In this fourth week of the government shutdown, Senate Republicans are gathering at White House — not for urgent talks on how to end it, but for a display of unity with President Donald Trump as they refuse to negotiate on any Democratic demands.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called it a “pep rally” and said it’s “shameful” that House Speaker Mike Johnson has kept the House out of town during the shutdown. Schumer says his side wants to end the shutdown and fix the health care premium crisis that “looms over 20 million hardworking Americans.”

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Trump said in a social media post that he’s not ready to give a green light to U.S allies who have “explicitly and strongly, with great enthusiasm” offered to go into Gaza and “straighten out Hamas” if the militant group continues to “act badly.”

The Republican president said he told these countries and Israel, ‘NOT YET!’ because “There is still hope that Hamas will do what is right.”

If they don’t, Trump said “an end to Hamas will be FAST, FURIOUS, & BRUTAL!”

Trump commented while Vice President JD Vance is visiting Israel to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others to help shore up the fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

The president also thanked Indonesia for helping out with the Middle East.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune says he hopes the White House will withdraw the nomination of Paul Ingrassia, Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Special Counsel.

The growing opposition to Ingrassia comes after a Politico report on a text chat showed him saying the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell.” Ingrassia also described himself in the chat as having “a Nazi streak” at times.

“He’s not going to pass,” Thune told reporters.

Another Republican, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who serves on the committee with jurisdiction over the nomination, said he doesn’t support Ingrassia’s confirmation, either.

A committee hearing to consider Ingrassia’s nomination is scheduled for Thursday.

Former President Barack Obama will campaign alongside Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill as they run for governor in Virginia and New Jersey.

Their campaigns announced Tuesday that he’ll join them on Nov. 1 in rallies in Norfolk, Va., and Newark, N.J. Election Day is Nov. 4 in both races.

Spanberger, who formerly served in the CIA and Congress, is up against Marine veteran and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in the Virginia governor’s race.

Sherrill, a congresswoman, former federal prosecutor and U.S. Navy fighter pilot, faces Republican former Assembly member Jack Ciattarelli.

Trump endorsed Ciattarelli and said Earle-Sears is “very good.”

Most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive, according to a new AP-NORC poll, as they make decisions about next year’s health coverage and a government shutdown keeps future health costs in limbo for millions.

About 6 in 10 Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about their health costs going up in the next year, the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds — a worry that extends across age groups and includes people with and without health insurance.

Many Americans have other health care anxieties, too: About 4 in 10 Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about not being able to pay for health care or medications they need, not being able to access health care when they need it, or losing or not having health insurance.

▶ Read more about American views on health care

The effects of the shutdown are worsening. Federal workers are set to miss additional paychecks amid total uncertainty about eventually getting paid. Government services like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, and Head Start preschool programs that serve needy families face funding cutoffs. The National Nuclear Security Administration is furloughing 1,400 federal workers. The Federal Aviation Administration has reported air controller shortages and flight delays across the United States.

Still, there has been little urgency in Washington as each side believes the other will eventually cave.

Read more about where both parties stand on the shutdown

Tuesday’s White House meeting will be a chance for Republican senators to engage with the president on the shutdown after he has been more involved in foreign policy and other issues.

The president last week dismissed Democratic demands as “crazy,” adding, “We’re just not going to do it.”

North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven said that Republican senators will talk strategy with the president at Tuesday’s lunch. “He’ll give us his ideas, and we’ll talk about ours,” Hoeven said. “Anything we can do to try to get Democrats to join us” and pass the Republican bill to reopen the government, Hoeven said.

Democrats say they believe Trump has to be more involved for the government to reopen.

“He needs to get off the sidelines, get off the golf course,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. “We know that House and Senate Republicans don’t do anything without getting permission from their boss, Donald J. Trump.”

Details of the “safe third country” agreement Belize announced with the United States on Monday aren't immediately clear, even to the Belize Senate, which must ratify the deal before it can take effect. It comes as the Trump administration pressures countries in Latin America and Africa to help him carry out his immigration crackdown.

The deal appears to be similar to Paraguay's “safe third country” agreement, in which asylum seekers currently in the U.S. could be sent there to pursue protections. A State Department post on X called it “an important milestone in ending illegal immigration, shutting down abuse of our nation’s asylum system, and reinforcing our shared commitment to tackling challenges in our hemisphere together.”

Belize opposition leader Tracy Taegar Panton wrote on social media that the deal "could reshape Belize’s immigration and asylum systems, impose new financial burdens on taxpayers, and raise serious questions about national sovereignty and security.”