INTERNACIONAL
The Speaker’s Lobby: Happy New Year as shutdown showdown draws to a close
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The Senate did not drag out final passage of the interim spending bill to end the government shutdown.
Oh, you may think that happened. Especially after the Senate broke a filibuster on the bill just before 11 p.m. ET Sunday night. So why didn’t the Senate just go immediately to final passage? After all, the plan had to go to the House. Flight delays were piling up. Federal workers were at the end of their rope, going without paychecks. SNAP benefits were in limbo. So why not just step it up?
Well, it’s more complicated than that. And believe it or not, the Senate kind of did step it up.
At least from the Senate’s perspective.
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: PAUL STANDS FIRM AGAINST SPENDING BILL AS SHUTDOWN CLOCK TICKS
The Senate ultimately did not drag out passage of the interim spending bill aimed at ending the government shutdown. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
There were several Senate factions not ready to vote right away to end the shutdown last Sunday. It was clear the Senate would eventually pass the bill to fund the government. That’s to say nothing of the worsening impacts of the shutdown on a nearly hourly basis.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the only Republican who broke with his party and voted no on the test vote to break a filibuster on the deal to re-open the government. Paul voted nay because he wanted a change in the bill regarding hemp.
The measure prevents «unregulated sales» of «intoxicating hemp-based» products at gas stations and small retailers. It preserves the sale of non-intoxicating CBD in other hemp-related products.
So, if the Senate got 60 votes Sunday night to break the filibuster and only needs 51 to pass the bill, why was the Senate stymied by Paul or even others?
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., told reporters there was a senator asking for a vote on an amendment that would hold members’ pay in escrow during future government shutdowns. This would be in addition to Paul, asking for a vote on an amendment related to hemp policy.
Paul’s request was previously known. But this additional ask underscores the precarious balance of any unanimous consent agreement in the Senate. Once one senator gets something, others are likely to ask for something for themselves.
Paul told reporters that he believed leadership was happy to give him his vote. But Paul said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., blocked that for a short period.
Meanwhile, Mullin said Democrats went «radio silent» on whether they were willing to yield back debate time to speed up consideration of the bill. Any one senator could drag this process out for days, so their cooperation would be crucial in bringing the shutdown to a quick end.
It’s about speed.
Buckle down for this next part. It gets complicated.
SENATE DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS REACH DEAL TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT
The vote on Sunday night was on breaking a filibuster to proceed to the original House-passed spending measure from September. That needed 60 yeas.
Therefore, the Senate had just broken a filibuster to begin work on the bill. That’s all.
By rule, the Senate can run out 30 hours of debate after breaking the filibuster, unless Paul relents. That would have gotten us to a minor procedural vote to actually get on the bill by dawn last Tuesday morning.
That is, unless there was an agreement with Paul – or for that matter – other Democratic senators to expedite things.
But wait. There’s more.
Gripes by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., over hemp provisions threatened to stymie shutdown progress. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The intention of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., – and this was done with a wink and a nod to secure an agreement on Sunday – was for him to file what’s called a «substitute» amendment. A substitute simply removes the House’s old bill text and replaces it with the new spending package.
But because this is a substitute amendment, Thune must then «file cloture» to break a filibuster on that. By rule, Thune could not do that until this past Tuesday. Cloture petitions require an intervening day before ripening. So that means the Senate could not vote to break a filibuster on the substitute (e.g. the new bill) until last Thursday. Again, that needs 60 yeas. And if there was no deal, the Senate could bleed out another clock before voting yes or no on the substitute. Presumably, that would have been on Friday.
But we’re not done yet.
TRUMP ENDS SHUTDOWN, FACES BACKLASH AND MAKES SURPRISE EPSTEIN MOVE AMID CHAOTIC WEEK
If the Senate would have adopted the new text on Friday, then Thune would have had to file cloture again on the underlying bill, wait a day (Saturday) and then have a vote to break a filibuster on that (again needing 60) on Sunday.
This scenario meant that the Senate would finally pass the newly revamped spending bill on Monday. And it would mean that the House would not have tackled the bill until this coming Tuesday or Wednesday.
So that really would have stretched out the government shutdown.
It was in the interest of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to secure a deal with Paul in a bid to accelerate things. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
That said, this was probably never going to happen. That’s just doing things by the book.
But it’s also why it was in the interest of Thune to get a deal with Paul to accelerate things. Otherwise, Paul or the Democrats who oppose the bill could have slowed things down and extended the shutdown.
