented on the newly released emails.

Editorial credit: miss.cabul / Shutterstock.com