Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will be asked to explain some of his beliefs about farming and food production by Republicans who are protective of the agricultural industry in their states. This could stand in the way of a smooth confirmation if he doesn’t manage to address their concerns. 

‘They’ve got to be able to use modern farming techniques, and that involves a lot of things, not only really sophisticated equipment, but also fertilizers and pesticides. So, we have to have that conversation,’ Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., told reporters. 

‘I’m always going to stand up for farmers and ranchers.’

Hoeven told Fox News Digital he would need certain assurances from Kennedy to support him. 

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters he wants Kennedy ‘to understand that when I started farming in 1960, we raised 50 bushels of corn to the acre. Now, we raise on an annual average about 200 in Iowa. A lot more than that.

‘And you can’t feed 9 billion people on the face of the earth [if] we don’t take advantage of genetic engineering.’

Before meeting with Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Tuesday, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told reporters he planned to ask him about pesticide use. 

Afterward, it seemed Kennedy addressed any concerns, because Tuberville wrote on X, ‘Our meeting reaffirmed what I already knew: RFK Jr. is the right man to make sure our food is safe, bring transparency to vaccines and health care, and Make America Healthy Again.’

While some Republicans are worried about the agricultural implications of Kennedy’s positions, his food safety stances are providing some level of appeal to certain Democrats, whose votes he could potentially need to be confirmed. 

A number of Democratic senators told Fox News Digital their interest was piqued by Kennedy’s thoughts on food regulations, but none said they had meetings scheduled yet. 

‘His approach to food and nutrition is more direct and perhaps might be more successful than continuing the way we’ve been doing it,’ Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., told Fox News Digital.

‘I’m definitely looking forward to him coming in and testifying.’

A representative for Kennedy did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication.

Things might be moving on the hostage front. Hezbollah has decoupled itself from Hamas in agreeing to a cease-fire. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has returned again to the region for discussion. Qatar kicked Hamas out and said it wanted to reengage on hostage and ceasefire negotiations. Donald Trump named a hostage special envoy and issued a statement warning that there will be ‘hell to pay’ if the Hamas-held hostages were not freed by the time of his inauguration on January 20, 2025. The hostages, which include seven Americans – three presumed living and four unfortunately murdered – have been languishing in Gaza for over 400 days. Will the transition between administrations break the logjam and do something to release them from their captivity?

We can’t know for sure, but we can look to history for lessons from a similar situation. In 1980, Iran took over the US embassy in Iran and held American hostages for 444 days, roiling the US election and riveting the nation. Carter’s entire last year in office was occupied with the hostage crisis. Ted Koppel’s ‘Nightline’ began as a show that covered the crisis before eventually becoming a general interest news show. In that first year, though, ‘Nightline’ seemed like a nightly recap of Carter’s ineptitude. Things worsened when Carter tried a rescue attempt that proved to be an embarrassing failure. His Secretary of State, the dovish Cyrus Vance, resigned in protest – not because the attempt failed, but because he was opposed to even attempting such an effort.

The failure to get the hostages out proved to be an albatross to Carter’s reelection effort. Carter’s preoccupation with the crisis limited his ability to campaign against Ronald Reagan, which he badly needed to do since the situation was dragging down his polling numbers. Carter’s wunderkind pollster Pat Caddell – all of 29 when the hostages were taken – complained to Chief of Staff Hamilton Jordan as election day approached that the hostage situation was killing Carter politically: ‘We are getting murdered. All the people that have been waiting and holding out for some reason to vote Democratic have left us. I’ve never seen anything like it in polling. Here we are neck and neck with Reagan up until the very end and everything breaks against us. It’s the hostage thing.’

The Reagan campaign braced for an ‘October surprise.’ If Carter could negotiate the release of the hostages before the election, would that win sweep the momentum away from Reagan?

During the campaign, Reagan wanted to avoid conduct that could be perceived as interfering with the Carter administration’s negotiations to free the hostages. Reagan told the press that as long as there is hope for getting the hostages back alive, ‘political candidates should restrain themselves in the interest of national unity.’ Yet, on the campaign trail Reagan told voters that he would restore respect for the United States, promising that ‘never again will a foreign dictator dare to invade an American embassy and take our people hostage.’

