House Education Committee Chair Virginia Foxx said Wednesday that Harvard University President Claudine Gay’s resignation was the right step — but it won’t stop her and her committee’s antisemitism probe.

“It was the right thing to do, but it’s not going to end our investigation,” Foxx (R-N.C.) told a small group of reporters at the Capitol.

The committee will be “investigating many schools in terms of how they are handling antisemitism, DEI and where is their focus these days,” Foxx added, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion policies that conservative Republicans have increasingly decried.

Gay’s resignation at the Ivy League institution, where she will remain on faculty, comes after scrutiny over her response to antisemitism on campus and allegations of plagiarism.

Gay, in a letter announcing that she would step down as president, said that “it has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign.” Gay, the first Black woman to lead the institution, added that she had been “subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.”

Top House Republicans quickly claimed victory after pushing for Gay’s resignation since her appearance before Foxx’s committee during a Dec. 5 hearing on campus antisemitism following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.

The hearing prompted fierce backlash from House Republicans, who focused much of their rhetorical firepower on Gay. Foxx, during the hearing, called Harvard a “ground zero for antisemitism,” while Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a Harvard alum, reiterated her call for Gay’s resignation.

She is the second college president to step down since that hearing, following University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill.

In the wake of the hearing, Foxx opened up an investigation into the “learning environments” at Harvard, Penn and MIT, whose president, Sally Kornbluth, also testified at the hearing. The House passed a resolution condemning their remarks last month.

Chuck Schumer told reporters Wednesday there’s still no border deal — but reiterated that there’s been “progress” and that negotiations are “closer than we have been” in past weeks.

“We need to fix the border,” the Senate majority leader said. “There’s virtually unanimous agreement among Democrats and Republicans about that. We just have to figure out how to do it in a way that can get 60 votes here in the Senate and the majority of us there in the House.”

Schumer said the Biden administration has been “very closely involved” with talks over winter break. But after more than a month of negotiations, hopes that a deal would come together by this week seem increasingly unlikely. And when Congress returns next week, they’ll be bogged down by other lingering to-dos, including dual government funding deadlines in January and February.

The New York Democrat did not identify a deadline for negotiators, who are trying to find a path forward on a supplemental spending package that would tie together border security policy and foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. He also did not make any commitments on whether he would move government funding legislation or the supplemental spending package first.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), the lead Democrat in the border talks, said negotiators are hoping to have a deal to present to members when they return for session next week.

“I think if the Senate gets something done in a bipartisan way, it will put enormous pressure on the House to get something done as well and not just [going to let] these hard-right people get up and say they’re going to let the 30 of them to dictate how the whole country should work,” Schumer said.

And on government funding: Schumer said budget negotiators, who are trying to reach a bipartisan agreement on overall funding levels, have also made progress and are “quite close.” The first government shutdown deadline is Jan. 19.

“I’m hopeful that we can get a budget agreement soon and I’m hopeful that we could avoid a shutdown, given the good progress we’ve made. That is certainly not out of the question, as some people have said it would be,” Schumer noted.

GOP Rep. Alex Mooney said “there is not” a chance he would abandon his West Virginia Senate primary bid against Gov. Jim Justice in favor of seeking reelection to his House seat.

“That’s wishful thinking on their part,” he told West Virginia Metro News’ “Talkline” radio show. “I think they’re afraid of me.”

A September poll found Justice ahead of Mooney by more than 30 percentage points in the GOP primary. But Mooney argues the contours of the race have changed since Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced he would not seek reelection to his seat.

“Jim Justice is Joe Manchin 2.0. They’re basically the same,” Mooney said in the interview. “Why accept a liberal Republican when you can have a true conservative, especially with Joe Manchin now retiring?”

Mooney offered his roadmap for winning: “I’m unknown in the southern part of the state right now. … But as the election gets closer — and I’m able to define that I’m a conservative and that he is not — I believe the voters will turn to me and elect me in the primary, just as they did in the race against [former Rep.] David McKinley two years ago.”

Justice campaign manager Roman Stauffer, in response to Mooney’s remarks, called the governor’s opponent “a desperate, losing candidate being propped up by one of the largest Never Trump Super PACs in the country” while highlighting Justice’s conservative bonafides.

The primaries will take place on May 14.

