Golpes para Sánchez

“El peor gobierno en el peor momento”

En busca de apoyos

Núñez Feijóo durante su encendido discurso. (Reuter)

“Que vuelvan a ser un partido decente”

Congress will return to Washington, D.C., next week entering into a dead sprint to wrap up work before the year’s end, to cap off a blistering, often dramatic year on the Hill.

Both chambers will have three working weeks before again fleeing from the growing chill in Washington to their respective districts and states. And lawmakers have some of the biggest challenges of the year left to finish.

Perhaps the biggest looming legislative fight will be how lawmakers approach the expiring enhanced Obamacare subsidies, which dominated the recently ended government shutdown.

SENATE REPUBLICANS, DEMS BLOCK DUELING ATTEMPTS TO REPEAL CONTROVERSIAL ARCTIC FROST PROVISION

Neither side has produced a fulsome plan on how to tackle the subsidies, though some solutions from Republicans, like funneling the subsidy funding into Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), have been floated.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., acknowledged last week that producing a solution would be a steep hurdle, and reiterated his commitment to Senate Democrats that they would get a vote on whatever proposal they produce no later than the second week in December.

Thune noted that «the one thing that unites» the GOP is the belief that the subsidies need to be reformed and that rising healthcare costs need to be dealt with.

«I think the affordability issue is a big issue,» Thune said. «I think it’s been exacerbated by the way that Obamacare has been structured through the years, including the way that enhanced subsidies were structured by going directly to insurance companies and incentivizing them to enroll people without their knowledge.»

And the White House also has its own plan, which was expected to be rolled out earlier this week, but sidelined over reportedly disgruntled Republicans who disliked the proposed language.

When asked about specifics of the plan, and it was scrapped, a White House official told Fox News Digital that «there was never a healthcare announcement listed on [Monday’s] daily guidance.»

But the rumblings of a plan from President Donald Trump and the administration have encouraged some Senate Democrats.

GRAHAM SAYS TRUMP WANTS TO ‘MOVE THE BILL’ ON RUSSIA SANCTIONS, BUT PROCEDURAL HURDLES AWAIT

President Donald Trump speaks prior to pardoning the National Thanksgiving Turkey during a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House, Nov. 25, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who originally proposed legislation to extend the subsidies, said she was glad the president was making an effort to ensure the credits don’t sunset by the end of the year.

«I’ve had constructive conversations with many of my Republican colleagues who I believe want to get this done,» Shaheen said in a statement. «They understand that the vast majority of people who benefit from these tax credits live in states the President won, and that the President’s own pollsters have underscored the enormous political urgency of Republicans acting.»

But Obamacare is not the only issue Congress faces. Lawmakers are eyeing passage of the annual National Defense Authorization Act by the end of the year, the Senate is considering another package of Trump’s nominees and another package of spending bills is expected on the horizon, too.

That package of four bills, which is expected to include the Defense, Labor, Transportation and Commerce funding bills, would be a massive step toward averting yet another deadline to fund the government by Jan. 30, 2026.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, said earlier this month that there was also an «interest on the House side» to move the bills.

«The more appropriations bills that we’re able to pass, the better off we’re going to be, the better off the American people will be served,» she said.

GOP WRESTLES WITH OBAMACARE FIX AS TRUMP LOOMS OVER SUBSIDY FIGHT

Sen. John Kennedy pauses while speaking to members of the media in the basement of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, May 21, 2019. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

There are also some lingering issues that could pose surprises before the year’s end, including how Congress will handle Russia sanctions and the controversial provision in the package that reopened the government that would allow senators to sue for upwards of $500,000 if their records were requested without notification.

On the sanctions front, the Senate has overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation that Trump appears to support, but there’s a possible disconnect between Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on where the legislation should originate.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Thune believed it’d be better suited in the House given that it’s a revenue-geared bill, while Johnson warned that it would be time-consuming to pass the bill in the lower chamber because of how many different committees it would have to move through.

Some in the Senate are already looking ahead to next year, when lawmakers will be in full midterm election mode. Another crack at budget reconciliation, the process used to pass Trump’s marquee «big, beautiful bill,» has been floated, but whether there is broad buy-in from congressional Republicans remains in the air.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said that it would be «legislative malpractice» to not undertake the grueling process once more.

«It’s just exquisitely dumb,» Kennedy said. «Why would you not take advantage of an opportunity to pass something with 51 votes? That doesn’t mean that our Democratic colleagues can’t join with us, but if they don’t, they can’t filibuster. Did I mention it’s exquisitely dumb?»

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met Ukrainian negotiators Sunday in Florida to build on the recent peace talks in Geneva, and work through the remaining details of the agreement reached last week.

«The end goal is obviously not just the end of the war. Obviously, that’s essential and fundamental. We want to see the end of the killing and the death and the suffering, and I’m sure the Ukrainian side, I know they do as well,» said Rubio in an opening statement. «They want peace. But it’s also about securing an end to the war that leaves Ukraine sovereign and independent and with an opportunity at real prosperity.»

Rustem Umerov, the head of the Ukrainian delegation and secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, thanked his American counterparts and Trump for their efforts to end the war, saying he was looking forward to a productive meeting.

The Florida meeting comes after Andriy Yermak, Ukraine’s top negotiator, resigned Friday after anti-corruption agencies raided his home. Ukraine has been embroiled in an alleged $100 million kickback corruption scheme linked to the state-owned nuclear power company Energoatom. 

ZELENSKYY WARNS UKRAINE FACES ‘DIFFICULT CHOICE’ AS US PEACE PLAN HITS MAJOR HURDLE

«The dialogue based on the Geneva points will continue. Diplomacy remains active. The American side is demonstrating a constructive approach, and in the coming days it is feasible to flesh out the steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified end,» Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. «The Ukrainian delegation has the necessary directives, and I expect the guys to work in accordance with clear Ukrainian priorities.»

Zelenskyy wrote on X that Umerov would lead efforts to outline the steps to end the war and to hammer out the remaining elements of the peace framework.A U.S. official told Fox News Tuesday that Kyiv agreed to a peace deal, with only minor points still to be resolved.

Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk submitted their resignations on Nov. 12, 2025. (Thierry Monasse/Getty Images; Andrii Nesterenko/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

RUSSIA BOMBARDS KYIV, KILLING AT LEAST 6, AS TRUMP PEACE PLAN MOVES FORWARD

Witkoff is expected to travel to Moscow this week to discuss the updated peace framework that reportedly stands at 19 points instead of the original 28, which was criticized by European leaders as too favorable to the Kremlin.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested Moscow could reject the White House’s latest Ukraine peace deal framework if it does not uphold the «spirit and letter» of the understandings reached at the August Alaska summit between Trump and Vladimir Putin.

He warned that if the terms of the «key understandings» are «extinguished» then the situation would become «fundamentally different.»

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov listens to North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui during their talks in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Oct. 19, 2023. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service telegram channel via AP)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Russia has maintained its maximalist demands in negotiations, insisting Ukraine be barred from joining NATO and required to give up the rest of the Donbas region as part of any agreement.

The Kremlin has kept up its drone and missile barrages even as negotiations continue to move forward. Zelenskyy said Sunday that over the past week alone, Russia fired nearly 1,400 attack drones, 1,100 guided aerial bombs and 66 missiles at Ukraine.