The hostage crisis was perhaps the paradigmatic example of Reagan’s broader case against Carter’s weak leadership and foreign policy. ‘Foreign confidence in American leadership – to counter the forces of brutality and barbarism’, Reagan said following Carter’s failed rescue attempt, ‘will return only when we as a nation mobilize our spiritual strength, regain our economic strength, rebuild our defense capabilities, and strengthen our alliance with other peace-loving nations.’

Carter ended up losing badly to Reagan, but the forthcoming change in administration brought new energy into the effort to release the hostages. Carter redoubled his efforts, determined to get the hostages out on his watch. Reagan was a new actor on the world stage and the Iranians did not know what to make of him. Although Reagan rarely mentioned the hostages during the campaign, he did respond forcefully to Carter’s late October suggestion that Reagan did not understand things. Reagan blasted back, saying that he didn’t ‘understand why 52 Americans have been held hostage for almost a year now.’ In addition, Democratic and media hysteria about Reagan being some kind of warmonger who wanted to bring about nuclear Armageddon likely impacted the Ayatollah’s calculus on whether to release the American hostages before Reagan’s inauguration.

In the last few months of the administration, the lame duck Carter worked furiously on the hostage issue. He had his representatives negotiating on what eventually became the Algiers Accords, signed on January 19, 1981. Carter was sleeping little and getting constant updates, even late into the night.

Reagan was sleeping when Carter called him at 7am on Inauguration Day with an update on the hostages. Carter had been up all night following the negotiations. Carter called back at 8:30 when Reagan was awake and told him that he thought the hostages would be freed that morning. Carter was overly optimistic. The Iranians, eager to impose yet another indignity on Carter, waited until Reagan was officially inaugurated before officially releasing the hostages.

There is no indication that Joe Biden is working nearly that hard on the American hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. Hamas, which also murdered over 30 Americans, does not seem to fear or even respect Biden very much. Yet a similar dynamic may be at play. Trump’s ‘hell to pay’ statement and his meeting with hostage family members, signals both greater interest in the hostages and less patience for Hamas and its refusals to make any concessions.

News that Hamas has provided Egypt with a list of hostages it would include in a deal with Israel, which for the first time includes American citizens, signals how President Trump’s imminent return to office is impacting the hostage crisis. Come January 20th we can expect more than rhetoric when President Trump, unlike his predecessor, applies the full spectrum of America’s military, intelligence and economic tools to free the hostages. What comes next from Trump when he returns to the Oval Office could force Hamas and its enablers in Qatar and Turkey, to free the hostages before inauguration day. No one thinks that Biden, like Carter, will be pulling all-nighters anytime soon for the hostages, or any other issue. But the echoes of that earlier hostage crisis could serve as a preview of what might happen this time around.

President-elect Trump dropped his most recent round of ambassador nominations on social media Tuesday night, before issuing a warning to Senate Republicans about any potential deals with Democratic lawmakers.

The Republican leader began by nominating Herschel Walker as his choice for U.S. ambassador to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. Walker, a staunch Trump ally, ran for the U.S. Senate in 2022 as a candidate from Georgia.

‘I am pleased to nominate Herschel Walker as United States Ambassador to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas,’ Trump’s post began. ‘Herschel has spent decades serving as an Ambassador to our Nation’s youth, our men and women in the Military, and athletes at home and abroad.’

Trump went on to call Walker, a former National Football League (NFL) player, a ‘successful businessman, philanthropist, former Heisman Trophy winner, and NFL Great.’ The president-elect also commended Walker’s previous work in the first Trump administration.

‘During my First Term, he served as Co-Chair of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. Herschel has traveled to over 400 Military installations around the World, removing the stigma surrounding mental health,’ Trump added. ‘He represented the United States at the 1992 Winter Olympics as a member of the U.S. bobsled team.’
 