But consider for a moment that if the left really wanted Democrats to stand and fight, there’s a group of core Democrats who are upset that their party relented. But then again, they had an opportunity to stretch out the shutdown and opted not to do so. There was also a smattering of Democrats who were more than happy to have others vote to open the government – even though they wanted to do so but weren’t willing to vote yes. They relied on the yes votes – or courage – of their colleagues.
And Paul was upset at the hemp provision.
«It’s really contemptuous,» said Paul of the hemp issue. «I’m not looking to hold things up. I’m looking to try to get things done.»
Paul said his «goal is to condense the time.» He got just that – a vote to strip out the hemp provision. But senators blocked it. And without significant Democratic protestations, the Senate approved the bill on Monday without deep delays.
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So they didn’t really drag things out. Truth be told, most lawmakers were done with the shutdown and wanted to end it quickly – regardless of their politics.
But they’ll have another opportunity when the next round of funding expires on Jan. 30.
congress,senate,government shutdown,rand paul
Soldados ucranianos disparan contra posiciones de Rusia cerca de la ciudad de Pokrovsk, en la región de Donetsk, Ucrania. Foto: REUTERS 
Amanecer bajo la niebla en Kiev, en medio de un bombardeo de Rusia. Foto: REUTERS 
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A new investigation found that Minnesota taxpayer dollars were going far beyond the North Star State’s borders and ending up in the hands of Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked terror group.
Ryan Thorpe and Christopher F. Rufo of the Manhattan Institute uncovered a web of fraud involving Minnesota’s Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services program, Feeding Our Future and other organizations in a bombshell report. Thorpe and Rufo noted that, in many cases, members of Minnesota’s Somali community were perpetrators of fraud. They added that federal counterterrorism sources confirmed that millions of dollars in stolen funds were sent back to Somalia, which is how Al-Shabaab got the cash.
Thorpe and Rufo sought to answer a bigger question when looking into the schemes: «Where did the money go?»
As it turned out, the Somali fraud rings sent money transfers from Minnesota to Somalia and, according to reports, approximately 40% of households in Somalia get remittances from abroad. Thorpe and Rufo state that in 2023, the Somali diaspora sent $1.7 billion to the country, which was higher than the Somali government’s budget that same year.
FOOD-STAMP FRAUD NUMBERS EXPOSE WHICH STATES ARE DRAINING THE MOST TAXPAYER DOLLARS
Women walk along a tree-lined street in Minneapolis’ Cedar–Riverside neighborhood, home to one of the largest Somali communities in the U.S. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)
Thorpe and Rufo discovered that the funds were being funneled to Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked terror organization. Multiple law enforcement sources informed the duo that Minnesota’s Somali community sent millions of dollars through a network of money traders known as «hawalas» that wound up in the hands of the terror group.
Glenn Kerns, a retired Seattle Police Department detective who spent 14 years on a federal Joint Terrorism Task Force, told Thorpe and Rufo that the Somalis ran a complex money network and were routing cash on commercial flights from the Seattle airport to the hawala networks in Somalia.
«We had sources going into the hawalas to send money. I went down to [Minnesota] and pulled all of their records and, well s—, all these Somalis sending out money are on DHS benefits,» Kerns told Thorpe and Rufo.
A confidential source told Thorpe and Rufo that «The largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.»
«Every scrap of economic activity, in the Twin Cities, in America, throughout Western Europe, anywhere Somalis are concentrated, every cent that is sent back to Somalia benefits Al-Shabaab in some way,» a former official who worked on the Minneapolis Joint Terrorism Task Force told Thorpe and Rufo.
The HSS program was launched with the goal of helping those in need, but it turned into a fraud scheme. The program was initially estimated to cost $2.6 million, but in its first year it paid out more than $21 million in claims, according to Thorpe and Rufo. The costs only grew from there with the program paying out $61 million in claims in the first six months of 2025.
On Aug. 1, Minnesota’s Department of Human Services ended the program after finding that payment to 77 housing-stabilization providers were terminated over «credible allegations of fraud,» Thorpe and Rufo reported.
Just over a month after the program was shut down, then-acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Joe Thompson announced criminal indictments for HSS fraud against Moktar Hassan Aden, Mustafa Dayib Ali, Khalid Ahmed Dayib, Abdifitah Mohamud Mohamed, Christopher Adesoji Falade, Emmanuel Oluwademilade Falade, Asad Ahmed Adow and Anwar Ahmed Adow. A U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson told Thorpe and Rufo that all six are members of Minnesota’s Somali community.
