Republicans know the House-passed funding patch is probably no longer viable as the shutdown inches closer to the Nov. 21 expiration date. But they’re split over how much more time they should give themselves to come up with a plan to fund the government for a full fiscal year.

Some fiscal hard-liners, who generally don’t want to vote for a bill that would raise spending levels, are now advocating for a continuing resolution that would run until March or even to the beginning of the next fiscal year, according to three Republicans granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. At the same time, Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) says she is “adamantly opposed” to a long-term CR that could undermine the chances of quickly locking in fiscal 2026 funding.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, when asked if he would support a CR running until next Oct. 1, said he’s in favor of “doing the appropriations process,” but that Democrats “may not leave any alternatives” if talks continue to flounder.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who the White House has leaned on to help lead bipartisan negotiations among the rank-and-file, also had a dim outlook Monday, saying discussions are “not really happening” anymore and the two sides are at an “impasse.”

If Republicans do decide to pitch a longer-term CR, they have an idea for trying to entice Democrats to come on board: offer to hold a separate vote on extending Affordable Care Act tax credits.

GOP leaders are privately ramping up talks within their senior ranks and with White House officials over what guardrails they could put on the subsidies to make an extension more palatable to conservatives, once the government is reopened. There’s recognition that allowing the subsidies to expire could cause major political headaches heading into an election year — and also that Democrats won’t vote to end the shutdown without some sort of ACA victory.

One option under consideration is advancing a year-end health care policy package that pairs items from a GOP wishlist with a two-year extension of scaled-back ACA subsidies, then attaching that package to a bundle of full-year spending bills.

Muscling something like that through the House would be tricky for Speaker Mike Johnson, who may not be able to convince enough of his members to accept any form of an Obamacare extension.

For now though, conservatives like Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) seem optimistic — depending on how quickly ACA credits are phased out and whether the GOP gets policy wins like encouraging the use of tax-free Health Savings Accounts.

“If we have health care reforms on the table that protect and provide greater freedom and independence for patients and doctors, then I’m on board with things that would help build a package,” Roy said.

What else we’re watching:   

— Heading to the White House: President Donald Trump invited Senate Republicans for a lunch Tuesday in the Rose Garden Club to celebrate their unity in the government shutdown fight and for passing nominees.

— Smooth sailing for DCA bill: Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) expects his committee to easily approve aircraft safety legislation Tuesday morning — the first major legislative response to the deadly passenger jet crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport earlier this year. The bipartisan bill would strengthen oversight of flight routes and require military aircraft to be equipped with transponding technology.

Jordain Carney and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he hopes the White House withdraws Paul Ingrassia’s Office of Special Counsel nomination, after POLITICO reported on texts that showed him making racist remarks to fellow Republicans.

“He’s not gonna pass,” the South Dakota Republican told reporters. Ingrassia is scheduled to testify on his nomination Thursday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

At least three other Republicans are signaling they will oppose Ingrassia’s confirmation: Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and James Lankford of Oklahoma.

“I’m not supporting him,” Scott said. “I can’t imagine how anybody can be antisemitic in this country. It’s wrong.”

“I have tons of questions for him,” Lankford said, adding he “can’t imagine supporting that.”

Ingrassia can lose only three Republicans before Vice President JD Vance is called in to break a tie for confirmation, assuming all Democrats vote in opposition.

POLITICO reported Monday on a text chat that showedIngrassia saying the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell” and that he has “a Nazi streak.” A lawyer for Ingrassia did not confirm the texts were authentic and said they “could be manipulated or are being provided with material context omitted.”

Earlier this month, POLITICO separately reported that Ingrassia, the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security, was investigated for harassment involving a lower-ranking colleague. The colleague filed a complaint against him before retracting it. Ingrassia’s attorney denied the allegations.

A spokesperson for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), chair of the Senate Homeland panel, referred questions to the White House about what would come next for the nominee. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Diana Nerozzi contributed to this report.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) says he will oppose Paul Ingrassia’s nomination to lead the White House Office of the Special Counsel following a POLITICO report on texts that showed he made racist and antisemitic remarks.

“I’m not supporting him,” said Scott in an interview Monday evening. “I can’t imagine how anybody can be antisemitic in this country. It’s wrong.”

Assuming all Democrats oppose Ingrassia, he can only afford to lose three Republican votes on the Senate floor before Vice President JD Vance is called in to break a tie for confirmation.