‘Congratulations Herschel! You will make Georgia, and our entire Nation, proud, because we know you will always put AMERICA FIRST!’

Trump followed up his post about Walker to announce Nicole McGraw as his pick for U.S. ambassador to Croatia. The president-elect described McGraw as a ‘philanthropist, businesswoman, and World renowned art collector.’

‘Nicole has brought fine art to the People through her work leading CANVAS Art Charities, and raised Millions of Dollars for neglected and abused children as a Board Member of Place of Hope,’ Trump wrote. ‘She is a graduate of Southern Methodist University with a BFA in Art History and Studio Art. Congratulations Nicole!’

After issuing the nominations, Trump ended with a note warning Senate Republicans not to make deals with Democrats to ‘fast track’ nominations this month.

‘To all Senate Republicans: NO DEAL WITH DEMOCRATS TO FAST TRACK NOMINATIONS AT THE END OF THIS CONGRESS,’ Trump wrote. ‘I won the biggest mandate in 129 years. I will make my appointments of Very Qualified People in January when I am sworn in.’

Some lawmakers in the new Congressional DOGE Caucus are eyeing a crackdown on federal agencies work-from-home policies when Republicans take over the levers of power in Washington DC next year.

The group’s name is an acronym for Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency, coinciding with the Department of Government Efficiency – also DOGE for short – a new advisory panel commissioned by President-elect Trump and led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

The caucus held its first meeting on Tuesday, which lawmakers described to Fox News Digital as largely ‘organizational.’

DOGE Caucus co-chair Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital the room was full of interested lawmakers.

‘We had 29 sign up to come, so we met in a small conference room. But it was packed – we had over 60 members attend,’ Bean said.

That included three Democrats – Reps. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., Val Hoyle, D-Ore., and the first Democrat to join the DOGE Caucus, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.

Documents given to attendees and shared with Fox News Digital encouraged lawmakers to think of what kind of DOGE goals would be ‘worthwhile lifts,’ ‘quick wins,’ ‘lower priority,’ and ‘low-hanging fruit’ and other ways to organize and prioritize initiatives.

Asked about what some ‘low-hanging fruit’ for the panel would be, Bean said, ‘People going back to work.’

‘We have a problem,’ Bean said. ‘[Federal workers] do a large amount of work from home. Which, that’s a debate – whether or not they’re productive working from home. But if they are working from home, we have between a 6 and 15% occupancy of billions of square foot of commercial buildings that we are spending billions on to upkeep and whatnot. Do we still need that much space if people aren’t using their offices?’

That was echoed by Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, who also attended the meeting.

‘You know, when you take out security, you’ve got one percent of the federal government workers who are going in to work on a regular basis, and we’re paying for 100% of them all to have office space,’ Van Duyne said. ‘There’s lots of low hanging fruit. I just hope we can identify what those are.’

Bean also dismissed accusations from critics of Musk and Ramamswamy’s DOGE push that it was a way for Republicans to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits

‘That is not the intent,’ Bean emphasized. ‘It is not the intent [to be] cutting benefits, of either health or [veterans] or Social Security. But those benefits…have limited shelf life, unless we make reductions elsewhere. So the purpose is not to cut those things, but to safeguard them.’

Other lawmakers who attended said they came away enthusiastic about the group’s cost-cutting and efficiency goals.

‘It was a good introductory meeting of the caucus, kind of challenging us all to think about our expectations and how we can help, you know, take ideas and move them in to bill form and work through the normal committee process to do that,’ Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., said.

‘I’ve even gotten a lot of ideas from constituents…I think this is a really great grassroots effort.’

House GOP Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore, R-Utah, another DOGE Caucus co-chair alongside Bean and Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said ‘there’s a billion and a half ideas, and we need to make it so it’s actually actionable for Vivek and Elon.’

Both Bean and Moore indicated that the next steps for the caucus would be to split up into working groups targeting various aspects of DOGE’s mission.

The next caucus meeting is expected in January, Bean said.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will be asked to explain some of his beliefs about farming and food production by Republicans who are protective of the agricultural industry in their states. This could stand in the way of a smooth confirmation if he doesn’t manage to address their concerns. 