Somali national army soldiers escort members of the press to hideouts used by the terrorist group al-Shabaab in the Sabiid-Aanole areas, Somalia on June 23, 2025. (Abuukar Mohamed Muhidin/Anadolu via Getty Images)
SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS AFTER FAR-LEFT MAYOR GIVES VICTORY SPEECH IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE: ‘HUMILIATING’
Thompson said at a September news conference that the issue went beyond overbilling, rather they often involve «purely fictitious companies solely created to defraud the system.» Furthermore, those perpetrating the scam often targeted vulnerable individuals, such as people recently released from rehab, and signed them up for services that they allegedly did not plan to provide.
On Sept. 18, the same day the HSS indictments were announced, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced a 56th defendant pleaded guilty in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme. The number of defendants has only grown, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office announcing charges against a 77th defendant on Nov. 20.
Feeding Our Future received $3.4 million in federal funds disbursed by the state in 2019, but as COVID-19 hit, the organization rapidly expanded its number of sponsored sites, according to Thorpe and Rufo, who added that in 2021, Feeding Our Future received almost $200 million in funding.
«Using fake meal counts, doctored attendance records, and fabricated invoices, the perpetrators of the fraud ring claimed to be serving thousands of meals a day, seven days a week, to underprivileged children,» Thorpe and Rufo wrote in their report.
The funds were not going to the needy; rather, the money was being used to pay for luxury vehicles and real estate in the U.S., Turkey and Kenya, among other things.
When officials became suspicious of the nonprofit in 2020, Feeding Our Futures filed a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination related to outstanding site applications. In the suit, the nonprofit notes that it «caters to» foreign nationals, according to Thorpe and Rufo. They also note that «several individuals» involved in the scheme donated to Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and that Omar’s deputy district director advocated for the group.
A street sign for «Somali St» is pictured with Riverside Plaza in the background in Minneapolis’ Cedar–Riverside neighborhood. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)
‘SQUAD’ DEM DISHES OUT CAMPAIGN CASH TO ANTI-ISRAEL NONPROFIT TIED TO ‘TERRORIST UNIVERSITY’
A few days later, Thompson announced an indictment in another fraud scheme, this time involving autism services for children.
Asha Farhan Hassan, a member of Minnesota’s Somali community, who has also been charged in the Feeding Our Future scam, is accused of playing a role in a $14 million scheme against Minnesota’s Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program. According to Thorpe and Rufo, Hassan and her co-conspirators allegedly recruited children from the Somali community for autism therapy services. Prosecutors suggested that Hassan would facilitate fraudulent autism diagnoses for children who did not have one.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Hassan would use monthly cash kickbacks to drive enrollment and that payments ranged from $300 to $1,500 per month, per child.
«To be clear, this is not an isolated scheme. From Feeding Our Future to Housing Stabilization Services and now Autism Services, these massive fraud schemes form a web that has stolen billions of dollars in taxpayer money. Each case we bring exposes another strand of this network. The challenge is immense, but our work continues,» Thompson said in a statement.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks to reporters after a meeting with then-President Joe Biden at the White House on July 3, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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Minnesota State Rep. Kristin Robbins, who is running to unseat Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, shared Thorpe and Rufo’s report on X, writing, «Billions of our tax dollars have been stolen under [Tim Walz]. We need help from [Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel] and our partners at [the U.S. Attorney’s Office] to find out if our state dollars are funding terrorism.»
Walz’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Trump renews push for peace between Ukraine and Russia
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss President Donald Trump’s intentions to bring peace between Ukraine and Russia, including a reported deal that would ask Ukraine to cede more territory.
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A U.S.-backed framework to end the Ukraine war — assembled by special envoy Steve Witkoff, with input through both Kyiv and Moscow channels — is stirring unease among European allies and putting fresh pressure on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy, who has ruled out recognizing Russian sovereignty over Ukrainian land, delivered one of his starkest public messages yet, warning that Kyiv is entering «one of the most difficult moments in our history.»
In remarks released on Friday by Reuters, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is under intense pressure and may soon face what he called «a very difficult choice: either losing its dignity or risking the loss of a key partner. Either 28 difficult points or an extremely difficult winter — the most difficult one yet — and further risks. Life without freedom, without dignity, without justice. And we are expected to trust someone who has already attacked us twice.»
