A bipartisan group of moderate lawmakers privately strategized Wednesday about how to pass an extension of expiring Obamacare subsidies early next year — possibly by using a newly discharged House bill as a vehicle for a Senate-backed bipartisan compromise.

The closed-door discussion among House and Senate members about amending the discharged measure was described by four people who were granted anonymity to comment on the sensitive negotiations. It took place at a Capitol Hill meeting hosted by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, whose members have spent weeks exploring possible compromises to extend the subsidies past Dec. 31.

The effort hit a wall this week, after talks with Speaker Mike Johnson to get a floor vote on a compromise extension proposal failed. Four of them, including Problem Solvers co-chair Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), broke ranks Wednesday and completed a discharge petition led by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Not all members of the Problem Solvers coalition are convinced that amending the Jeffries-backed bill — a straight three-year extension of the enhanced subsidies enacted under former President Joe Biden — would be the most viable proposal.

Some Democrats privately noted that the three-year extension is already drafted and has support from a majority of House and Senate lawmakers. They also pointed out that other subsidy extension proposals, which include new eligibility limitations and anti-fraud measures, have less support in the House.

But Republicans involved in the talks argue the three-year extension won’t be able to pass the Senate — it fell short of the necessary 60 votes last week — and are trying to rally support behind a compromise proposal that could pick up additional GOP support. In any case, no action is expected before Congress adjourns for the year.

“They’re going to have to put something on the floor,” Fitzpatrick said of the Senate in an interview. “We’re going to send them a vehicle. … I mean, that was the whole point of the meeting with the senators.”

Senators who attended included Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Angus King (I-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio).

Moreno, who has put forward his own compromise proposal with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), said the group was talking in “good faith” and “working together to get something done.”

Some lawmakers in the meeting suggested that a deal could encompass more than proposals to extend the enhanced premium tax credits. Republicans have also endorsed ideas to expand tax-advantaged health savings accounts and make it easier for small businesses to create insurance plans.

“The talks about what we might be able to come together around included other provisions, and I’m not going to get into any of those details,” said Shaheen, one of the lead Senate Democratic negotiators.

Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.

Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is hoping to quickly pass a bill Wednesday dealing with military helicopter safety.

According to a person familiar with the negotiations who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, Cruz plans to bring his bipartisan ROTOR Act legislation to the floor via unanimous consent, a fast-track procedure.

The bill would include a new provision striking a contentious helicopters-related section of the National Defense Authorization Act, according to the person.

Cruz plans to speak around 2 p.m. and seek the unanimous consent agreement, the person said. Cruz’s office has struck an agreement with other senators, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, to pass the legislation via this fast-track mechanism, said the person, who added that they are making progress with the White House and Pentagon.

A spokesperson for Thune didn’t immediately provide comment.

The Senate cleared the NDAA earlier Wednesday, 77-20. Cruz voted for the bill.

Cruz’s ROTOR Act, which is cosponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, the committee’s top Democrat, seeks to address a litany of issues raised following January’s midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport between a regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter.

The two lawmakers had raised safety concerns about the NDAA provision, which the nation’s top transportation accident investigator argued would allow certain military helicopters to fly without using an advanced location-broadcasting technology in the Washington area, endangering flyers.

Former special counsel Jack Smith, who led the federal criminal cases against President Donald Trump during the Biden administration, has kicked off what is expected to be an hourslong closed-door deposition with members of the House Judiciary Committee.

In his opening statement to lawmakers, portions of which were obtained by Blue Light News, Smith defended his findings of allegations that that Trump mishandled classified documents and sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts,” said Smith, according to a copy of portions of that statement.

He maintained that this team found evidence to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power.”

Smith also said his team found “powerful evidence” in the classified documents case and alleged that the president “repeatedly tried to obstruct justice.”

“I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election,” Smith said in his statement. “We took actions based on what the facts and the law required — the very lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor.”

He added that he would have made the same decision if Trump had been a Democrat or a Republican — a nod to the GOP members of the committee who believe Smith was pursuing a partisan witch hunt against the president. Their fury has only intensified in the wake of recent revelations Smith secretly obtained phone records of at least eight Republican senators in his election interference probe.

Smith also defended that decision to request lawmakers’ phone data, for which Smith’s team did not receive the content of the calls.

“Exploiting that violence, President Trump and his associates tried to call Members of Congress in furtherance of their criminal scheme, urging them to further delay certification of the 2020 election,” Smith said. “I didn’t choose those Members; President Trump did.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the wake of repeated calls for his prosecution from Republicans and Trump himself, Smith faces unique political and legal risks. His testimony is hamstrung by grand jury secrecy rules and Justice Department policy — as well as an order from a federal judge in Florida that the second volume of his report surrounding the classified documents case remain under seal.

Smith, however, is hoping to defend his record as a career prosecutor from Republican allegations that he shepherded a weaponization of the Justice Department against conservatives — to the extent he could.

Walking into the deposition room, Smith did not answer shouted questions from reporters.

“The hunters become the hunted, huh?” someone shouted from the rowdy crowd swarming the former prosecutor.

Smith is represented by the big law giant Covington & Burling, which was sanctioned by the Trump administration earlier this year after revelations that it was providing free legal services to Smith. The move suspended security clearances for lawyers at the firm.

“In today testifying before this committee, Jack is showing tremendous courage in light of the remarkable and unprecedented retribution campaign against him by this administration and this White House,” one of Smith’s attorneys, Lanny Breuer, told reporters. “Let’s be clear: Jack Smith, a career prosecutor, conducted this investigation based on the facts and based on the law and nothing more.”

Breuer said his client “looks forward” to answering questions surrounding both of the cases he oversaw: the classified documents case and the case surrounding Trump’s efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 election. Smith was forced to drop both cases after Trump’s electoral victory in 2024, citing Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

A number of lawmakers filed into the deposition room Wednesday to watch the questioning — among them Reps. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.), Ben Cline (R-Va.), Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Hank Johnson (D-Ga.). House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) are also attending.

Moskowitz, leaving the room early in the deposition, said the interview had been “boring.”

Smith had been requesting a public forum for his testimony to set the record straight about the scope of his work and the cases he would have pursued against Trump.

Jordan, however, declined that request, instead opting for a deposition behind closed doors.