Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agreed during a Senate hearing Wednesday that something has to change to make health care affordable. But time is rapidly dwindling to reach a bipartisan fix.

"We've got to have a solution for three weeks from now," said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).

At the end of the year, Biden-era subsidies are set to expire for millions of Americans who receive their health care through the Affordable Care Act.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, without those subsidies 4.2 million more Americans will go without health insurance over the next decade.

Democrats largely want to extend those subsidies.

And some Republican lawmakers support extending the subsidies with changes, but the party in power hasn't agreed on a broader health care plan that could replace the Affordable Care Act.

Some, including Sen. Cassidy, are proposing a plan that would offer Americans more flexibility in how they use their health savings accounts.

RELATED STORY | Scripps News/Talker Research poll: Most Americans fear they cant afford health care

With just weeks before the deadline there's some pessimism that a deal can come together.

SCRIPPS NEWS' NATHANIEL REED: is there a bipartisan middle ground that could be reached with Republicans?

SEN. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO (D-NV): always. But it has to start on both sides, and right now the Republicans are in control.

"I think we'll probably have some vote of some kind on two dueling provisions, but again I'm not very optimistic that the Democrats are willing to reform a broken system," said Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO).

As lawmakers debate a path forward, health care will continue to stay in the spotlight.

A Scripps News/Talker Research poll found one in four Americans say health care is the most important issue facing the country today.

By car and by plane, a record number of Americans are set to travel for Thanksgiving.

After the federal government shutdown snarled air travel, TSA agents are getting paid again and expecting to screen more than 17 million passengers over the next week.

Air traffic control staffing levels are back to normal after absences caused thousands of flight cancellations during the lapse in government funding.

The FAA says it's ready for the holiday rush.

"The airlines, the travel sector in general, airports, TSA, FAA especially, for us this week is our Super Bowl, and I'm here to tell you we've got a great plan," said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.

"We're looking forward to an extraordinarily successful week of travel for the literally tens of millions of Americans that will be flying this week."

With the FAA still in a years-long push to fill a shortage of 3,000 controllers, isolated air traffic delays and cancellations are still possible.

But weather remains the likelier cause of any hiccups at the airport.

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Meanwhile, if you're one of the 73 million Americans who AAA says will drive for the holiday, there's good news at the gas pump.

"Most Americans are going to see gas prices roughly where they were last year, the national average at $3.02 a gallon, about 26 states seeing prices lower than last year," said, Patrick De Haan, Head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy.

Data from Google Maps suggests roads will be busiest Wednesday from 1 to 3 pm, and on Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 3 in the afternoon.

A Senate-passed bill to end the government shutdown will not guarantee any extension of expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies. That could mean higher health care bills for millions of Americans across the country.

Many have recently told the Scripps News Group what their insurance would look like next year without those subsidies.

"If I did not have that it would be over $600 a month which is prohibitively expensive for me," one enrollee said.

"I was expecting my costs to maybe double, maybe go up to $500, maybe at the most $600. But to see it over $1,000 was beyond shocking," said another.

"Going up to paying almost $1200 is going to be very, very difficult," said another.

A vast majority of the 24 million Americans enrolled in the Affordable Care Act marketplace receive subsidies that make their health care cheaper.

Without those, out-of-pocket premiums are projected to increase by 114% next year an average of more than $1,000, according to a KFF analysis.

The fact that the bill to reopen government wouldn't extend these subsidies is infuriating many Democrats who voted or plan to vote against it.

"I'm frustrated for the people of America," said Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ). "The 24 million Americans that are potentially going to see their premiums increase."

RELATED STORY | Scripps News/Talker Research poll: Most Americans fear they cant afford health care

A Scripps News/Talker Research poll found nearly 70% of Americans are concerned about affording their own health insurance.

Congressional Republicans say they want to come up with their own health care plan, but it remains unclear what that would look like.

"I think the Democrats have a lot to answer for. Obamacare has been a disaster," said Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO).

Scripps News' Nathaniel Reed: Are you concerned that they will just voters will just blame the party in power? They won't know the nuance of how their healthcare prices got more expensive.

Sen. Schmitt: That's what elections are for.