‘They’ve got to be able to use modern farming techniques, and that involves a lot of things, not only really sophisticated equipment, but also fertilizers and pesticides. So, we have to have that conversation,’ Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., told reporters. 

‘I’m always going to stand up for farmers and ranchers.’

Hoeven told Fox News Digital he would need certain assurances from Kennedy to support him. 

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters he wants Kennedy ‘to understand that when I started farming in 1960, we raised 50 bushels of corn to the acre. Now, we raise on an annual average about 200 in Iowa. A lot more than that.

‘And you can’t feed 9 billion people on the face of the earth [if] we don’t take advantage of genetic engineering.’

Before meeting with Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Tuesday, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told reporters he planned to ask him about pesticide use. 

Afterward, it seemed Kennedy addressed any concerns, because Tuberville wrote on X, ‘Our meeting reaffirmed what I already knew: RFK Jr. is the right man to make sure our food is safe, bring transparency to vaccines and health care, and Make America Healthy Again.’

While some Republicans are worried about the agricultural implications of Kennedy’s positions, his food safety stances are providing some level of appeal to certain Democrats, whose votes he could potentially need to be confirmed. 

A number of Democratic senators told Fox News Digital their interest was piqued by Kennedy’s thoughts on food regulations, but none said they had meetings scheduled yet. 

‘His approach to food and nutrition is more direct and perhaps might be more successful than continuing the way we’ve been doing it,’ Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., told Fox News Digital.

‘I’m definitely looking forward to him coming in and testifying.’

A representative for Kennedy did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication.

Congressional leaders are unveiling their plan to avoid a partial government shutdown by the Friday federal funding deadline.

House Republicans released the 1,547-page text of a short-term extension of fiscal year (FY) 2024 government funding levels to give lawmakers more time to agree on funding the rest of FY 2025.

It’s the second such extension, called a continuing resolution (CR), since FY 2024 ended on Sept. 30.

The bill extends FY 2024 government funding levels through March 14, while also including more than $100 billion in funding for disaster relief after storms Helene and Milton battered the U.S. Southeast just months ago. A further $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers is also included.

The legislation has health care provisions aimed at lessening the influence of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), and legislation aimed at revitalizing Washington, DC’s RFK Stadium and the surrounding area.

The bill will also make way for outbound investment legislation, to crack down on the flow of U.S. dollars benefitting Chinese military and technology firms overseas.

Recent drone activity on the Eastern Seaboard that’s alarmed private citizens and lawmakers alike also inspired negotiators to include a reauthorization and extension of the government’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems program.

To offset some of that funding, House leadership staff said the bill will allow the Treasury to recoup some of the funds the federal government spent rebuilding the Baltimore Key Bridge.

It must pass the GOP-controlled House and Democrat-controlled Senate by Friday and hit President Biden’s desk by midnight that day to avoid a partial government shutdown.

Last-minute negotiations delayed the bill’s expected Sunday release to Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, GOP hardliners are crying foul at Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for stacking what they anticipated would be a ‘clean’ CR with unrelated policy riders.

‘We talked with the speaker up until this weekend, the only discussion was ‘How long is this clean CR going to be?’ And suddenly we find out – I heard rumors over the weekend – they’re negotiating with a health care package that included PBM stuff,’ Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital.

‘I think it’s absolutely disgusting to bring forward a several-thousand-page bill that nobody’s read, even today, nobody’s even seen it, and then they expect us to vote on it without any debate.’

Allies of President-elect Trump had pushed for a short-term extension into the new year to give his administration, and a fully Republican Congress, more control over government funding.

But some GOP lawmakers worried that fighting the previous year’s battles will risk derailing the forward-facing agenda Republicans hope to enact in Trump’s first 100 days.

‘His agenda is going to be subject to a one-seat majority for some time, in the best case scenario, he gets about three or four seats. So we don’t have much margin for error,’ one House Republican said.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Fox News Digital he plans to meet with Senate Democrats, in addition to Republicans, as he looks to shore up support for confirmation as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in President-elect Trump’s incoming administration. 

