Judge orders Abrego Garcia released from ICE custody admin - Latest News - December 11, 2025 admin 5 views 6 secs 0 Comments Judge orders Abrego Garcia released from ICE custody Source link PREVIOUS Dec. 11, 2025, 1:05 PM EST / Updated Dec. 11, 2025, 1:20 PM ESTBy Sahil KapurWASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled Senate voted Thursday to reject health care bills offered by each party, as the U.S. barrels toward a cliff with steep premium hikes for millions of Americans set to hit next month.The failed votes raise the likelihood that enhanced Obamacare subsidies passed in 2021 will expire at the end of this year and cause premiums to double on average for some 22 million Americans who benefit from that funding.Neither bill achieved the 60 votes needed to advance, kicking the issue into the political arena. Democrats hope to use the issue to mobilize voters in the 2026 midterm elections if there is no outcome to prevent the cost increases.“The Republican plan is a ‘when you get sick, you go broke’ plan,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday on the Senate floor.Lawmakers spar over future of health insurance costs as subsidies are set to expire04:59The bill offered by Democrats on Thursday would have extended the enhanced Affordable Care Act funds for another three years. The legislation failed by a vote of 51-48, with Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, both Alaska Republicans, joining Democrats to support it.“Democrats may talk about helping Americans, but their bill is nothing more than a political messaging exercise that they hope they can use against Republicans next November,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Thursday.A competing bill, offered by Republicans, sought to let the ACA money expire and instead boost health savings accounts while making changes to the insurance marketplaces. It would allow adults earning under 700% of the federal poverty level to access $1,000 per year in a tax-advantaged HSA if they’re younger than 50, rising to $1,500 per year for those aged 50 to 64. And it would expand the availability of lower-tier “bronze” and “catastrophic” Obamacare insurance plans, which have lower premiums and higher out-of-pocket costs.The bill, written by Sens. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Bill Cassidy, R-La., failed by a vote of 51-48. Along with all Democrats, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted “no.” Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., missed both votes.“It delivers the benefit directly to the patient, not to the insurance company,” Thune said, saying it “saves money” for taxpayers. “That is a win-win proposal.”President Donald Trump said he likes the “concept” of the Crapo-Cassidy bill, but stopped short of endorsing it as his preferred measure. He has not offered a plan of his own.Democrats blasted the Republican proposal.“Under the Republican plan, the big idea is essentially to hand people about $80 a month and wish them good luck,” Schumer said before the vote, saying the only viable plans to access that money have deductibles of $7,000 or more. “So, to get that $80 a month, you’re going to pay $7,000 off the top before you even get any health insurance. How ridiculous. How stingy. And how mean and cruel to the American people.”Even some Republicans said their plan wasn’t enough, as it wouldn’t address the rising cost of insurance premiums.“I think giving people more money to pay for their deductible is a great idea. I think we probably still need to do something on premiums, because you can’t use the HSAs on premiums,” Hawley said. “That’s just the law. So you know, there’s probably more to do there.”Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said Thursday she wasn’t giving up on an ACA funding extension, and suggested there may be another opening in January to pass it. House Republican leaders have said they hope to hold a vote on a health care bill next week before leaving for the holiday recess. But the party has not yet found a plan that its members will rally around, much less one that can pass the Senate before the end of the year. No vote has been scheduled yet, and some swing district Republicans have signed on to two “discharge petitions” to defy Speaker Mike Johnson and force a vote on extending ACA money.Many Republicans in both chambers want the enhanced ACA funds to expire on schedule at the end of this year. Congress is scheduled to leave town at the end of next week for the holidays.Sahil KapurSahil Kapur is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.Frank Thorp V, Katie Taylor, Julie Tsirkin and Lizzie Jensen contributed. NEXT Dec. 11, 2025, 1:23 PM ESTBy Aria BendixA Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Thursday finds that Covid vaccines continue to protect healthy children from severe illness — a conclusion top federal health officials have questioned in recent months. From late August 2024 to early September 2025, the vaccines reduced the risk of Covid-related emergency room and urgent care visits by 76% among children ages 9 months to 4 years, and by 56% among children ages 5-17, according to the study.The findings, published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), are based on an analysis of roughly 98,000 emergency room and urgent care visits. Children included in the study had various levels of immunity from prior Covid vaccines and infections, so the study solely looked at added protection from 2024-2025 Covid vaccines, the authors wrote.The study appears to counter claims by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the vaccines’ effectiveness and address doubts raised by other federal health officials about whether children benefit from continuing to receive Covid shots.It comes amid widespread concern from public health experts that the CDC has lost scientific credibility, as well as claims from former high-ranking staffers that the agency’s political leaders have interfered with scientific research.Dr. Debra Houry, who resigned as the CDC’s former chief medical officer in August, said the study’s release is reassuring. “It is good to see that data and science are still coming out of the MMWR. I hope this publication will continue to be a voice for the agency scientists despite the recent cuts to the CDC Office of Science,” Houry said via text message.FDA commissioner on hepatitis B vaccine guidance03:13The Office of Science produces the MMWR, the agency’s flagship scientific publication. Among other CDC departments, it was caught up in a sweeping round of layoffs during the government shutdown in October. The layoffs were later rescinded and temporarily blocked by a federal judge. The CDC has undergone three rounds of layoffs since President Donald Trump took office in January.The agency’s Covid vaccine policy has also shifted under the leadership of Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist who oversees all federal health agencies including the CDC.Kennedy claimed at a Senate Finance Committee hearing in September that the vaccine industry could not produce a study showing Covid shots were effective in healthy kids. He added that “there’s no clinical data” to support Covid vaccine recommendations for healthy people. The CDC’s research has consistently found that Covid vaccines and booster shots protect against severe illness in both adults and children.Kennedy announced in May that the CDC would stop recommending Covid vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women, bypassing the typical regulatory process. Then in September, a group of vaccine advisors appointed by Kennedy similarly voted not to universally recommend Covid shots, instead suggesting that people talk to their doctor about the benefits of getting vaccinated. Two Food and Drug Administration officials, commissioner Marty Makary and vaccine chief Vinay Prasad, said the benefits of Covid boosters were “uncertain” in a New England Journal of Medicine editorial published in May. In a memo last month to agency staff, Prasad claimed that Covid shots have killed at least 10 children and that “we do not have reliable data” on the vaccines’ benefits in healthy kids. Twelve former FDA commissioners denounced the claims, writing in the New England Journal of Medicine that “substantial evidence shows that vaccination can reduce the risk of severe disease and hospitalization in many children and adolescents.”Aria BendixAria Bendix is the breaking health reporter for NBC News Digital.