By MARY CLARE JALONICK

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hopes for an extension of health care subsidies were diminishing in Congress this week as Republicans and Democrats largely abandoned the idea of bipartisan talks on the issue, increasing the odds that millions of Americans could see sharp premium spikes starting Jan. 1.

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Democrats who agreed earlier this month to reopen the government in exchange for a December health care vote were hoping they could work with Republicans to extend the COVID-era Affordable Care Act tax credits that help many Americans pay for their health coverage. But lawmakers in both parties have spent most of the time since talking amongst themselves instead, while rehashing longstanding partisan arguments over the law in public.

“I don’t think at this point we have a clear path forward, I don’t think the Democrats have a clear path forward,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday after Republicans met and discussed different proposals to overhaul the law.

The impasse means the Senate vote, expected next week, could be a party-line messaging exercise with no real chance of passage. Under the deal struck to end the shutdown, Democrats can determine the legislation that comes up for a vote. But Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has indicated they are leaning toward a vote on a straight extension of the subsidies with no new limits or tweaks to the law, which Republicans have already rejected.

“So far the Republicans are in total disarray and have no plan,” Schumer said Tuesday. “We have a plan.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks during the Senate Democrat policy luncheon news conference at the Capitol, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Democrats say they are willing to negotiate on the issue, and some have said they would be open to new limits on the subsidies. But they argue that two main issues are holding up talks: the lack of input from President Donald Trump, and Republicans’ insistence that abortion funding be part of the discussion.

“Our Republican colleagues aren’t going to engage with us” unless Trump weighs in, said Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt. “That’s the paralysis here.”

Abortion issue holds up compromise

Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, was part of the group that struck a deal to end the shutdown. He says there have been some informal bipartisan discussions since then, but says they stalled as Republicans insisted on stricter abortion restrictions on Affordable Care Act plans.

“They have set up a red line that is also a red line for the Democrats,” King said of Republicans. “So they’re going to own these increases.”

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who has said he wants to see the tax credits extended, said the issue “should not be a deal-killer” since a ban on federal funding for abortions is already in the law.

Democrats say current law should be sufficient. While many states ban abortion coverage from all plans in the ACA marketplaces, others allow or require abortion coverage that isn’t paid for with federal funding.

Republicans weigh different plans

Beyond the abortion issue, many Republicans have said for years that they want to see the ACA scrapped or overhauled. But there is still little consensus in the GOP about whether to do that or how.

Republican senators have discussed several competing proposals in recent weeks. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy and Florida Sen. Rick Scott have suggested creating different types of health savings accounts that would change the way people buy insurance — an idea that Trump has endorsed in social media posts without much detail. Other senators have suggested extending the subsidies with new limits on income.

Thune said Tuesday that “we will see where the Republicans come down, but that conversation continues.”

Republicans want to work on a constructive solution, he said, “but that hasn’t landed yet.”

In the House lawmakers were also discussing different ideas. But there was no indication that any of them could be ready by the end of the year or generate enough bipartisan support.

“Health care is a very complicated issue,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Tuesday, while insisting that Republicans were still “pulling ideas together.”

Trump gives little guidance

Lawmakers in both parties have said it will be hard to move forward without Trump’s support for a plan. But the president has yet to formally endorse any legislation.

Last week, the White House circulated a proposal to extend the subsidies with some limits, like new income caps and a requirement that all recipients pay some sort of premium. The proposal would also have allowed those in lower-tier plans, such as the bronze-level or catastrophic plans, to put money into health savings accounts.

But the proposal was never released.

Asked last week whether he wants to extend the subsidies, Trump appeared to refer to the leaked plan, saying that “somebody said I wanted to extend it for two years. … I’d rather not extend them at all.”

Still, he acknowledged that some sort of extension may be “necessary.”

Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim, Lisa Mascaro and Ali Swenson contributed to this report.

The masked burglar broke into the closed Virginia liquor store early on Saturday and hit the bottom shelf, where the scotch and whisky were stored. The bandit was something of a nocturnal menace: bottles were smashed, a ceiling tile collapsed and alcohol pooled on the floor.

The suspect acted like an animal because, in fact, he’s a raccoon.

On Saturday morning, an employee at the Ashland, Virginia-area liquor store found the trash panda passed out on the bathroom floor at the end of his drunken escapade.

In this photo provided by Samantha Martin, broken bottles are seen after a raccoon enters a liquor store on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Ashland, Va. (Samantha Martin/Hanover County Protection via AP)

“I personally like raccoons,” said Samantha Martin, an officer who works at the local animal control. “They are funny little critters. He fell through one of the ceiling tiles and went on a full-blown rampage, drinking everything.”

Martin said she took the raccoon back to the animal shelter, though she had her fair share of giggles along the way.

“Another day in the life of an animal control officer, I guess,” she said.

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The Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter commended Martin for handling the break-in, and confirmed the raccoon had sobered up.

“After a few hours of sleep and zero signs of injury (other than maybe a hangover and poor life choices), he was safely released back to the wild, hopefully having learned that breaking and entering is not the answer,” the agency said.

If the Vikings falling woefully short of their lofty expectations this season has proven anything, it’s that Kevin O’Connell isn’t impervious to poor play at the most important position in all of sports.

The whisperer is currently inaudible.

