The House of Representatives passed a bill to revive and extend COVID-19 pandemic-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies in a major victory for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

Seventeen House Republicans broke ranks with GOP leaders to support the legislation after Democrats were successful in forcing a vote via a mechanism called a privileged resolution. The bill passed 230-196.

A discharge petition is a mechanism for getting legislation considered on the House floor even if the majority’s leadership is opposed to it, provided the petition gets a majority of House lawmakers’ signatures.

Jeffries filed a discharge petition late last year, which was then signed by four House Republicans — helping it clinch the critical majority threshold.

Five more House Republicans joined Democrats in a vote Wednesday evening to advance the legislation for final consideration Thursday.

The 17 Republicans who voted for the legislation were Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.; Mike Lawler, R-N.Y.; Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa.; Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa.; Mike Carey, R-Ohio; Monica De La Cruz, R-Texas; Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y.; Will Hurd, R-Colo.; Dave Joyce, R-Ohio; Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., Max Miller, R-Ohio; Zach Nunn, R-Iowa; Maria Salazar, R-Fla.; Dave Valadao, R-Calif.; Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis.; and Rob Wittman, R-Va.

It underscores the perilously slim margins Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is governing with.

House Republicans hold just a two-vote majority with full attendance on both sides, numbers that could easily shift when lawmakers are absent for personal or health reasons.

As Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., put to reporters on Wednesday morning, ‘We are one flu season away from losing the majority.’

The successful vote on Thursday is a blow for Johnson, who argued for weeks that the majority of House Republicans were opposed to extending the COVID-19 pandemic-era tax subsidies.

But a significant number of GOP moderates were frustrated that their party leaders in the House and Senate had done little to avert a price hike for millions of Americans’ insurance premiums. 

A Democrat-controlled Congress voted twice, in 2020 and in 2021, to enhance Obamacare subsidies to give more people access to federal healthcare during the pandemic.

Those subsidies were only extended through 2025, however.

The vast majority of Republicans believe the subsidies are a COVID-era relic of a long-broken federal healthcare system. Conservatives argued that the relatively small percentage of Americans who rely on Obamacare meant that an extension would do little to ease rising health costs that people across the country are experiencing.

But a core group of moderates has been arguing that a failure to extend a reformed version of them would force millions of Americans to grapple with skyrocketing healthcare costs this year.

Those moderates were also frustrated with Jeffries for not working with Republicans on a bipartisan solution to the subsidies but felt they were left with little choice but to support Democrats’ bid in the end.

House Republicans passed a healthcare bill in mid-December aimed at lowering those costs for a broader swath of Americans, but that legislation has not been taken up in the Senate.

There’s also little chance the three-year extension will pass the upper chamber, however. Similar legislation led by Senate Democrats failed to reach the necessary 60-vote threshold to advance in December.

The Trump administration is considering paying each Greenland resident thousands of dollars as part of a bid to encourage the territory to secede from Denmark and join the United States, according to Reuters. 

U.S. officials, including White House aides, have discussed payment figures ranging from $10,000 to $100,000, the outlet reported, citing sources. 

For an island with a population of roughly 57,000, the total cost could range from more than half a billion dollars to nearly $6 billion.

While discussions of a lump-sum payment are not new, Reuters reported that officials have become more serious in recent days and are considering higher amounts.

The White House referred Fox News Digital on Thursday to remarks by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who said during a Wednesday briefing that buying Greenland would benefit U.S. national security.

‘The acquisition of Greenland by the United States is not a new idea,’ Leavitt said. 

‘The president has been very open and clear with all of you and the world that he views it as in the best interest of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region,’ she said. ‘That’s why his team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like.’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that he plans to meet with his Danish counterpart next week to discuss Greenland.

Trump has long contended that the U.S. should acquire Greenland, arguing that its mineral resources are vital in advancing U.S. military technologies and that the Western Hemisphere should broadly fall under Washington’s geopolitical influence.