All top five House GOP leaders are now backing Donald Trump after Majority Whip Tom Emmer endorsed the ex-president who helped tank his speakership bid last year.

The Minnesota Republican, who has also served as the House GOP campaign chief, said in a statement Wednesday morning that he backed Trump — a day after Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) publicly endorsed the Republican presidential frontrunner. Speaker Mike Johnson announced he supported the former president shortly after the Louisianan was elected to lead the conference.

“Democrats have made clear they will use every tool in their arsenal to try to keep Joe Biden and his failed policies in power. We cannot let them,” Emmer said in a statement. “It’s time for Republicans to unite behind our party’s clear frontrunner, which is why I’m proud to endorse Donald J. Trump for President.”

Emmer’s endorsement is particularly notable compared to the rest of GOP leadership, however. Some of his Republican colleagues believe he’s been reluctant to embrace Trump, even before the ex-president personally worked to derail Emmer’s speakership bid after Kevin McCarthy was ousted in October. Trump dismissed Emmer’s bid on Truth Social, arguing the gavel-hopeful was “totally out-of-touch with Republican Voters” and a “Globalist RINO.” The former president also individually called House GOP members to express his disapprobation with Emmer.

Hours after the conference nominated him, Emmer dropped out of the race without taking his bid to a House floor vote.

The united backing of top House GOP leaders comes less than two weeks before the first real test of the Republican presidential primary, when Iowa caucuses gather on Jan. 15. Meanwhile, Trump’s support in the Senate stands in stark contrast to the other chamber, as the former president still has a frosty relationship with GOP leader Mitch McConnell.

Ohio GOP Rep. Bill Johnson will resign from Congress on Jan. 21 to become the new head of Youngstown State University, a move that will further shrink the tight House GOP majority.

Johnson’s departure, coming on the heels of the resignation of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and the expulsion of Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), means Republicans will control just 219 seats. Once he leaves, the GOP can only lose two members of their conference for a vote to pass.

“Bill submitted his official resignation from Congress today, effective at the end of day on January 21, 2024, paving the way for him to begin his presidency this month,” Michael Peterson, chair of the school’s board of trustees, wrote in a message to the university community.

Peterson said the decision means having Johnson on campus “earlier than anticipated” and that the outgoing congressman will “continue to visit campus as often as his schedule allows to continue meeting with students, faculty and staff.”

Johnson announced his decision to accept the university post in late November, but had yet to announce a departure date from Congress.

Several members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are headed to the Middle East this week, including a planned meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told reporters on Tuesday.

The New York Democrat said she has two goals for the trip: Find out how much of a threat Hamas still is and what it will take to eventually end the war started by the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. She said “at least four colleagues” will be joining her and it will be a bipartisan group, with plans to leave on Tuesday evening and return on Monday as Senate session resumes.

“The reason why several codels (congressional delegations) are going to the Middle East right now is because we are talking to our allies and partners about what that path to peace would look like, and what the next few months holds. It’s essential that we defeat terrorism in the region. But it’s very, very helpful if we have allies helping us defeat terrorism,” Gillibrand said.

She suggested that building on the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements struck in 2020 to allow diplomatic relations between Israel and certain Arab countries, would create more partners to defeat Iran and its allies in the Middle East. And then “you’d have the outlines of a path to peace and an ability to rebuild a second state a Palestinian state.”

Also hanging over it all: The Senate’s work on a supplemental bill that would send billions more in aid to Israel. Theoretically, lawmakers want it to hitch a ride along with Ukraine, Taiwan and border security provisions. Gillibrand said she has “faith in our negotiators. So I’m not losing hope that we could have a four-corner deal.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced his endorsement of former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid on Tuesday, becoming one of the highest-ranking Republicans to formally support Trump.

“I am proud to endorse Donald Trump for president in 2024, and I look forward to working with President Trump and a Republican House and Senate to fight for those families who are struggling under the weight of Biden’s failed policies,” Scalise said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Trump questioned Scalise’s health as he sought the speakership last fall following the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Scalise ultimately dropped his pursuit of the gavel amid internal GOP infighting.

Scalise’s endorsement comes as the former president has picked up steam in winning over Senate Republicans. Trump has earned endorsements from 18 Republican senators to date.

Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) are among the other senior House GOP lawmakers to endorse Trump’s 2024 bid.