J.J. McCarthy is off to a historically bad start to his career under the tutelage of O’Connell, leaving left the Vikings with more questions than answers. Max Brosmer isn’t the Get Out of Jail Free card some hoped he would be.

In a poignant moment of reflection, O’Connell opened up about the reality of the situation, which was painfully obvious in the aftermath the Vikings getting embarrassed in a 26-0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. The punchless performance was even more sobering when considering it marked the first time Vikings have been shut out since the George W. Bush administration.

O’Connell acknowledged that the offense hasn’t been anywhere near the standard it has set for itself. He slowly started to come to terms with the fact the open receivers he might see when watches back the film mean absolutely nothing if the the play itself isn’t capable of being executed after the ball is snapped.

“It’s figuring out exactly what we need to be, and we’ve tried to do that,” O’Connell said. “What we’re seeing coverage wise needs to take a back seat to what is best for our offense in that moment.”

The hardest part for O’Connell is he knows what his offense can look like when the Vikings are operating at a high level. They averaged 263.8 passing yards per game in 2022 (sixth in the NFL), 256.4 passing yards per game in 2023 (fifth in the NFL), and 237.8 passing yards per game in 2024 (sixth in the NFL).

That production is nowhere to be found this season, as the Vikings are currently averaging 173.2 passing yards per game. Only the Tennessee Titans, the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets have been worse.

“It’s becoming much more difficult than it has been,” O’Connell said. “It’s a matter of adjusting to what is required to win.”

You could almost see O’Connell actively fighting with his own instincts. He has to know deep down that his system isn’t necessarily conducive to developing a young quarterback in real time. There are no training wheels when the main objective of most plays is to push the ball down the field.

The biggest miscalculation in hindsight was the Vikings thinking McCarthy was ready to ride the bike by himself. They made that clear by acquiring Sam Howell as the only person to push McCarthy in any capacity. They moved on to Carson Wentz at the last minute when Howell proved he wasn’t capable of doing the job.

There was seemingly no thought that McCarthy might struggle to adapt this season. Just blind faith that he would pick up where Sam Darnold left off.

Such an assumption can’t be made again.

There needs to be a veteran quarterback brought in this offseason to compete with McCarthy for the starting job. There also needs to be an understanding that whoever that person is very well might beat McCarthy out.

There are a wide variety of paths the Vikings could choose to go down.

There are elite backup quarterbacks like Mac Jones (San Francisco 49ers) and Davis Mills (Houston Texans), though both of those options seem unlikely considering it would require a good amount of draft capital to strike a deal.

There are former franchise quarterbacks that could be available, like Daniel Jones (Indianapolis Colts) if he hits the open market, or Kyler Murray (Arizona Cardinals) if he is released.

There are once-highly drafted quarterbacks who now in their 30s like Jameis Winston (New York Giants) and Marcus Mariota (Washington Commanders), who could run the offense to some degree.

There are highly drafted quarterbacks still in their 20s such as Zach Wilson (Miami Dolphins), Trey Lance (Los Angeles Chargers), and Anthony Richardson (Indianapolis Colts), who could all be worth a roll of the dice.

There are veterans quarterbacks like Jimmy Garoppolo (Los Angeles Rams), Geno Smith (Las Vegas Raiders) and Jacoby Brissett (Arizona Cardinals), or polarizing quarterbacks like Kirk Cousins (Atlanta Falcons) and Aaron Rodgers (Pittsburgh Steelers) who could make sense.

If these options don’t seem inspiring, well, it’s because they’re not.

But even if none of them feel like they would get the Vikings over the hump, all of them would be better than having McCarthy work through some of the basic mechanics without any sort of safety net beneath him.

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By SEJAL GOVINDARAO

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced Tuesday that Arizona is the latest state to sue Temu and its parent company PDD Holdings Inc. over allegations that the Chinese online retailer is stealing customers’ data.

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Mayes said the app deceives customers about the quality of its low-cost products and collects what she described as a shocking amount of sensitive data without the consent of users, including GPS locations and a list of other apps on users’ phones.

According to the lawsuit, prosecutors are concerned about Temu being subject to laws in China that require Chinese companies to hand over data requested by the government, and that its code is designed to evade security reviews.

“It can detect everywhere you go, to a doctor’s office, to a public library, to a political event, to your friends’ houses,” Mayes said during a news conference. “So the scope of this invasion of privacy is enormous, and that’s why I consider it possibly the gravest violation of the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act that we have ever seen in Arizona.”

Arizona’s top prosecutor also said the state wants to protect businesses from being “ripped off” by the online retailer, alleging the company has copied the intellectual property of brands that include the Arizona Cardinals and Arizona State University.

Attorneys general in Kentucky, Nebraska and Arkansas have filed similar lawsuits in recent years.

There have been legislative efforts at the federal level to counter China’s influence, especially when it comes to technology and intellectual property. But Mayes suggested there should be greater intervention by the federal government to protect consumers.

Mayes called the allegations against Temu more egregious than those that have been made against TikTok.

Through a forensic review, investigators in Arizona found the app’s code has portions recognized by experts as malware or spyware and allows exfiltration of data from a user’s mobile device while concealing that the app is doing so. The review also found in the app “large swaths” of previously banned code from the platform’s precursor version.

Mayes urged Arizonans to delete their Temu accounts, uninstall the app and scan their devices for malware.