Scott is a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which is set to hold a hearing Thursday on Ingrassia and other pending Trump nominees.

He was among the GOP lawmakers who expressed concerns about Ingrassia back in July, when the panel was last set to hear his testimony. At that time, Ingrassia was known for his ties to Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist, and Andrew Tate, a Holocaust denier.

“This big thing for our state is, he’s had some statements about antisemitism,” Scott said then.

In recent weeks, POLITICO has reported further on Ingrassia’s actions and viewpoints.

POLITICO reported earlier this month that Ingrassia was investigated for allegedly sexually harassinga lower-ranking colleague as White House liaison to DHS. The colleague filed a human resources complaint against him before retracting it days later. Ingrassia’s attorney denied the allegations.

And atext chat shows Ingrassia boasting about his “Nazi streak” and claiming the holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell.”

The office of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the chair of Senate Homeland, referred comments to the White House regarding the latest reporting on Ingrassia and whether the committee hearing would move forward Thursday as planned. The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Other Republican members of the panel were less definitive in how they would proceed. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma said he wasn’t familiar with the new reporting but he planned to ask Ingrassia about his previous social media posts.

“He has lots of posts that he’s done in the past, and there’s plenty of questions there,” Lankford told reporters Monday.

Diana Nerozzi contributed to this report.

Former Sen. John E. Sununu is expected to launch a Senate comeback bid in New Hampshire this week, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the campaign-in-waiting.

Sununu has been exploring a run since September for the seat he held for a single term before being ousted by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen in 2008. Shaheen is retiring next year.

He has been in contact with the White House and is expected to visit with President Donald Trump soon, according to a senior White House official granted anonymity to disclose details.

Trump’s endorsement will be critical in the GOP primary, even though the state’s broader electorate rejected him for president in all three of his campaigns.

Sununu has long opposed Trump, serving as a national co-chair of former Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s 2016 presidential campaign and backing former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley in 2024. He penned an op-ed ahead of the state’s GOP presidential primary last year lambasting Trump as a “loser.” Trump went on to win that primary by 11 points.

Still, the scion of a prominent Republican political dynasty in the state — his father is former governor and White House chief of staff John H. Sununu; one of his brothers is former Gov. Chris Sununu — would likely give the GOP its best hope of flipping the Senate seat.

National Republicans consider Sununu to be a strong candidate. He has previously discussed a potential bid with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who he served with in the House and Senate and who he remains close to, and former Sen. Cory Gardner, the outgoing Senate Leadership Fund chair. A spokesperson for Sununu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Former Sen. Scott Brown, who represented Massachusetts before moving to New Hampshire, is already running in the GOP primary. He is not expected to step aside for Sununu and is positioning himself as the more Trump-aligned candidate of the two. Another candidate, state Sen. Dan Innis, recently ended his campaign and preemptively endorsed Sununu.

While Sununu would start as the polling front-runner in the GOP primary, he trailed Democrats’ leading contender, Rep. Chris Pappas, in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup in a recent University of New Hampshire survey.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicated Monday that legislation slapping new sanctions on Russia and its trading partners is on hold until after an upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I think they’re thinking that — see how this meeting goes in a couple of weeks with Putin,” Thune told reporters, adding that he is in close contact with the Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is coordinating the sanctions efforts with the White House.

“I think at least right now [Graham] is working with the White House trying to determine whether or not that meeting that happens in a couple of weeks will be a fruitful one,” Thune added.

A second person granted anonymity to disclose internal discussions confirmed that the bill is effectively on ice until after the Trump-Putin meeting. Trump announced last week the meeting would happen in Budapest, Hungary, but he did not set a date.

The decision to press pause comes after Thune indicated Thursday that it was time to move on the legislation, which would impose tariffs on countries that import Russian oil and gas and implement secondary sanctions on foreign firms that support Russian energy production.

But the same day Thune spoke out, Trump held a long phone call with Putin and subsequently questioned whether it was the right time to move forward with the sanctions legislation.

The sanctions bill has more than 80 cosponsors, giving it enough support that it could overcome opposition from Trump. But Republicans have been reluctant to move forward without an explicit endorsement from the president.

The concern is that if GOP leadership were to move forward without Trump’s public approval, it would put their members in a politically difficult spot if he were to subsequently come out against the bill.

A raft of internal GOP fights are awaiting Speaker Mike Johnson when he brings the House back from its shutdown recess — including a major brawl over legislation banning congressional stock trading.

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said in an interview Monday he and fellow Republicans are ready to push GOP leaders to put their bipartisan stock trading ban bill on the floor whenever the House returns — or possibly use a discharge petition to do an end-run around Johnson.

“We’re going to have a vote on stock trading,” Roy said Monday after appearing alongside Johnson at a news conference on the shutdown.

“When we get back, we got to have a conference discussion about this, or we’re going to be moving forward,” he added, referencing a discharge petition already filed on a separate stock trading bill by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.).

Roy, a member of the House Rules Committee, said Republicans need to figure out the timing going into November and December for when the legislation could go to the floor. He said GOP leaders, who have been skeptical of the effort, are “having conversations” about the legislation.

There’s skepticism inside Johnson’s leadership circle about how to pass such a bill given firm opposition from a swath of Republicans. But Johnson has pledged in private conversations to work on the matter, according to two other Republicans granted anonymity to describe the private conversations, and Roy said Monday that he is feeling pressure to act.

“I think there’s going to still be this sort of give and take about how serious some of us are on a real ban as opposed to just some soft limits,” he said. “So we’ve got to keep working on that.”

Speaker Mike Johnson gamely defended President Donald Trump’s weekend social media post showing him dropping apparent human excrement on liberal protesters in comments to reporters Monday, calling it “satire.”

Trump on Saturday evening posted an AI-generated video on Truth Social showing him wearing a crown at the stick of a warplane emblazoned with “King Trump.” It is shown bombarding liberal protesters with a poop-like substance in an apparent reference to the “No Kings” rallies that took place in numerous American cities earlier in the day.

“The president uses social media to make the point. You can argue he’s probably the most effective person who’s ever used social media for that,” Johnson said at a news conference Monday. “He is using satire to make a point. He is not calling for the murder of his political opponents.”

Johnson did not elaborate on what Trump’s point might have been. He did, however, express hope that the weekend rallies might prompt an end to the 20-day-old government shutdown, suggesting it could prompt the Senate minority leader to finally accept a House-passed stopgap spending bill.

“Now that Chuck Schumer has had his spectacle, he’s had his big protest against America, this is our plea: We’re asking … that he is finally now ready to go to work and end this shutdown and stop inflicting pain on the American people,” he said.

Tensions over troop pay are taking center stage as the shutdown heads into Week 4.

A number of Republican lawmakers are uneasy with President Donald Trump once again sidestepping the legislative branch’s power of the purse, this time to keep paying members of the military.

“While it’s a desired outcome, there’s a process that’s required — by Constitution and by law — for Congress to be not only consulted but engaged,” says Sen. Jerry Moran, a GOP appropriator from Kansas.

“There’s a way we take care of this. It’s called appropriations. It’s called reprogramming. And I don’t think that process is being respected,” says Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), another member of the Appropriations Committee.

Per two White House officials granted anonymity to share plans, Trump will continue to tap alternative funding for military paychecks if Congress doesn’t pass a bill before the next pay date at the end of the month. It’s unclear to top congressional appropriators how much cash the White House believes is available for use, and the administration has not submitted requests to Capitol Hill to reprogram any money.

Senators are poised to get a vote on paying the military and some other federal workers this week, via a bill from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). Democrats are expected to block it from moving ahead. Senate GOP leaders are also considering holding another vote this week on a defense appropriations bill, after it failed to get enough Democratic support to pass on Thursday.

The White House is hunting for money to address other shortfalls to support politically popular programs, including key loans for farmers (a priority for Senate Majority Leader John Thune), according to two Trump officials and two senior Hill Republicans.

What else we’re watching:   

— Republicans rally shutdown support: Johnson will host a call with House Republicans on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. as he tries to keep his conference united against Democrats and supportive of staying out of Washington until the Senate reopens the government. Also on Tuesday, Trump will host Republican lawmakers for lunch to thank them for sticking together during the shutdown and confirming nominees, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the plans.

— North Carolina enters the redistricting fight: North Carolina Republicans are expected to approve a new congressional map for the state this week, endangering Democratic Rep. Don Davis. It will mark the state’s fourth map change in just five years and comes as Trump and national Republicans seek to shore up the GOP majority ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Jennifer Scholtes, Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney and Calen Razor contributed to this report.