The Latest: House returns to vote on ending the government shutdown after nearly 2 months away

The longest government shutdown in history could conclude as soon as today, Day 43, after Speaker Mike Johnson called House representatives back into session after a nearly eight-week absence.

The House is scheduled to take up a bill to reopen the government that the Senate passed on Monday night. President Donald Trump called the measure a “very big victory,” and it’s expected to pass the Republican-led chamber. The prospect of travel delays due to the shutdown could complicate the vote, but Johnson said the GOP was “very optimistic” about the outcome.

The House has not been in legislative session since Sept. 19. Johnson sent lawmakers home after that vote and put the onus on the Senate to act, saying House Republicans did their job.

Yet even as the possibility of an end to the shutdown draws near, almost no one will be satisfied. Democrats didn’t get the health insurance provisions they demanded added to the spending deal. And Republicans, who control the levers of power in Washington, didn’t escape blame, according to polls and some state and local elections that went poorly for them.

Meanwhile, the sex-offending financier Jeffrey Epstein wrote in a 2019 email to a journalist that Trump “knew about the girls,” according to communications released Wednesday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. The White House quickly accused Democrats of selectively leaking the emails to smear the president.

The Latest:

A Justice Department legal opinion says U.S. military personnel would not be vulnerable to prosecution if they’re involved in the fatal strikes against alleged drug boats in South America, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details from the opinion. The Washington Post first reported those details Wednesday.

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel drafted the classified opinion. It comes as human rights groups and others have raised concerns about the strikes violating international law.

U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk recently urged the U.S. to “take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats” and said he believes the attacks violate international human rights law.

When asked about the opinion, a Justice Department spokesperson said the strikes “were ordered consistent with the laws of armed conflict, and as such are lawful orders. Military personnel are legally obligated to follow lawful orders and, as such, are not subject to prosecution for following lawful orders.”

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— By Lisa Mascaro and Mary Clare Jalonick

A group of 17 transgender members of the Air Force are suing the U.S. government over what they say is the military’s unlawful revocation of their early retirement pensions and benefits.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court Monday, comes several months after the Air Force confirmed that it would deny all transgender service members who have served between 15 and 18 years the option to retire early and would instead separate them without retirement benefits.

It’s just the latest in a series of legal challenges to the Trump administration’s policies that have sought to push transgender troops out of the military since the early days of his second term.

Logan Ireland, a master sergeant in the Air Force with 15 years of service that includes a deployment to Afghanistan, joined the lawsuit.

“Stripping away my retirement sends the message that those values only apply on the battlefield, not when a service member needs them most,” he said.

Speaking to reporters following the gathering in Canada, Rubio also pushed back on a CNN report that the United Kingdom has halted some intelligence sharing with the U.S. over concerns about the strikes, calling it inaccurate and fake. Rubio said the U.S. has assets in South America providing intelligence to support the strikes and that no one from the British government has expressed concerns to him about the strikes’ legality.

“We have very strong partnerships with the UK and other countries,” Rubio said. “Again, nothing has changed or happened that has impeded in any way our ability to do what we’re doing.”

Rubio decried the humanitarian situation in war-torn Sudan and said “something needs to be done” to cut off the weapons and other support that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces is receiving as it battles the Sudanese army.

Asked by reporters about the role of the United Arab Emirates in the conflict, Rubio said Wednesday that the U.S. knows who’s involved in supplying the RSF.

“I can just tell you, at the highest levels of our government, that case is being made and that pressure is being applied to the relevant parties,” Rubio said, without naming any country. “This needs to stop. I mean, they’re clearly receiving assistance from outside.”

The Associated Press has reported that U.S. intelligence assessments for many months have found that the United Arab Emirates, a close U.S. ally, has been sending weapons to the RSF. The UAE denies backing the RSF.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Trump’s call to resume nuclear testing is appropriate given ongoing testing by U.S. adversaries.

Speaking to reporters following a meeting of diplomats from the Group of Seven democracies in Canada on Wednesday, Rubio said Trump’s plan includes the testing of delivery systems, the technologies used to launch nuclear weapons from land, air and sea.

Trump last month called for a resumption in nuclear testing but offered no details. His Energy Secretary Chris Wright later said the testing would not include nuclear explosions.

Rubio said testing the technology underlying the nation’s nuclear arsenal is needed to ensure its effectiveness and safety.

North Korea is the only country to conduct explosive nuclear tests this century.

A Democratic congressional candidate from Illinois and five others have pleaded not guilty to federal charges accusing them of blocking an immigration agent from entering a federal immigration facility during a protest.