Asked by Fox News Digital whether he would be meeting with Democrats on the Hill as well, Kennedy, a former Democrat himself, said, ‘Oh yeah.’ 

However, the former independent presidential candidate didn’t say which Senate Democrats he would meet. 

‘I don’t know,’ he said when asked by reporters. 

Kennedy kicked off his Capitol Hill meetings for his HHS bid on Monday, meeting with several Republicans. No Democratic senators were included in a list of dozens of lawmakers that he was set to meet with at the beginning of the week. 

Last month, Trump announced Kennedy as his HHS pick. The two were initially running against each other in the 2024 election before Kennedy dropped out and endorsed Trump. 

Kennedy’s confirmation could face several obstacles, particularly when it comes to vaccines, agriculture and abortion. 

He has been an outspoken skeptic of vaccinations, which some Republican and Democrat senators have pointed to as a concern. 

Kennedy is also pro abortion rights and has supported abortion access throughout his life, which has left some Republicans with questions, as HHS has some authority over regulations that apply to abortion and those who provide them. 

His critiques of the food industry and farming have given him some appeal with Democrats, but at the same time, Republicans representing agricultural states have stressed that they want to protect farmers and ranchers from certain burdensome policies and regulations.  

It’s unclear what exactly the coalition supporting Kennedy will look like in the Senate, whether he will have the support of all Republicans or if some Democrats will be needed to get him over the finish line. 

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s Defense secretary nominee ensnared in sexual assault allegations, plans to release his accuser from the confidentiality agreement he had her sign, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Graham, R-S.C., told NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ that Hegseth ‘told me he would release her from that agreement,’ adding, ‘I’d want to know if anybody nominated for a high-level job in Washington legitimately assaulted somebody.’

Graham has said he will not take allegations from an anonymous source into consideration for Hegseth’s confirmation. 

Allowing Hegseth’s accuser to come forward publicly might lead to a spectacle similar to the confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, during which his accuser, Christine Ford, was called to testify in the Senate about her accusations.  

‘The Pete Hegseth I know, this is not a problem I’ve been aware of,’ Graham said.

‘However, if people have an allegation to make, come forward and make it like they did in Kavanaugh,’ he added, referring to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. ‘We’ll decide whether or not it’s credible.’

A woman alleges that in 2017, she was sexually assaulted by Hegseth in a hotel room in Monterey, California.

Hegseth was not charged in the incident and insists the interaction was consensual, and the charge stemmed from a woman who regretted cheating on her husband.

Police recommended the case report be forwarded to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for review, but no charges were filed. 

At the time of the alleged assault, Hegseth, 44, was going through a divorce from his second wife, with whom he shares three children. She filed for divorce after he had a child with another woman, according to court records and social media posts.

A payment was made to the woman, according to Hegseth’s attorney, as part of a confidentiality agreement because Hegseth feared the woman was preparing to file a lawsuit that could have cost him his job as a co-host on ‘Fox & Friends.’ 

Earlier this month, Hegseth’s attorney, Tim Parlatore, told CNN they had considered suing the woman for civil extortion before settling with a confidentiality agreement. 

It is not yet clear whether the allegations may stand in the way of Hegseth’s confirmation. Republicans will have a 53-47 majority in the next Senate, and there is only room for Trump nominees to lose a few GOP votes, assuming no Democrats choose to back them. 

Hegseth does not appear to have lost any Republicans in the upper chamber at this point, including more moderate lawmakers such as Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. 

Hegseth met with both of them last week on Capitol Hill. According to Collins, ‘I had a good, substantive discussion that lasted more than an hour.’

‘We covered a wide range of topics ranging from defense procurement reforms to the role of women in the military, sexual assault in the military. Ukraine, NATO, a wide range of issues. I obviously always wait until we have an FBI background check and one is underway in the case of Mr. Hegseth, and I wait to see the committee hearing before reaching a final decision.’

