Democrats are accusing Republicans of trying to gut federal health care programs with their plan to avert a partial government shutdown.

The bill, a rough extension of current federal funding levels called a continuing resolution (CR), is expected to get a House-wide vote on Tuesday. It will need to pass the Senate and be signed by President Donald Trump by the end of Friday, March 14 to avoid federal programs getting shuttered and tens of thousands of employees furloughed.

Trump has called on all Republican lawmakers to support the bill.

Democrats, however, have unleashed a staunch opposition campaign against the legislation. It is a stark departure from political tradition that normally sees liberal lawmakers vote by the dozens to avoid a government shutdown.

Democratic leaders have in particular accused Republicans of trying to harm funds for Medicare and Medicaid with the bill – something the GOP has denied.

‘The partisan House Republican funding bill recklessly cuts healthcare, nutritional assistance and $23 billion in veterans benefits. Equally troublesome, the legislation does nothing to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, while exposing the American people to further pain throughout this fiscal year. We are voting No,’ read a joint statement by House Democratic leaders released on Saturday night.

The trio of leaders – House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif, – sent a letter to lawmakers bashing the CR on Friday, before the text was released.

‘House Democrats would enthusiastically support a bill that protects Social Security, Medicare, veterans health and Medicaid, but Republicans have chosen to put them on the chopping block to pay for billionaire tax cuts,’ they wrote.

‘We cannot back a measure that rips away life-sustaining healthcare and retirement benefits from everyday Americans as part of the Republican scheme to pay for massive tax cuts for their wealthy donors like Elon Musk. Medicaid is our red line.’

A senior House GOP aide accused House Democrats of ‘intentionally misleading the American people.’

‘Their pre-baked statements are disingenuous,’ the senior aide told Fox News Digital. ‘The Democrats came out against the bill before there was even text.’

Trump, for his part, has said multiple times that he does not want Congress touching Medicaid but has left the door open to cutting ‘waste, fraud and abuse,’ a line that has been repeated by Republican lawmakers.

It is worth noting that yearly congressional appropriations, which are covered by the CR, largely do not touch mandatory government expenditures like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Those programs need to be altered in the federal budget – which Republicans are also working on right now via the reconciliation process.

However, the legislation does not address expected payment cuts coming to doctors who treat Medicare patients, a facet that’s given some interest groups like the American Medical Association (AMA) pause.

‘Physicians across the country are outraged that Congress’s proposed spending package locks in a devastating fifth consecutive year of Medicare cuts, threatening access to care for 66 million Medicare patients,’ AMA Chair Bruce A. Scott said on the group’s website.

It is possible the bill will still get some Democratic votes, likely from lawmakers in competitive districts wary of being blamed for a government shutdown. Republicans will need to shoulder the burden largely themselves, however, in Monday evening’s expected vote to advance the bill through the House Rules Committee.

If it passes, then the bill will have to see a House-wide procedural vote known as a ‘rule vote,’ which generally falls along partisan lines.

The final House vote on the bill is expected sometime Tuesday afternoon.

The 99-page legislation released over the weekend largely keeps government spending flat at fiscal year (FY) 2024 levels until the beginning of FY 2026 on Oct. 1.

The bill allocates an additional $8 billion in defense spending to mitigate national security hawks’ concerns, while non-defense spending that Congress annually appropriates would decrease by about $13 billion.

There are also some added funds to help facilitate Immigrations and Customs Enforcement operations.

Cuts to non-defense discretionary spending would be found by eliminating some ‘side deals’ made during FRA negotiations, House GOP leadership aides said. Lawmakers would also not be given an opportunity to request funding for special pet projects in their districts known as earmarks, another area that Republicans are classifying as savings.

It allows Republican leaders to claim a win on no meaningful government spending increases over FY 2025. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that 83% of USAID programs will be canceled following the conclusion of a six-week review by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

In total, 5,200 contracts are being terminated, Rubio wrote in his early Monday morning post on X announcing the new reforms. He said the canceled contracts amounted to ‘tens of billions of dollars’ being spent ‘in ways that did not serve,’ or even harmed, the national interests of the U.S.

Rubio added that the remaining 18% of USAID programs—approximately 1,000—will now be managed by the State Department. The move to transfer that authority, he said, was made in consultation with Congress. 

In his Monday morning post, Rubio also thanked DOGE and its ‘hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform.’ Musk responded to the post, adding ‘good working with you,’ calling the work ‘tough but necessary.’

‘The important parts of USAID should always have been with Dept of State,’ Musk wrote. 

