The US has granted Hungary a one-year exemption from oil and gas sanctions on Russia, White House officials said (per Reuters) after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had an especially warm and friendly day with President Trump at the White House Friday.
TUESDAY 11/11/25
Senate Votes to Reopen Government -- The Senate voted 60-40 to send to the House its measure approved late Sunday to fund the government to January 30, with full-year (to September 30) appropriations for agriculture, Veteran Affairs and legislative operations (which means congressional staff will get paid), according to Congressional Quarterly’s Roll Call.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he would give House members 36 hours to return to Washington, in time for a Wednesday vote on the appropriations bill.
“I’d like for us to be voting on this as early as Wednesday, which is the quickest we could process it if the Senate does their work,” Johnson said.
Hello, Grijalva? … Johnson said he can swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) when the House reconvenes Wednesday, The Washington Examiner reports. Grijalva won a special election September 23 for the seat of her father, Raul Grijalva, who died in March, and plans to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files. Johnson has refused to swear in Adelita Grijalva, raising much speculation that he is protecting President Trump from appearing in the investigation of the late sex trafficker.
Paul defends hemp … Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the lone Republican who rejected the spending package over the agriculture funding bill that regulated the hemp industry, which he says is a significant employer in Kentucky.
“Every hemp plant in America will have to be destroyed, every hemp seed in America will have to be destroyed, and 100% of the hemp products that are sold will no longer be allowed to be sold,” Paul said.
Paul’s amendment was tabled, 76-24.
Baldwin and Schumer … Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) offered an amendment for a one-year extension of health care subsidies, the issue that has kept the federal government mostly closed for 42 days. Her amendment failed along party lines, 47-53.
Meanwhile, there has been quite the rumble from House and Senate Democrats that it’s time for Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to go. Though Schumer voted with the majority of Democrats in rejecting the spending package because it does not provide the Affordable Care Act subsidies extension, he also failed to keep Senate Democrats in line in the vote, especially after Republicans were weakened by Democrats’ success in the November 4 off-year elections.
But wait, there’s more … If Republicans back out of their promise to negotiate the health care subsidies in December, Democrats could force another partial shutdown in January as primaries start to heat up for the November 2026 midterms. –TL
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Shutdown Day 41 -- MONDAY 11/10/25
Over? For Now? Almost? – Seven Democratic Senators and one independent broke the filibuster and voted with Republicans 60-40, to approve a continuing resolution to reopen the federal government. As part of the deal, Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) will schedule a vote later this year to extend enhanced health insurance premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, according to The Hill.
At least 40 Senate Democrats do not trust Republicans to vote for the tax credits. Among them, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who voted against the measure Sunday.
Filibuster-busters … Senators who guaranteed a two-thirds majority were Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), who retires at the end of the year, the independent Angus King of Maine, New Hampshire Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine, Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman and Nevada Democrats Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen.
Fetterman and Cortez Masto have voted on continuing resolutions with Republicans – there were 14 ahead of this compromise -- for weeks.
The bill funds military construction, Veterans Affairs and the Agriculture Department though the fiscal year, to September 30, 2026.
Cans to be kicked … Stopgap measures that would expire January 30 include funding the rest of government at fiscal 2025 levels, retaining more than 4,000 federal workers targeted for layoffs during the shutdown and preventing the Trump administration’s firing of additional workers via reductions in workforce (RIFs). The latter provision was responsible for getting Tim Kaine of Virginia, who has thousands of constituents in Washington suburbs, on board.
House Republicans will have to rely on their three-seat majority to pass the Senate bill in the lower chamber.
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) called the Senate compromise “unconditional surrender” in an interview on NPR’s Morning Edition.
“Why are we acting like we lost the election?” Torres said, referring to the Democratic Party’s off-year success last week.
Uh oh, SNAP … Meanwhile, the Trump White House on the weekend demanded that states “undo” (refund?) full benefits paid under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during a one-day window between a federal judge ordering full funding and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily pausing the payments via emergency order late Friday (The Associated Press). Jackson, who handles emergency matters from Massachusetts.
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Trump Pardons Election Denial Supporters – President Trump extended a “full, complete and unconditional” pardons of attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and ex-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and dozens of others.
The Wall Street Journal cited a release Monday by US pardons attorney Ed Martin, who previously announced the pardons on X-Twitter.
Pardoned for their involvement in an alleged Trump scheme to overturn results of the 2020 presidential election, they were “prosecuted by the Biden administration,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Monday.
“Getting prosecuted for challenging results is something that happens in communist Venezuela, not the United States of America, and President Trump is putting an end to the Biden Regime’s communist tactics once and for all.” –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa