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Lawmakers return to Washington facing Venezuela concerns, shutdown threat

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Lawmakers return to Washington facing Venezuela concerns, shutdown threat

Lawmakers are returning to Washington this week confronting the fallout from the stunning capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro — and familiar complaints about the Trump administration deciding to bypass Congress on military operations that have led to this moment.

Democratic leaders are demanding the administration immediately brief Congress. Republican leaders indicated over the weekend those plans are being scheduled, but some lawmakers expressed frustration Sunday that the details have been slow to arrive.

President Trump told the nation Saturday that the United States intends to “run” Venezuela and take control over the country’s oil operations now that Maduro has been captured and brought to New York to stand trial in a criminal case centered on narco-terrorism charges.

The administration did not brief Congress ahead of the actions, leaving Democrats and some Republicans expressing public frustration with the decision to sideline Congress.

“Congress should have been informed about the operation earlier and needs to be involved as this situation evolves,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said in a social media post Saturday.

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Appearing on the Sunday news shows, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York, ticked through a growing list of unknowns — and laid out plans for their party to try and reassert Congress’ authority over acts of war.

“The problem here is that there are so many unanswered questions,” Schumer said on ABC’s “This Week.” “How long do they intend to be there? How many troops do we need after one day? After one week? After one year? How much is it going to cost and what are the boundaries?”

Jeffries told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he was worried about Trump running Venezuela, saying he has “done a terrible job running the United States of America” and should be focused on the job at home.

In the coming days, Jeffries said Democrats will prioritize legislative action to try and put a check on the administration, “to ensure that no further military steps occur absent explicit congressional approval.”

As discussions over Venezuela loom, lawmakers also face major decisions on how to address rising costs of healthcare, prevent another government shutdown and deal with the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files.

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Much of the unfinished business reflects a Congress that opted to punt some of its toughest and most politically divisive decisions into the new year, a move that could slow negotiations as lawmakers may be reluctant to give the other side high-profile policy wins in the lead-up to the 2026 midterm elections.

First and foremost, Congress faces the monumental task of averting yet another government shutdown — just two months after the longest shutdown in U.S. history ended. Lawmakers have until Jan. 30 to pass spending bills needed to keep the federal government open. Both chambers are scheduled to be in session for three weeks before the shutdown deadline — with the House slated to be out of session the week immediately before.

Lawmakers were able to resolve key funding disputes late last year, including funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also known as food stamps, and other government programs. But disagreements over healthcare spending remain a major sticking point in budget negotiations, intensified now that millions of Americans are facing higher healthcare costs after lawmakers allowed Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire on Thursday.

“We can still find a solution to this,” said Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin), who has proposed legislation to extend the tax credits for two years. “We need to come up with ways to make people whole. That needs to be a top priority as soon as we get back.”

Despite that urgency, Republican efforts to be the author of broad healthcare reforms have gotten little traction.

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Underscoring the political pressure over the issue, four moderate House Republicans late last year defied party leadership and joined House Democrats to force a floor vote on a three-year extension of the subsidies. That vote is expected to take place in the coming weeks. Even if the House effort succeeds, its prospects remain dim in the Senate, where Republicans last month blocked a three-year extension.

Meanwhile, President Trump is proposing giving more money directly to people for their healthcare, rather than to insurance companies. A White House official said the administration is also pursuing reforms to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

Trump said last month that he plans to summon a group of healthcare executives to Washington early in the year to pressure them to lower costs.

“I’m going to call in the insurance companies that are making so much money, and they have to make less, a lot less,” Trump said during an Oval Office announcement. “I’m going to see if they get their price down, to put it very bluntly. And I think that is a very big statement.”

There is an expectation that Trump’s increasing hostility to insurance companies will play a role in any Republican healthcare reform proposal. If Congress does not act, the president is expected to leverage the “bully pulpit” to pressure drug and insurance companies to lower healthcare prices for consumers through executive action, said Nick Iarossi, a Trump fundraiser.

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“The president is locked in on the affordability message and I believe anything he can accomplish unilaterally without Congress he will do to provide relief to consumers,” Iarossi said.

While lawmakers negotiate government funding and healthcare policy, the continuing Epstein saga is expected to take up significant bandwidth.

Democrats and a few Republicans have been unhappy with the Department of Justice’s decision to heavily redact or withhold documents from a legally mandated release of files related to its investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in a Manhattan jail awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Some are weighing options for holding Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi accountable.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), who co-sponsored the law that mandated the release with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), said he and Massie will bring contempt charges against Bondi in an attempt to force her to comply with the law.

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“The survivors and the public demand transparency and justice,” Khanna said in a statement.

Under a law passed by Congress and signed by Trump, the Justice Department was required to release all Epstein files by Dec. 19, and released about 100,000 pages on that day. In the days that followed, the Justice Department said more than 5.2 million documents have been discovered and need to be reviewed.

“We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible,” the Justice Department said in a social media post on Dec. 24. “Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks.”

Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told MS NOW last week that pressure to address the matter will come to a head in the new year when lawmakers are back at work.

“When we get back to Congress here in this next week, we’re going to find out really quick if Republicans are serious about actually putting away and taking on pedophiles and some of the worst people and traffickers in modern history, or if they’re going to bend the knee to Donald Trump,” said Garcia, of Long Beach.

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RFK Jr. responds to snake-handling critics with new video showing him wrangling a venomous rattlesnake

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RFK Jr. responds to snake-handling critics with new video showing him wrangling a venomous rattlesnake

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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shared another snake-handling video Wednesday after social media users raised concerns over his earlier encounter with a pair of black racer snakes.

Kennedy Jr. posted an Instagram video captioned, “In response to the many comments about venomous snakes, this video shows how Cheryl and I handled a recent rattlesnake rescue.”

The clip begins with Kennedy Jr. sitting in his home office before someone alerts him to a snake in the driveway.

“Hold on, guys. I’ll be back in a flash,” he says before grabbing a bucket and a small net and heading outside.

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RFK JR BAREHANDS A PAIR OF SNAKES ON DR. OZ’S PATIO IN WILD VIDEO

RFK Jr. wrangles a Western Diamondback rattlesnake during a rescue video shared to Instagram Wednesday. (Instagram/RFKJr.)

The HHS secretary then carefully scoops up the rattlesnake as onlookers react in amazement.

After placing the snake in a bucket, Kennedy Jr. later pins it behind the head and lifts it toward the camera while explaining how to identify the reptile.

“His fangs are in there. I don’t want to touch them,” he said. “This is a beautiful snake. This is a Western Diamondback. You can tell by these rings at the end of his tail.”

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Kennedy Jr. then asked his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, to bring him a pillowcase before transporting and releasing the snake back into the wild.

ACTRESS CHERYL HINES CLASHES WITH ‘THE VIEW’ OVER HER HUSBAND RFK JR’S RECORD SERVING AMERICANS

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proudly displays a pair of black North American racer snakes he caught on Dr. Oz’s patio. (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.)

The Instagram post appeared to respond directly to criticism and concern sparked by another snake video Kennedy Jr. shared Tuesday on X.

In that clip, Kennedy Jr. grabbed two black North American racer snakes with his bare hands while visiting Dr. Mehmet Oz’s patio as Hines watched in apparent horror.

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“Honey, honey … why?” Hines yelled as Kennedy Jr. cornered the snakes.

Kennedy Jr. then lunged at the reptiles and eventually lifted both by their tails as they repeatedly bit his hands.

CHERYL HINES SHARES HARROWING EVACUATION FROM WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER AS GUNSHOTS RANG OUT

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cheryl Hines attend the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 2026. (Taylor Hill/WireImage)

“Black snakes, they’re biting me,” Kennedy Jr. said with a smile.

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The snakes continued striking at his hands as Hines pleaded, “Bobby, please! Bobby, Bobby, please,” before later telling him, “You are nuts.”

Kennedy Jr. later posted the video to X with the caption, “Cheryl cheerleads the removal of a pair of Black Racers from Dr Oz’s patio.”

According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, black racer snakes are nonvenomous and generally harmless to humans, though they will “readily bite to defend themselves.”

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The earlier video showed Kennedy Jr. handling nonvenomous snakes, while Wednesday’s Instagram clip focused on a venomous Western Diamondback rattlesnake, prompting some social media users to question whether the HHS secretary was taking unnecessary risks.

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Fox News Digital’s Robert McGreevy contributed to this report.

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Newsom vows to levy 100% tax on California recipients of Trump’s $1.8-billion ‘slush fund’

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Newsom vows to levy 100% tax on California recipients of Trump’s .8-billion ‘slush fund’

Gov. Gavin Newsom has threatened to tax 100% of the money Californians receive from President Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund for his political allies.

Trump’s Justice Department had announced last week that it would establish a $1.776-billion fund to compensate allies of the president who claim they have “suffered weaponization and lawfare” under the Biden administration’s Justice Department.

“Anyone from California that receives any of those funds, we want to tax 100% of those proceeds,” the governor told reporters Thursday.

“That’s an action the state of California can take …[and] it’s an action we look forward to taking.”

Just how Newsom would do so remains unclear. He indicated that he would need action from the Democratic-led California Legislature to impose the new tax. If adopted, the measure would likely face legal challenge.

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The fund has prompted outrage from Democrats and some Republicans — including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who said in a statement that the “slush fund,” which would “pay people who assault cops,” was “utterly stupid.”

Newsom’s remarks about Trump’s settlement fund came on Thursday as he signed a bill designed to prevent election interference ahead of Tuesday’s primary.

The bill, Senate Bill 73, restricts law enforcement agencies and officers — including those from federal agencies — from interfering with state and local election officials, such as confiscating ballots, voter rolls or voting machines without a warrant.