On Sunday, Trump told reporters Greenland is surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships and that Denmark, which governs Greenland, lacks the capability to provide the level of defense and oversight that meets U.S. national security standards.

‘It’s so strategic,’ Trump told reporters on Air Force One. ‘We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.’

Authorities in Greenland and Denmark insist that Greenland is not for sale, and European leaders have criticized the proposal, arguing that it undermines trust between the U.S. and Denmark as NATO allies. Under the NATO defense agreement, allies are obliged to support one another militarily if attacked, making the idea of a sale particularly sensitive.

‘This is enough,’ Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday, responding to Trump’s Sunday remarks about acquiring the island. ‘No more pressure. No more hints. No more fantasies about annexation.’

On Tuesday, Nielsen added that Greenland will remain part of Denmark despite U.S. efforts.

‘Our country isn’t something you can deny or take over because you want to,’ he added. ‘Once again, I urge the United States to seek respectful dialogue through the correct diplomatic and political channels and utilizing pre-existing forums that are based on agreements already in place with the United States. The dialogue must take place with respect to the fact that Greenland’s status is rooted in international law and the principle of territorial integrity.’ 

National security experts are sounding the alarm over a report that the Chinese Communist Party’s reach inside the United States could include two golf courses located right on the doorstep of one of the country’s most critical military bases. 

News this week that a Chinese intelligence officer is the owner of two golf courses on both sides of Louisiana’s Barksdale Air Force Base, which controls aspects of the U.S. nuclear trial, raised concerns from several China experts who spoke to Fox News Digital. The Daily Caller was the first to report the story. 

Josh Hodges, U.S. commissioner for the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission, told Fox News Digital the case underscores longstanding vulnerabilities the federal government has failed to address.

‘This investigation is yet another wake-up call,’ Hodges said. ‘The CCP operates by buying proximity, embedding influence and exploiting blind spots near our most sensitive military installations, while simultaneously embedding in critical infrastructure like America’s power grid.

‘The USCC’s November 2025 report identified these types of risks clearly, including the persistent threat from operations like Volt Typhoon pre-positioning assets for potential sabotage. It is long past due for the U.S. to revamp our counterintelligence efforts and take steps to address these vulnerabilities within our borders.’

The report states that the golf courses are owned by Eugene Ji, a Chinese-American businessman who has held multiple positions in the Chinese government, adding they were bought with the purpose of a ‘networking opportunity for Chinese and American business people.’

Ji has served as an official with the United Front Work Department (UFWD), an arm of the Chinese Communist Party that helps coordinate information campaigns that Republicans in Congress have worked to sanction, calling it a ‘disinformation network.’

Michael Lucci, founder and CEO of State Armor, told Fox News Digital that Louisiana is one of the top states when it comes to combating possible malign influence from the CCP but that more needs to be done to ensure sensitive military installations aren’t compromised. 

‘Louisiana state lawmakers are national leaders in countering Communist China, and today’s blockbuster investigation makes crystal clear that their mission-critical work must continue,’ Lucci said.

‘A Chinese intelligence official with huge property purchases next to Barksdale Air Force Base is proof positive that Chinese land acquisitions are strategic and malicious. This is no coincidence. It reflects a deliberate CCP strategy to pre-position near America’s most sensitive military and critical infrastructure assets to exploit for intelligence today and sabotage in the event of a future conflict.’

Lucci warned that failure to act decisively could leave the U.S. exposed during a future confrontation with China.

‘States must act quickly, and Louisiana must continue to lead, by not only banning Communist China from owning assets near military installations and critical infrastructure, but also by ejecting blatant security threats that threaten national security.’

Former Trump administration official Joe Grogan, co-founder and president of Public Policy Solutions, told Fox News Digital the issue should not be confused with free market investment.