Kat Abughazaleh is seeking the Democratic nomination in the race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky in the Chicago area.

She and five others have been charged with conspiring to impede an officer amid protests at a suburban Chicago processing center used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Prosecutors say they surrounded an agent’s van in September and banged on the vehicle.

After Wednesday’s federal court hearing, Abughazaleh told reporters that expressing First Amendment rights is not a conspiracy and dissent is not a crime.

The others who pleaded not guilty include a candidate for the Cook County Board and a trustee in suburban Oak Park.

Trump’s widely anticipated talks with Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader Mohammad bin Salman will take place Tuesday, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly about the yet to be formally announced visit.

With a fragile ceasefire holding in Gaza, Trump has expressed optimism about the prospects that the Saudis will soon agree to normalize commercial and diplomatic relations with Israel.

The Saudis meanwhile are expected to use the visit to press for a formal security agreement with the United States that includes a mutual defense treaty. Trump visited Saudi Arabia in May as part of a three-country Middle East tour.

— Aamer Madhani

Democrat Adelita Grijalva was sworn in as the newest member of Congress on Wednesday, more than seven weeks after she won a special election in Arizona to fill the House seat last held by her late father.

Grijalva was sworn in by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Wednesday shortly before the House returned to session to vote on a deal to fund the federal government. The lower chamber had been away since mid-September.

Grijalva’s seating brings the partisan margin in the House to a narrow 220-214 Republican majority. She vowed to continue her father’s legacy of advocating for progressive policies on issues like environmentalism, labor rights and tribal sovereignty.

She had previously called the prospect of finally being sworn in “emotional” in an interview with The Associated Press.

▶ Read more about Adelita Grijalva

The high-profile Illinois governor said he was “extremely disappointed” in a group of Democratic senators for striking a deal with Republicans to end the shutdown earlier this week.

The deal, passed Monday, makes no guarantee of extending Affordable Care Act tax credits.

“I’ve been on team fight from the very beginning,” Pritzker said in a Wednesday interview with AP. “I don’t appreciate when we’ve got Democrats who are caving in and doing basically what the Trump administration wants.”

Among the Democrats to vote for the funding bill to end the shutdown was Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin. Pritzker said that while he has “a great deal of respect” for Durbin, his decision was “an enormous mistake.”

At a joint news conference, Airlines for America and the American Hotel and Lodging Association urged the House to act today to end the shutdown and “stave off more travel chaos” before Thanksgiving.

“We’re heading into the busiest travel season of the year. The House of Representatives cannot delay taking action and stand in the way of families reuniting around the Thanksgiving table,” said Rosanna Maietta, president of the hotel association.

Airlines for America, which represents the major U.S. carriers, including Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United Airlines, estimates more than 5.2 million passengers have been affected by staffing-related flight delays or cancellations since the government shutdown began.

▶ Read more about U.S air travel

Voto Latino leaders said they strongly oppose the bill that will end the longest shutdown in U.S. history, claiming it will jeopardize the health of Latino communities by failing to fund subsidies provided by the Affordable Care Act that make health coverage more accessible.

“The bill before the House of Representatives does not live up to the urgent needs of our families — it offers neither sufficient safeguards nor meaningful investments to protect access to health care,” Voto Latino leaders said in a statement.

“Voto Latino calls out the U.S. House of Representatives to exercise its responsibility to the American people and specifically the Latino and immigrant communities by voting no on this budget bill in its current form.”

The vice president praised Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s willingness to question established science and embrace nontraditional voices in health care.

Vance said that often throughout history, “all the experts were wrong.”

In remarks in a fireside chat between the two men at a “Make America Healthy Again” summit in Washington, Vance also propped up Kennedy’s MAHA movement, saying it has been “an incredible part of our success in Washington.”

Kennedy is a longtime vaccine skeptic who as health secretary has changed inoculation guidelines and upended many of the agencies he leads.

Critics, including the country’s leading medical associations, say Kennedy’s policies are destructive to Americans’ health.

The record-long government shutdown likely means the government will not report what unemployment or inflation was in October, Leavitt said Wednesday, an unprecedented disruption in key economic data relied upon by Federal Reserve policymakers.

“The Democrats may have permanently damaged the federal statistical system, with October CPI and jobs reports likely never being released,” Leavitt said.

Some of the data for the two reports is collected electronically, but the bulk of it depends on surveys or store visits that were cancelled by the shutdown. For example, the monthly calculation of the unemployment rate is based off a survey of 60,000 households in the middle of the month, when the government was closed.