Travelers at airports across the U.S. are preparing to be grounded because of the record-long federal government shutdown.

The FAA announced this week it may reduce flights by up to 10% across 40 of the nation's busiest airports potentially causing delays and cancellations in and out of major hubs including Denver, New York, Houston and Chicago.

"When we see pressures building in these 40 markets, we just can't ignore it, and we're not going to wait for a safety problem to truly manifest itself when the early indicators are telling us we can take action today to prevent things from deteriorating," said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.

A 10% cut could affect as many as 1,800 flights, according to one estimate, plus slow down cargo jets.

RELATED STORY | These 40 airports are reportedly among those facing cuts due to government shutdown

Ground stops are already snarling traffic at dozens of airports during the government shutdown. Some air traffic controllers are not showing up to work after not getting a full paycheck since October 1, straining an already understaffed system.

"The stresses, the pressure, the fatigue is setting in. Air traffic controllers are texting, 'I don't even have enough money to put gas in my car to come to work,'" said Nick Daniels, President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

The U.S. saw more than 6,000 delays within, into our out of the country on Thursday, according to flight tracking site FlightAware. At least 190 flights were canceled.

As of Thursday evening, more than 800 flights had been canceled for Friday.

Airlines are now scrambling to review flight schedules, saying the vast majority will run as planned.

Delta and United say long-haul international flights won't be affected at all -- and are also offering refunds for any passengers who'd rather not fly.

Crafting for Evan Cordes-Stone and his daughter, Evie, looks different these days.

The two have been spending afternoons in their Chicago apartment assembling whistles for neighbors to use if they see federal agents carrying out detainment operations.

"I'm a fan of very simple solutions," Cordes-Stone said on Monday while putting together a batch of 600 whistles. "This seemed like a very simple, efficient way to keep the community safe if ICE came in."

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Across the Chicago area, whistles have become a symbol and sound of resistance to the Trump administration's efforts to deport undocumented migrants.

"If you see an ICE agent, just observe them in the area, it's (three short whistles)," Cordes-Smith demonstrated. "If you see an ICE agent actively abducting someone or actively being aggressive towards the community, it's three long whistles."

Cordes-Stone and some local groups have assembled the whistles and passed them out to neighbors, left them in pop-up corner library boxes that normally store used books and given them to small businesses to hand out to customers.

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"We wanted our neighbors to be prepared when it happened," he said.

In September, ICE launched Operation Midway Blitz to target undocumented migrants who it says are "terrorizing Americans" across the state of Illinois.

The Department of Homeland Security says it's arrested over 1,000 undocumented migrants, "including the worst of the worst pedophiles, child abusers, kidnappers, gang members, and armed robbers."

Critics of the Trump administration's operations say they've also detained undocumented migrants with no criminal record.

Cordes-Stone started assembling the whistles in early October. He and his daughter have since distributed more than 1,500 whistles.

"At the time we first started, ICE wasn't visible in our neighborhood yet, but we sensed that it was going to happen soon and we wanted our neighbors to be prepared when it happened," he said.

It happened on Oct. 24. In multiple operations, just blocks from where Cordes-Stone lives in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, Customs and Border Protection agents made arrests.

Abby Nystedt says she was on a call in her home when she heard the sound of whistles.

"I got off the call that I was on and came out of my house and started protesting with other neighbors that don't want to see this type of activity happening in our neighborhood or any neighborhood in our city or in our country."

Neighbors say federal agents detained one man who was part of a construction crew working on a home on Nystedt's street.

Within moments, Nystedt and others formed a crowd around the federal agents protesting their actions. Many blew whistles to alert others of what was happening.

The legality of blowing the whistle

"Certainly, blowing a whistle is your right to do under free speech," said David S. Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor. "On the other hand, once you've done that, you cannot now go and impede that officer from performing a legitimate lawful function."

Neighbors in Chicago say their whistle-blowing is peaceful and say it's their duty to sound the alarm.

"These whistles just kind of enable the community to be aware of what these agents are doing and to come out and watch what they're doing," Cordes-Stone said. "If you as a federal, and or civil servant, don't want the community, don't want the people to see what you're doing, you're probably not doing the right thing."

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment about locals using whistles to protest their operations.