‘It is unthinkable that agents of communist China could be allowed to take possession of property so close to one of our nation’s most vital strategic assets,’ Grogan said. ‘We can’t confuse this insidious incursion with free enterprise. Make no mistake, land purchases by Chinese nationals near our military infrastructure present a clear and present danger.’

Grogan called for stronger coordination between Washington and state governments to close gaps that hostile foreign actors can exploit.

‘The need for greater cooperation between federal and state agencies to confront threats like these could not be more clear,’ he said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the golf properties for comment. 

Dozens of House Republicans voted alongside Democrats on Thursday in a failed attempt to override the first — and so far, only — vetoes of President Donald Trump’s second term.

Trump has only issued two vetoes thus far since taking office in January 2025.

Both veto override efforts failed, but it’s significant that more than 20 Republicans voted to defy Trump’s wishes on each measure.

It’s a rare rebuke of Trump’s actions while in office, particularly notable since Republicans control both chambers of Congress as well.

One of the bills was the ‘Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act,’ led by Trump ally Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.

Thirty-five Republicans joined all 213 Democrats to override Trump’s veto of that legislation, but it failed to reach the two-thirds majority necessary to do so.

Boebert’s bill was aimed at expanding the availability of fresh water in eastern Colorado, where Boebert’s district is located.

In a statement to the House of Representatives last month, Trump called the project ‘economically unviable’ and said his administration was ‘committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding expensive and unreliable’ initiatives.

Trump also called Democrat state Gov. Jared Polis a ‘bad’ leader in an interview with Politico last month explaining the veto.

‘This isn’t over,’ Boebert, a staunch ally of the president, posted on X in response to Trump’s decision.

She also insinuated in a statement to local outlets that the move could have been in response to her support for releasing the federal government’s files on Jeffrey Epstein, writing in part, ‘I sincerely hope this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability.’

The second bill Trump vetoed is the ‘Miccosukee Reserved Area Amendments Act,’ similarly led by Trump allies in his new home state of Florida.

Twenty-four Republicans joined 212 Democrats in voting to override that veto, but like the first bill, it did not clinch the two-thirds majority necessary to succeed.

That legislation was aimed at formally expanding the territory of the Miccosukee Native American tribe, who primarily reside in the Florida Everglades.

But in his veto explanation, Trump accused the tribe of having ‘actively sought to obstruct reasonable immigration policies that the American people decisively voted for when I was elected.’

‘My Administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding projects for special interests, especially those that are unaligned with my Administration’s policy of removing violent criminal illegal aliens from the country. Ending the massive cost of taxpayer handouts and restoring fiscal sanity is vital to economic growth and the fiscal health of the Nation,’ his statement read.

But Trump’s allies struck a different chord, responding to this veto, with Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., telling Punchbowl News that the Senate should ‘address Trump’s concerns’ with the legislation.

The House of Representatives has passed a federal funding package totaling nearly $180 billion, putting Congress one modest step closer to averting a government shutdown at the end of this month.

The legislation accounts for just over $174 billion aimed at partially or fully funding the departments of Commerce, Justice, Interior and Energy, including laying out the budget for NASA, the FBI and federal nuclear energy projects.

Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly supported the final package of three bills, which passed by a 397-28 vote. Twenty-two Republicans and six Democrats voted against the bill.

It comes after the bills ran into opposition from conservative Republicans on Wednesday.

Members of the House Freedom Caucus and others on the GOP’s right flank were incensed in particular by the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill, which they felt rank-and-file lawmakers did not get proper input on putting together.

It’s one of 12 annual appropriations bills that Congress is tasked with passing each fiscal year. Congressional leaders who negotiated the legislation along bipartisan lines originally included it in a three-bill ‘minibus’ that, when passed in the House and Senate, would mean half of those dozen bills are finished.

Conservatives also threatened to kill the bill during a procedural vote on Wednesday afternoon over the inclusion of a community funding project requested by ‘Squad’ member Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.