The data disruption comes as the Federal Reserve is sharply split on whether to cut its key interest rate at its next meeting December 9-10.

House Democrats returning to the Capitol for a vote on legislation to end the government shutdown raised the possibility that it could happen again when the bill’s funding runs out again in January, if they aren’t able to get some concessions on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of the year.

Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal said it depends “on the vulnerable House Republicans who are not going to be able to go back to their constituents without telling them that they’ve done something on health care.”

Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern said that he would not vote “to endorse their cruelty” if Republicans don’t support extending the subsidies.

House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said Republicans have wanted to repeal the ACA for the last 15 years. “That’s where they’re trying to go,” she said.

“When it comes to January 30, we’ll see what progress has been made,” she said.

Leavitt was asked about her promise earlier this month that she would follow up with the president to find out more about why he had an MRI in October.

The press secretary said she was “glad” for the question but didn’t answer it.

Leavitt said Trump “received advanced imaging” at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in October “as part of his routine physical examination.”

Leavitt did not specify what part of Trump’s body was imaged in the scan.

“The full results were reviewed by attending radiologists and consultant and all agreed that President Trump remains in exceptional physical health,” she said.

In his first comment since additional files were released this morning, the president said Republicans should ignore the latest developments.

“The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.”

He added that “any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”

“These emails prove absolutely absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong,” Leavitt said of the documents released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

She said Trump knew Epstein from Palm Beach but that the president kicked the financier out of his Mar-a-Lago club “because Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile and he was a creep.”

Leavitt was also asked about reports that the White House met with U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado, to discuss the Epstein files and she said it shows “transparency that members of the Trump administration are willing to brief members of Congress.”

Leavitt then seemed to indicate that White House officials met with Boebert in the White House situation room to discuss the Epstein files, saying, “I’m not going to detail conversations that took place in the Situation Room in the press briefing room.”

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt blamed affordability issues on the media, saying prices at the grocery store, and other key costs for consumers, are actually lower than has been reported.

She also insisted White House has “done so much to lower prices and increase the economic prosperity of the American people” while also acknowledging, “There is more work to do.”

Leavitt said the administration had lowered energy and prescription drug prices, while also blaming Democrats for a government shutdown she said hurt the economy.

She mistakenly suggested that energy prices were the top driver of inflation. Shelter costs are the most important driver of key inflation measures and spending on groceries is a larger share of income than spending on gasoline.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has met with his counterparts from the G7 group of industrialized democracies and other nations, including Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, South Korea and India.

He traveled to southern Ontario for a foreign ministers meeting largely focused on Russia’s war with Ukraine, maritime security and critical minerals that are used in major technology.

Although Rubio didn’t make any specific announcements about additional U.S. aid to Ukraine or new sanctions against Russia, he said on social media that he and the others had discussed “ways to strengthen Ukraine’s defense and find an end to this bloody conflict.”

“The United States remains steadfast in working with our partners to encourage Russia to pursue diplomacy and engage directly with Ukraine for a durable and lasting peace,” he said on X.

The State Department said Rubio and Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand discussed transatlantic security, the Indo-Pacific, Haiti and supply chains in a separate meeting. It comes after trade tensions recently heightened between the two North American allies.

The Democratic primary to take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was shaken up Wednesday by the decision of one candidate to drop out and join a different race.

The top Democratic challengers to face Collins are Gov. Janet Mills, a party mainstay, and Graham Platner, an oyster farmer who has gained attention for progressive views and provocative online posts. Jordan Wood, a onetime chief of staff to former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., has also run an aggressive social media campaign.

Wood said Wednesday that he is dropping out of the Senate race to instead run for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District seat. The incumbent, Democrat Jared Golden, announced last week that he is not seeking reelection.

Wood’s announcement sets up a potential primary with former Secretary of State Matt Dunlap. The leading Republican candidate is former Gov. Paul LePage.

Rep. Victoria Spartz said Wednesday that she will vote for a deal to reopen the government. The Indiana lawmaker was one of only two Republicans to vote against the original resolution in September to prevent a shutdown.

Spartz said she’d support the Senate deal, which includes three full-year spending bills and keeps the rest of the government open until late January, because it doesn’t have a deadline just before Christmas. Republicans frequently criticize expensive end-of-year spending bills designed to jam lawmakers just before they leave for the holidays.

“We need to open the government, pay our military, and provide essential services,” Spartz said in a post on X.