Good Thursday evening. In this edition: Senate fails to advance dueling health care bills, leaving millions of Americans to face higher premiums.
Plus, Letitia James, Indiana redistricting, oil tanker, Bennie Thompson, union rights, impeachment, Mike Lindell, NDAA, nominations and Hulu.
Health Care
The Senate failed to advance competing health care proposals, essentially guaranteeing that the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits will expire at the end of the year, leading to premium spikes for more than 20 million Americans.
As expected, both bills, one offered by Democrats and one by Republicans, fell well short of the 60 votes needed to advance.
The Democratic proposal would have enacted a "clean" three-year extension of the pandemic-era subsidies.
It failed 51–48, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in favor: Sens. Susan Collins (ME), Josh Hawley (MO), Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Dan Sullivan (AK).
The Republican counterproposal, unveiled Monday, would have let the subsidies expire but instead seeded health savings accounts (HSAs) with up to $1,500 for eligible ACA enrollees on high-deductible plans.
That bill also failed, 51–48, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) joining all Democrats in opposition. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) missed both votes.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), who, like most Republicans, opposes a clean extension of the pandemic-era subsidies, promised to hold the votes as part of a deal to end the record-long government shutdown centered on Democrats' health care demands.
"I hope that after today they will feel like they've checked the messaging box and will get serious about actually doing something about the spiraling health care costs under Obamacare," he said ahead of the votes. "Republicans are ready to get to work. I'm not sure yet if the Democrats are interested."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) lambasted the GOP proposal as "junk insurance" and said the Democratic bill was the last opportunity to extend the enhanced tax credits before they expire.
"Our bill is the last train to leave the station," he said on the floor ahead of the vote. "After this, we will not have time to try again before premiums shoot through the roof next year. This is not a political fight. This is not a symbolic vote. This is a life-and-death vote."
Both votes were expected to fail since there were no meaningful efforts on either side of the aisle to secure a bipartisan compromise.
There are myriad health care proposals in the House, some of which have bipartisan support, but they are unlikely to get through the lower chamber, let alone the Senate, by the end of the year.
The Senate is expected to adjourn next week until January, meaning the ACA tax credits will almost certainly revert to their pre-pandemic levels, leaving many families facing premium increases of $1,000 a year or more.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt framed the impending premium spikes as a mess of Democrats' own making.
"Democrats wrote Obamacare. They passed it without a single Republican vote, and then they ballooned it with these expensive COVID subsidies that completely distorted the health insurance market. And then they doubled down, extending those subsidies and setting their own expiration date for 2025," she told reporters at a briefing.
Ms. Leavitt said the Trump administration was still seeking ways to keep health care costs down but did not provide any specifics.
"You'll hear more from the president and the White House on that very soon," she said. "The president and Republicans are currently coming up with creative solutions and ideas to lower health care costs for the American people."
The Justice Departmentfailed to secure an indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) for the second time in a week, marking the DOJ's third attempt to prosecute Ms. James following a pressure campaign from President Trump. A federal judge last month dismissed mortgage-related charges brought against Ms. James — as well as a separate case against former FBI Director James Comey — after determining that the prosecutor in both cases, Lindsey Halligan, had been unlawfully appointed. "For the second time in seven days, the Department of Justice has failed in its clear attempt to fulfill President Trump's political vendetta against Attorney General James," Ms. James's attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. "This unprecedented rejection makes even clearer that this case should never have seen the light of day."
The Indiana Senaterejected a mid-decade redistricting effort that the White House had hoped would net Republicans two additional seats in the 2026 midterms. The chamber voted 19–31 on the proposal, with 21 Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition. "I am very disappointed that a small group of misguided State Senators have partnered with Democrats to reject this opportunity to protect Hoosiers with fair maps and to reject the leadership of President Trump," Gov. Mike Braun (R-IN) said in a statement, adding that he would work with the president to "challenge" the Republicans who voted no.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavittsaid the U.S. intends to keep the oil from the tanker that was seized Wednesday off the coast of Venezuela. "There is a legal process for the seizure of that oil, and that legal process will be followed," she told reporters. The U.S. military worked with federal law enforcement to seize the tanker the U.S. government said was under sanction for transporting black market oil to Iran. "The Department of Justice requested and was approved for a warrant to seize a vessel because it's a sanctioned shadow vessel known for carrying black market, sanctioned oil to the IRGC," she said, using the acronym for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Venezuelan government called it “blatant theft and an act of international piracy.”
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, referred to the attack on two National Guard troops in Washington, DC, as an "unfortunate accident," drawing condemnation from Republicans. "You think that was an unfortunate accident?" interjected Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was testifying before the panel. "It was a terrorist attack. He shot our National Guardsman in the head." Rep. Thompson then amended his comment to call it an "unfortunate incident." The exchange happened as the Democrat tried to highlight that the asylum application of the Afghan national accused of the attack had been approved by the Trump administration.
The Housevoted231–195 to approve legislation repealing President Trump's executive order that stripped union rights from federal employees involved in national security work. Twenty Republicans joined all Democrats in supporting the bill, which reached the floor through a successful discharge petition led by Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME). It is the latest discharge petition to succeed in the closely divided House, delivering a blow to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who had sought to prevent the measure from coming to the floor. The legislation now heads to the Senate.
The Housevoted237–140 to table — or kill — Rep. Al Green's (D-TX) impeachment resolution against President Trump, marking the second time this year the chamber has rejected one of his impeachment attempts. The Texas Democrat filed the articles over the president's reaction to a video of Democratic senators urging service members to disobey unlawful orders. "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH," the president wrote at the time. Forty-seven Democrats, including the caucus's leadership, voted "present" on the motion to table.
Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO and ally of President Trump, announced he will run for Minnesota governor next year. Mr. Lindell has faced extensive legal scrutiny for promoting debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. In June, a federal jury found that he had defamed a former employee of Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion and Smartmatic, another voting systems company, have also accused him of defamation in separate lawsuits. He joins a crowded Republican field seeking the opportunity to deny Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) a third term.
The Senatevoted75–22 to begin work on the House-passed compromise version of the NDAA, a $900 billion defense programs and policy bill for FY 2026. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) then filed cloture, setting up a vote next week to advance the measure. The House approved the must-pass bill on Wednesday in a 312–112 vote.
Senatorsalso voted52–47, along party lines, to advance a group of 97 executive and judicial nominations, including former State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce to be deputy U.S. representative to the United Nations, former Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-NY) to be the Labor Department's inspector general, and Brent Bozell to be U.S. ambassador to South Africa. Final confirmation votes are expected next week.
C-SPAN is now available on Hulu + Live TV! Subscribers to the service will now have access to all C-SPAN content across its three networks. This partnership — along with C-SPAN's recent addition to YouTube TV — expands access to unfiltered coverage of the U.S. government for millions of subscribers nationwide, further strengthening the network's role as an indispensable source of public affairs programming.
For your radar…
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, DNC Chair Ken Martin and other prominent Democrats speak on their wins in 2025 and strategies for the 2026 midterms during the party's annual winter meeting, held in Los Angeles. Watch LIVE online at 6:30pm ET.
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