Trump’s Defense secretary choice has also met twice with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. After their first meeting earlier this month, Ernst admitted on Fox News that she was not sold on Hegseth yet. However, after their second meeting this week, she released a statement, saying, ‘As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources.’

Fox News’ Julia Johnson and Tyler Olson contributed to this report. 

House GOP hardliners are furious with how congressional leaders are handling the ongoing government funding talks, with some even suggesting they could withhold support from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to head their conference again over his handling of the matter.

Negotiators are working on a short-term extension of current government funding levels known as a continuing resolution (CR). A bill must pass the House and Senate by the end of Friday, Dec. 20 to avoid a partial government shutdown just before the holidays.

‘The speaker definitely has some ‘no’ votes and some people considering their options,’ one GOP lawmaker granted anonymity to speak candidly told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

That lawmaker also accused Johnson of using President-elect Donald Trump’s own support for the Louisiana Republican as cover.

Johnson won unanimous support to be speaker again in House Republicans’ closed-door elections earlier this year, hours after Trump told lawmakers he supported him.

He needs almost the same level of support in early January, when the entire House votes to elect a new speaker. With just a slim majority, Johnson can only afford to lose a few members of the House GOP to still win the gavel.

Former House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., was asked by Fox News on Monday night if, depending on Johnson’s handling of the CR, some Republicans could initially vote against him on Jan. 3.

‘I think that’s potentially a possibility,’ Perry said. 

Another Republican said they would consider opposing Johnson’s speakership bid in January if it were not for Trump’s backing.

‘Everything’s got consequences,’ Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said when asked if Johnson’s handling of the CR would impact the January vote.

Several Republicans who spoke with Fox News Digital said they felt blindsided by what they viewed as last-minute additions to the CR, which they anticipated would be relatively free of unrelated policy riders.

Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., was furious about health care provisions included in discussions in recent days that would lessen the power of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). He said Johnson indicated that the CR would be a ‘clean’ funding extension without added policies.

‘We talked with the speaker up until this weekend, the only discussion was ‘How long is this clean CR going to be?’ And suddenly we find out – I heard rumors over the weekend – they’re negotiating with a health care package that included PBM stuff,’ Burlison said. 

‘I think it’s absolutely disgusting to bring forward a several-thousand-page bill that nobody’s read, even today, nobody’s even seen it, and then they expect us to vote on it without any debate.’

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told reporters, ‘Swamp is going to swamp, right?’

‘Fourteen hundred pages. Still haven’t seen the text. Multiple subject matters. Important health care legislation in the context of extenders piled on the back of a three-month CR with about $110 billion unpaid for,’ Roy said. ‘This is not the way to do business.’

Roy has also spoken out against a rumored provision expanding ethanol sales.

‘E15 should not be in this disastrous CR/Supplemental, among most of the things being discussed – including a PBM bill that Pharma is dancing in the streets over… Call me crazy, but we should reduce the deficit and not pass stupid policies,’ Roy wrote on X.

The legislative text for the CR was originally expected to come out on Sunday, but as of late Tuesday morning, negotiations were close to an end but still ongoing. It is putting lawmakers perilously close to their Friday shutdown deadline.

Johnson dismissed any concerns about his job during his weekly press conference Tuesday.

‘I’m not worried about the speaker vote,’ he said. ‘We’re governing. Everybody knows we have difficult circumstances. We’re doing the very best we can under those circumstances.’

Johnson also maintained he wanted to give lawmakers 72 hours to read the bill before a vote – meaning it would come Friday earliest if released today.

However, even rank-and-file lawmakers who are not threatening Johnson’s job said there are frustrations about the situation.

Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., whose district has a significant agricultural sector, said some lawmakers were concerned that farm policy provisions in the CR would hinder Congress’ negotiation for a new Farm Bill, comprehensive legislation setting food and agricultural policy that is set to expire this year.

The CR is expected to include a one-year extension of the current Farm Bill, plus added subsidies. 

‘I think there are members that just wish we were being a bit more comprehensive and deliberate in passing a Farm Bill,’ Fitzgerald said. ‘There’s been very little back-and-forth with members on specific issues.’

Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.