The pair reportedly got into a heated exchange last week during a meeting with President Donald Trump’s Cabinet officials, which included Musk, over whether Rubio was doing enough to implement cuts at USAID. Trump reportedly defended Rubio during the spat, according to The New York Times, chiming in that he was doing a ‘great job’ in such a demanding and high-pressure position. Trump later wrote on Truth Social that the two ‘have a great relationship.’

USAID was an early target of Trump, who, just hours after taking office, ordered a 90-day pause on all U.S. foreign assistance programs pending a review to ensure those programs aligned with American interests. Musk has also been at the forefront of criticism of the agency, asserting it is ‘beyond repair’ and likening the agency’s spending to illegal money laundering for left-wing nonprofits.

As the Trump administration has sought to dismantle USAID, a slew of lawsuits seeking to halt its actions have come down. The Supreme Court issued an emergency ruling last week, refusing to halt a judge’s order directing the Trump administration to resume $2 billion in foreign aid payments owed to other countries via pre-existing contracts.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for comment but did not immediately hear back. 

The Trump administration ended a waiver that allowed the Iraqi government to buy Iranian electricity in a renewed effort to choke off Iran’s profits.

National security advisor Mike Waltz told Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani that the end of the waiver was consistent with President Donald Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign on Iran as the administration goes all-in on trying to prevent the regime from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

‘Waltz welcomed the Iraqi Prime Minister’s efforts to achieve energy independence for Iraq, and encouraged the Iraqi government to welcome more western and U.S. energy companies into Iraq’s oil and gas sectors.’ 

Waltz also urged the Iraqi government to resolve its dispute with the Kurdistan Regional Government, where Iraq has been choking off the flow of oil from the Kurdistan region in Iraq to Turkey for years, allowing the region’s continued dependence on Iranian oil. 

It is part of a global push to boost oil supply and keep prices in check, in an effort that would starve Iran and Russia of fuel profits. 

‘The National Security Advisor urged the Iraqi government to work with the Kurdistan Regional Government to address remaining contract disputes and pay arrears owed to U.S. energy companies, and also requested that the Iraqi government retain an investment coordinator to work with U.S. companies seeking to invest and operate in Iraq,’ according to a readout of Waltz’s call with the prime minister. 

Trump first issued the sanctions waiver for Iraq when he began applying ‘maximum pressure’ on Iran during his first administration.

The waiver only applied to electricity, where Iraqi reliance on Iran has precipitously fallen to just 4%. If the new move expanded to include gas used for power plants, however, it ‘would cause Iraq to lose more than 30% of its electricity energy,’ according to a spokesperson for Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity, Ahmad Moussa, who said the nation is searching for alternatives. 

‘There are two ways Iran can be handled – militarily, or you make a deal. I would prefer to make a deal…’ – President Donald Trump

Former President Joe Biden continuously renewed the waiver until its expiration on Saturday. 

The U.S. has significant leverage over Iraq – $100 billion of its reserves are held in the U.S., and Washington could wield that leverage amidst Iran’s increasingly firm grip over Iraqi leadership. The U.S. still has a military presence of about 2,500 personnel stationed in Iraq to help fight ISIS. 

Trump revealed he sent a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pushing for Tehran to agree to a nuclear agreement — or face military consequences.

‘I’ve written them a letter, saying I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily it’s going to be a terrible thing for them,’ Trump told FOX Business on Friday. ‘There are two ways Iran can be handled – militarily, or you make a deal,’ Trump said. ‘I would prefer to make a deal, because I am not looking to hurt Iran.’

According to nuclear experts, Iran is already enriching uranium to 60%, putting it mere days or weeks away from 90% weapons-grade supply.

On Saturday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran would not negotiate with ‘bullying countries.’ 

Iran currently exports an average of 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, but under Trump’s Feb. 6 executive order, the secretaries of State and Treasury are to work to ‘implement a campaign aimed at driving Iran’s oil exports to zero.’ 

The U.S. is also working to end a sanctions waiver for the Chabahar port in Iran, where India has poured in $370 million to build a trading gateway to the Middle East. 

Next, the U.S. could set its sights on China, which buys up 90% of Iran’s oil outflow. 

America’s defenses will not be able to keep up with its peer adversaries if the Pentagon continues to take years to innovate its weapons systems, experts agreed at a security summit last week. 

The Pentagon’s modernization was given a ‘D’ by the National Security Innovation Base Summit this week, a near-failing letter grade that national security leaders in Congress agreed was a fair assessment.