WITKOFF MEETS UKRAINE OFFICIALS IN NEW YORK AHEAD OF EMERGENCY UN SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING: ‘VERY PRODUCTIVE’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is greeted by US President Donald Trump (L) upon arrival at the White House West Wing in Washington, DC, on August 18, 2025. President Zelenskyy said today (Friday) Ukraine and the United States would «work on the provisions of the plan» and are ready for «constructive, honest and swift work.» (Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynold / AFP via Getty Images))
Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians to remain disciplined as negotiations continue with Washington. «We will not make any loud statements; we will work calmly with America and all our partners,» he said. «I will present arguments, I will persuade, I will offer alternatives, but we will definitely not give the enemy any reason to say that Ukraine does not want peace, that it is disrupting the process, and that Ukraine is not ready for diplomacy. That will not happen.»
Warning of intensified attempts to divide the country, he said Ukrainians should expect «a lot of pressure — political, informational and other kinds of pressure — to weaken us,» but vowed that «we have no right to allow that,» and insisted, «we will succeed.»
A U.S. official, speaking on background, told Fox News Digital, «It was strongly implied to the Ukrainians that the United States expects them to agree to a peace deal. Any changes will be decided upon by the President himself.»
According to multiple outlets, a working draft would require Kyiv to cede the eastern Donbas region to Russia, limit long-range Western strikes inside Russia, and cap Ukraine’s armed forces at roughly 600,000 troops.
The White House says Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been «quietly working» on the plan and engaging both sides. President Donald Trump has been briefed and supports pushing to finalize the framework by the holidays.
Zelenskyy is preparing calls with Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz as European leaders scramble to assess the proposal’s implications, after he held a call with U.S. Vice President Vance, source says.
Ukraine has formally received the document. Zelenskyy said Ukraine and the United States would «work on the provisions of the plan,» and that Kyiv is ready for «constructive, honest and swift work.» He has repeatedly ruled out recognizing Russian sovereignty over any Ukrainian territory, saying earlier there can be «no reward for waging war.»
«We are working to ensure that Ukraine’s national interests are taken into account at every level of our relations with partners,» Zelenskyy posted Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
ZELENSKYY SEEKS ‘STRONG REACTION’ FROM US IF PUTIN IS NOT READY FOR BILATERAL MEETING
President Donald Trump walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin as they arrive at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Aug. 15, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today (Friday) Russia has «not received anything officially» from Washington on the 28-point plan. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
A Ukrainian source told Fox News Digital that Kyiv’s red lines include limits on NATO membership, territorial concessions and troop cuts. The former senior Ukrainian official called the draft’s terms «political suicide» that would leave Zelenskyy responsible «for the loss of about one-fifth of Ukraine.»
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Washington and Moscow are not yet discussing the proposals in detail, but that contacts were taking place. «There are certain ideas on the American side, but nothing substantive is currently being discussed. We are completely open — we maintain our openness to peace negotiations,» Peskov told reporters.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz pressed for urgency during a Security Council briefing Thursday, saying diplomacy is «the only path to a durable and just peace.» Waltz said Washington has «proposed generous terms for Russia, including sanctions relief,» and vowed that «under President Trump’s leadership, the United States will continue to pursue a path to peace in Ukraine.»
Ukraine’s Deputy Representative to the United Nations, Khrystyna Hayovyshyn, pushed back firmly during Thursday’s Security Council meeting, declaring that Kyiv would reject any settlement that compromises its sovereignty. «There will never be any recognition, formal or otherwise, of Ukrainian territory temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation as Russian. Our land is not for sale,» she said. Hayovyshyn stressed that «Ukraine will not accept any limits on its right to self-defense or on the size and capabilities of our armed forces, nor will we tolerate any infringement on our sovereignty, including our sovereign right to choose the alliances we want to join.»
European leaders were caught off guard. The Associated Press reported that the leaders of Germany, France and the U.K. spoke with Zelenskyy Friday to reaffirm their «unchanged and full support on the way to a lasting and just peace» as diplomats scrambled to parse a U.S. proposal many first learned about through the media. Bild said Merz canceled a domestic appearance to hold crisis calls with both Zelenskyy and Trump.
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Firefighters work on the site of a burning building after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Zelenskyy is expected to speak with Trump in the coming days to discuss the plan’s core points and Ukraine’s red lines.
ukraine,russia,donald trump,volodymyr zelenskyy,vladimir putin,europe,conflicts
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