The governor said the bill is meant to address “legitimate anxiety” over threats to election integrity after Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s decision to seize ballots from the county’s voter registrar as part of a fraud probe. Bianco, a long-time Trump supporter, is one of the top Republicans running to succeed Newsom after the end of his second and final term as governor.

Newsom also pointed to ICE and Border Patrol’s decision last November to stage an event near Dodger Stadium, calling it a “show of force designed to intimidate free expression and free speech.”

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“That’s why we have to step up and we have to draw the line,” Newsom said. “We have to clarify the rules of engagement… there are fines associated with this, criminal fines and jail time of three years, so that’s a warning [to] the folks out there that think they can do the bidding of the Trump administration.”

Newsom said he expects Trump to interfere with the upcoming election — noting that the president has falsely claimed that he “won” California in the last election.

“Every single thing that Donald Trump is saying only suggests that he will do more, not less, to intimidate and to impact the outcome of this election,” Newsom said. “I absolutely expect the worst again, because we’ve been on the receiving end of it.”

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See Where the Gerrymandering Wars Have Redrawn U.S. Congressional Maps

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See Where the Gerrymandering Wars Have Redrawn U.S. Congressional Maps

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Tap on a state to jump to its maps.

The nationwide gerrymandering battle has escalated in recent weeks, after a landmark Supreme Court ruling in April weakened the Voting Rights Act and set off a scramble to redraw maps in some Southern states that have yet to hold primaries.

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Eight states have redrawn their congressional districts since President Trump pressured Texas lawmakers last summer to pass a new map favoring Republicans. Republican lawmakers in two states are pushing to use a new map ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Here is a look at how district lines have changed in each of the states that have redrawn maps, and how the new maps would have fared in the 2024 presidential election.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic state lawmakers moved quickly to redraw California’s congressional districts in response to Texas’ gerrymandered map. The new California map, which lawmakers approved in August and voters passed in November of last year, was designed to flip five red districts.

The Supreme Court upheld the map in February, dismissing Republican claims that the state’s new district boundaries illegally favored Latino voters.

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Florida’s Legislature passed a new map just days after the Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act. The map creates four more Republican-leaning House seats, splitting up a Democratic-leaning district in the Tampa area and eliminating a Democratic-leaning district in the Orlando area.

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In late September, Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, signed into law a new map that slices the Democrat-leaning core of Kansas City into districts with heavily Republican rural areas. Republicans hope to add one Republican seat, ousting longtime Representative Emanuel Cleaver and leaving the state with just one solidly Democratic district in the St. Louis area.

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In North Carolina, Republicans control both houses of the legislature and approved a new map in October of last year. The new map could give Republicans an extra seat in the First Congressional District, which previously included all eight of the state’s majority Black counties and was redrawn to include more conservative-leaning counties.

Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, cannot veto redistricting plans, per the state Constitution.

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Ohio’s bipartisan redistricting commission approved a new map in October of last year that could add up to two Republican seats. The new map dilutes Democrat-held districts near Toledo and Cincinnati.

Unlike many other states pursuing maps ahead of the normal timeline, Ohio had been required under its state Constitution to redraw its congressional maps before the 2026 midterms.

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Tennessee Republicans moved swiftly after the Supreme Court decision that weakened the Voting Rights Act. Gov. Bill Lee signed a new map into law in early May that carves up the only Democratic district in the state, a majority Black district encompassing the Memphis area, splitting it into three neighboring districts.

A coalition of voters and Democratic candidates sued Tennessee officials in federal court over the new map, arguing that it was unconstitutional to implement new district lines this close to the state’s Aug. 6 primary.

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Texas was the first state to redistrict last year, after President Trump urged Republican leaders to redraw maps ahead of the midterm elections.

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The new map, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in August of last year, could add up to five Republican seats in the state. Democrats argued that the new lines cut into majority Black and Hispanic districts in violation of the Voting Rights Act, but the Supreme Court upheld the map in December.

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A Utah state judge in November tossed out a congressional map proposed by the state’s Republican Legislature, instead adopting a map offered by a centrist coalition. That map adds a Democratic-leaning district surrounding Salt Lake City.

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Alabama had faced a ban on middecade redistricting until after the 2030 census. But after the Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act, Republicans in Alabama sought to revert back to a map first proposed in 2023 that had previously been rejected as a violation of the act.

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The Supreme Court removed a critical obstacle for the use of that map in May, which would most likely do away with one of two majority-Black districts in the state.

Still, legal challenges remain. A panel of federal judges on May 26 rejected the new map, saying that the districts discriminated against Black people and could not be used so shortly before a vote. Alabama has appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court.

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Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, delayed House primary elections after the Supreme Court’s decision on the Voting Rights Act tossed out Louisiana’s current maps. Ballots cast in the state’s primaries, where early voting began just days after the decision, did not count. New primary elections will be held in November.

The Louisiana Legislature is continuing to debate a new map, but is expected to eliminate at least one of the state’s two majority-Black districts.

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