The bill would have given $1,031,000 to Generation Hope’s Justice Empowerment Initiative, which ‘helps justice-involved Minneapolis residents break the cycle through job training and support,’ according to a description of the funding request.

But conservatives argued that the funding was just another vehicle allowing Minnesota’s Somali community to fraudulently take taxpayer funds at a time when the state is grappling with a massive fraud scandal enveloping its public service programs.

‘Fraud is running RAMPANT in Minnesota under the failed leadership of Tim Walz. Democrats want to use earmarks to funnel another $1 MILLION to a Somali-led so-called ‘Justice Empowerment Initiative’ that ABUSES taxpayer dollars,’ Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said on X.

Community project funding, also known as an ‘earmark,’ is a request that specific lawmakers make that allows their districts to directly benefit from Congress’ federal funding bills.

‘Earmarks, the currency of corruption, they’re coming back in full force in these products. And I just don’t support it,’ Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told reporters Wednesday morning.

He was among the conservatives who Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., negotiated with on the House floor for nearly half an hour as the minibus was in danger of failing during a procedural vote to allow for it to be debated.

In the end, House GOP leaders agreed to hold a separate vote on the CJS spending bill while also removing Omar’s earmark, which was also supported by Minnesota’s two Democrat senators.

‘Chalk one up for the good guys. Proud to work the last two days to stop the outrageous Ilhan Omar $1 million Somali earmark. Much more to do,’ Roy posted on X.

The CJS bill was first voted on, followed by the remaining two as a pair, and then a final vote on combining them before sending them to the Senate.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital he still anticipated ‘a number of’ his members will still vote against that bill specifically.

The legislation passed along bipartisan lines Thursday, with top House Appropriations Committee Democrat Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., celebrating that the bill was free of GOP ‘poison pills’ earlier this week.

Its funding levels are above what was originally requested by President Donald Trump but below the threshold extending former President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2024 spending levels via another continuing resolution would have brought.

The White House has also issued a statement of support for the minibus, which will be combined back into one bill before being sent to the Senate.

Congress has until the end of Jan. 30 to find a solution on the remaining six appropriations bills to avert another shutdown.

European allies are working together on a plan in case the Trump administration acts on acquiring Greenland, a report said Wednesday. 

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France Inter radio that the subject will be raised at a meeting with the foreign ministers of Germany and Poland. 

‘We want to take action, but we want to do so together with our European partners,’ Barrot said, according to Reuters.

A German government source also told Reuters that Germany is ‘closely working together with other European countries and Denmark on the next steps regarding Greenland.’

The White House said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump views acquiring Greenland as a national security priority and that the use of the U.S. military remains an option as his administration weighs how to pursue control of the Arctic territory.

‘President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Fox News.  

‘The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option at the Commander in Chief’s disposal,’ she added. 

When asked Wednesday for a response to the Reuters report, the White House referred Fox News Digital to Leavitt’s remarks.

Trump told reporters on Air Force One over the weekend that the U.S. needs Greenland, a Danish territory, for ‘national security.’ 

European and Nordic leaders pushed back against the comments, with Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Denmark’s Ambassador to the United States Jesper Møller Sørensen underscoring their support for Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland and stressing that its future must be determined by Greenland and Denmark alone.

A senior European official told Reuters on Wednesday that Denmark must lead any effort to coordinate a response and ‘the Danes have yet to communicate to their European allies what kind of concrete support they wish to receive.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr and Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report. 

Vice President JD Vance unleashed on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Thursday, and gave him a new nickname: ‘a joke.’ 

Vance’s comments come after Walz reminisced on Minnesota’s contribution to the Union during the Civil War, following an incident where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, 37. 

Walz, who announced Monday he wouldn’t run for re-election, already has faced increased scrutiny in recent weeks as Minnesota faces investigations into multiple alleged fraud schemes plaguing the state’s social services system.

