In a remarkable rebuke of Republican leadership, the House has passed legislation that would extend expired health care subsidies for those who get coverage through the Affordable Care Act. The legislation passed 230-196 on Thursday. Renegade GOP lawmakers joined essentially all Democrats in voti.
In a remarkable rebuke of Republican leadership, the House passed legislation Thursday, 230-196, that would extend expired health care subsidies for those who get coverage through the Affordable Care Act as renegade GOP lawmakers joined essentially all Democrats in voting for the measure.
Forcing the issue to a vote came about after a handful of Republicans signed what is commonly known as a “discharge petition” to unlock debate, bypassing objections from House Speaker Mike Johnson. The bill now goes to the Senate, where pressure is building for a similar bipartisan compromise.
Other WRAL Top Stories
Together, the rare political coalitions are rushing to resolve the standoff over the enhanced tax credits that were put in place during the COVID-19 crisis but expired late last year after no agreement was reached during the government shutdown.
Ahead of voting, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill, which would provide a three-year extension of the subsidy, would increase the nation’s deficit by about $80.6 billion over the decade. At the same time, it would increase the number of people with health insurance by 100,000 this year, 3 million in 2027, 4 million in 2028 and 1.1 million in 2029, the CBO said.
:
Trump indicated that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado may be visiting next week and that he may meet with her.
“I understand she’s coming in next week some time and I look forward to saying hello to her,” Trump said in a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity that aired Thursday night. “And I’ve heard that she wants to do that.” He called it “a great honor.”
Machado was awarded last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, an honor Trump had been hoping to receive.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is quarterbacking Trump’s foreign policy team as it navigates particularly turbulent times, notably in Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America, longtime core interests of the child of Cuban immigrants and former Florida senator.
As the Trump administration has alarmed much of the world with its stunning military operation that captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and its threats to potentially annex Greenland by force, Rubio has emerged as a voice of relative calm.
In public comments and private briefings to lawmakers, he has toned down bombastic remarks from the president and other top officials even as he offers a full-throated defense of Trump’s more audacious plans. Still, he had a key role in one of the most assertive actions — Maduro’s ouster — after long pursuing leadership changes in Venezuela and Cuba, countries close to him personally and politically.
▶ Rubio’s influence on the White House
In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, the president was asked if he has taken any of the massively popular GLP-1 weight-loss and diabetes drugs, which he has called “the fat drug.”
“No, I have not,” he said. “I probably should.”
Trump’s physical report from April said the president stands at 6’ 3” (190.5 centimeters) and weighed in at 224 pounds (101.6 kilograms), which is 20 pounds (9.1 kilograms) lighter than a 2020 checkup in his first term that showed him bordering on obesity.
In a remarkable rebuke of Republican leadership, the House passed legislation Thursday, 230-196, that would extend expired health care subsidies for those who get coverage through the Affordable Care Act as renegade GOP lawmakers joined essentially all Democrats in voting for the measure.
Forcing the issue to a vote came about after a handful of Republicans signed on to a “discharge petition” to unlock debate, bypassing objections from House Speaker Mike Johnson. The bill now goes to the Senate, where pressure is building for a similar bipartisan compromise.
Together, the rare political coalitions are rushing to resolve the standoff over the enhanced tax credits that were put in place during the COVID-19 crisis but expired late last year after no agreement was reached during the government shutdown.
Trump said on social media Thursday that the move would help reduce mortgage rates at a time when Americans are worried about home prices.
Trump and the White House have been trying to show they are responding to voter concerns about affordability ahead of midterm elections in November.
The president last month said he planned to unveil housing reforms, and on Wednesday he said he wants to block institutional investors from buying houses.
Trump said he has to possess the entirety of Greenland instead of just exercising a longstanding treaty that gives the U.S. wide latitude to use the country for military posts, in an interview Wednesday with The New York Times.
“I think that ownership gives you a thing that you can’t do with, you’re talking about a lease or a treaty. Ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document,” Trump said.
The U.S. is party to a 1951 treaty that gives it broad rights to set up military bases on the landmass with the consent of Denmark and Greenland.
On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance told reporters that European leaders should “take the president of the United States seriously” but framed his desire to own the landmass as a defense issue.
“What we’re asking our European friends to do is take the security of that landmass more seriously, because if they’re not, the United States is going to have to do something about it,” Vance said.
Denmark and Greenland’s envoys to Washington have begun a vigorous effort to urge U.S. lawmakers as well as key Trump administration officials to step back from Trump’s call for a “takeover” of the strategic Arctic island.
Denmark’s ambassador, Jesper Møller Sørensen, and Jacob Isbosethsen, Greenland’s chief representative to Washington, met on Thursday with White House National Security Council officials to discuss a renewed push by Trump to acquire Greenland, perhaps by military force, according to Danish government officials who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the meeting.
▶ the meeting
The Senate has agreed to display a plaque honoring the police who defended the Capitol during the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, rebuffing House Speaker Mike Johnson who has said the commemorative memorial does not comply with the law.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina led the effort, announcing on this week’s fifth anniversary of the Capitol siege that he would ask colleagues to have it installed. On Thursday, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon joined the effort. No other senators objected.
A replica plaque commemorating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot stands outside the office of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Congress had approved the plaque three years ago, but it has never been officially hung — although replicas have proliferated in the halls in the lawmakers’ nearby offices. Johnson, a Republican who led efforts to object to the 2020 election results ahead of the riot, has said the plaque as constructed does not comply with the law.
Police had sued to place the plaque as required, but Trump’s Justice Department is trying to dismiss the lawsuit.
Senators agreed to the resolution directing the Architect of the Capitol to “prominently display” the plaque in a “publicly accessible” location in the Senate wing of the Capitol until it can be placed in its permanent location.
The White House said it was not feasible to save the East Wing as they shared details of Trump’s planned ballroom at Thursday’s meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission.
Josh Fisher, director of the White House Office of Administration, listed off a variety of concerns, including a structurally unstable colonnade, water leakage and mold contamination, in explaining why it was more economical to tear down the East Wing to make room for the $400 million ballroom than to renovate it.
“Because of this and other factors,” Fisher said, “the cost analysis proved that demolition and reconstruction provided the lowest total cost ownership and most effective long-term strategy.”
Greetings and laughter alternated with a tense silence among those gathering inside a brick-walled community center in Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires, waiting and praying for news of their loved ones’ release.
María Alexandra Gómez is the Venezuelan girlfriend of Nahuel Agustin Gallo, a non-commissioned officer and Argentine citizen who entered Venezuela from Colombia over a year ago to visit in-laws and never returned.
His continued detention has escalated already high tensions between the two countries. Venezuelan prosecutors say Gallo is being held on allegations of terrorism — something his family strongly rejects.
“We’re confident that news will be given to us today, and if not today, please God let it be as soon as possible, because we’ve fought so hard for such a long time to be in this moment, in which Venezuela’s prisons are opening up,” Gómez, 33, told The Associated Press, clutching their 2-year-old son Victor and wearing a T-shirt that called for his release.
Venezuela will release a “significant number” of Venezuelan and foreigners imprisoned in the country, the head of Venezuela’s national assembly said Thursday.
Among them was Pedro Durán, 60, who said he traveled from Spain to Caracas in hopes of wrapping his arms around his brother Franklin, detained five years ago on charges of trying to overthrow Maduro’s government, accusations the family denies.