‘Progress lives in the private sector, and we’re not seeing enough progress in the public sector,’ said Govini CEO Tara Dougherty. ‘The department needs a massive kick in the pants in this area, and should be held accountable for catching up in progress to match what is happening among the investor community and among the technology sector.’

‘I think the score is a deserved score, unfortunately,’ House Armed Services Committee Vice Chair Rob Wittman said. 

‘The Pentagon is the Ford Motor Company of the 1950s. I mean, they the way they operate, slow, stoic,’ Wittman explained. ‘‘Let’s spend years to write a requirement, then let’s spend years to go to a program or record, let’s spend years to acquire.’ By the time we acquire something, guess what? The threat’s way ahead of us.’ 

‘We want them to reflect the Apple 2025 model.’

Nowhere is this clearer to defense leaders than in the nation’s shipbuilding capabilities. The Navy currently has 295 deployable ships, though its shipbuilding plan calls for that number to be increased to 390 by 2054. The Maritime Security Program, which maintains privately owned, military-useful ships to deploy in wartime, is down to 60 in its fleet. 

‘It’s precipitously low. We could not get to where we need to be in the Pacific right now if we needed to,’ Wittman told Fox News Digital. 

The issue seemingly keeps President Donald Trump awake at night. 

‘China specifically is better at cybersecurity than we are.’ – Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.

John Phelan, Trump’s nominee for Navy secretary, quipped during his confirmation hearing that the president texts him late at night, ‘sometimes after 1 a.m.’ about ‘rusty ships or ships in a yard, asking me, what am I doing about it?’ 

Phelan added that he has told the president, ‘I’m not confirmed yet and have not been able to do anything about it, but I will be very focused on it.’

‘We used to make so many ships,’ Trump lamented during a speech to a joint Congress on Tuesday. ‘We don’t make them anymore very much, but we’re going to make them very fast, very soon. It will have a huge impact.’ 

He announced he had establish a White House Office of Shipbuilding. 

With the Pentagon, ‘it’s process, process, process, not outcomes,’ said Wittman, who announced he would be co-chairing a defense modernization caucus in Congress.

‘We’re operating off of an innovation cycle right now that, you know, used to be a decade, and it used to be five years. Then it used to be three years, and now it’s a year or less innovation cycle,’ said Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo. ‘In Ukraine, they’re actually operating off of week-long innovation cycles.’ 

‘China is eating our boxed lunch in the energy area, in our cellular phone infrastructure, they’re trying to get into Wall Street, they’re trying to get into agriculture…’ – Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb.

Crow said it is up to Congress to give the Pentagon the ‘kick in the pants’ it needs to move faster. 

‘There are simply no demand signals being sent. So that requires a very real conversation about political will, which is actually bipartisan right now on this issue.’ 

The Pentagon began work on the F-35 fighter jet 25 years ago, and it is ‘just now getting into full scale production,’ noted Wittman. 

‘The capability of that aircraft, the modernization that it needs to keep up with the Chinese threat, it’s just not where it has to be.’

Even the newest F-35s need to be taken back to the assembly line to be fitted with 360-degree motion sensors known as the digital aperture system and the other latest technology in radars, Wittman said. 

‘We’re still not going to deliver the current jets coming off the line with technical refresh three hardware and have that software enabled until probably early next year.’ 

Under a new DOGE memo, the Pentagon has kicked off a review of its contracting procedures. ‘Each Agency Head, in consultation with the agency’s DOGE Team Lead, shall conduct a comprehensive review of each agency’s contracting policies, procedures, and personnel,’ a memo circulated this week read. 

Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., told Fox News Digital she worries most about the military being prepared to defend against a cyberattack. 

‘China specifically is better at cybersecurity than we are,’ she said. ‘It only takes one or two incursions that we don’t see coming or that we aren’t responsive to, to make an enormous difference here.’ 

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., suggested that the U.S. may need to start thinking about offensive cyber missions. 

‘When it comes to cyber, we’ve got to change the rules of engagement,’ he said. ‘China is eating our boxed lunch in the energy area, in our cellular phone infrastructure, they’re trying to get into Wall Street, they’re trying to get into agriculture.’ 

‘We’re really good on cyberintelligence but we have [rules of engagement] that do not let us do nearly what China or Russia does,’ he continued. ‘I don’t think it’s like taking punches to the face, saying ‘can I have another.’’

‘We’ve got to be able to allow cyber command to fight fire with fire. I wouldn’t even advertise it that much. Just carry a big stick and, get them back.’