‘Look, Tim Walz is a joke. His entire administration has been a joke,’ Vance told reporters Thursday. ‘The idea that he’s some sort of freedom fighter, he’s not. He’s the guy who has enabled fraud and maybe, in fact, has participated in fraud.’

‘I don’t care what Tim Walz says,’ Vance said. ‘I care about getting to the bottom of this fraud for the American people.’ 

Walz’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

On Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said that Good ‘weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them.’ 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that Good ‘hit’ the ICE agent involved with a vehicle, and described the incident as an act of ‘domestic terrorism.’

However, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey later challenged the administration’s description of events, and claimed that the shooting wasn’t an act of self-defense like the administration was trying to ‘spin’ it. 

Earlier Thursday, Walz described the contributions of the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Battle of Gettysburg, who were responsible for holding the Union line against Confederate troops. 

‘I’ve seen it throughout our history,’ Walz said. ‘When things looked really bleak, it was Minnesota’s 1st that held that line for the nation on that July 3rd, 1863. And I think now we may be in that moment, that the nation is looking to us to hold the line on democracy, to hold the line on decency, to hold the line on accountability.’

Vance isn’t the only one to unleash on Walz recently. SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently called Walz a ‘traitor.’ 

Meanwhile, Walz has come under fire from Republicans and President Donald Trump, who has labeled Minnesota a ‘hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.’

The Trump administration and lawmakers have launched probes into Minnesota’s alleged ‘Feeding Our Future’ $250 million fraud scheme that allegedly targeted a children’s nutrition program the Department of Agriculture funded and that Minnesota oversaw during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Likewise, another alleged fraud scheme in the state stems from the Housing Stability Services Program, which allegedly offered Medicaid coverage for housing stabilization services in an attempt to help those with disabilities, mental illnesses and substance-use disorders receive housing.

Vice President JD Vance announced a new federal task force aimed at tackling fraud across the country on Thursday.

Vance says the Justice Department will feature a new associate attorney general position to address fraud, in addition to the 1,500 subpoenas and 100 indictments the DOJ has already sent out on the issue.

Vance says the administration hopes to announce a nominee to the position ‘within the next few days.’

‘This is the person that is going to make sure we stop defrauding the American people,’ Vance said.

‘We have activated a major Interagency task force to make it possible to get to the heart of this fraud,’ he continued. ‘We also want to expand this. We know that the fraud isn’t just happening in Minneapolis. It’s also happening in states like Ohio. It’s happening in states like California.’

Vance made the announcement alongside White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a Thursday briefing.

Prior to Vance’s remarks, Leavitt reiterated the administration’s rock-solid support for federal immigration officers operating across the country.

Addressing the deadly officer-involved shooting in Minnesota on Wednesday, she blamed the incident on an ‘organized attack’ by a ‘broader left-wing network’ on federal officers operating in multiple states.

The statement echoed comments from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the victim, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, tried to ‘weaponize her vehicle’ and ‘attempted to run a law enforcement officer over.’

Noem also accused Good of ‘stalking and impeding’ federal agents all day. Noem told reporters that Good was instructed to get out of her car and stop ‘obstructing’ law enforcement, but she did not comply.

The agency is labeling the incident as an act of ‘domestic terrorism.’

On Thursday, in a separate post on X, Vance expanded on his defense of the officer’s actions, slamming critics for engaging in ‘gaslighting.’ The post was made in response to comments from Jenin Younes, the national legal director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, who argued that the officer was not in danger and had time to get out of Good’s way. Vance said Younes’ arguments were ‘preposterous.’

‘The gaslighting is off the charts, and I’m having none of it. This guy was doing his job. She tried to stop him from doing his job. When he approached her car, she tried to hit him,’ Vance wrote. ‘A tragedy? Absolutely. But a tragedy that falls on this woman and all of the radicals who teach people that immigration is the one type of law that rioters are allowed to interfere with.’

This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates.