Tag Archive for: government shutdown

JD Vance Believes Trump Admin Will Ensure Troops Get Their Pay During Shutdown

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Vice President JD Vance said he expects the Trump administration to continue paying U.S service members as the government shutdown nears the one-month mark.

Vance told reporters during a visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday that the Department of War (DOW) is working to identify new funding to pay the troops, but acknowledged that the administration could not tap enough money to cover all federal workers missing their salaries due to the shutdown. President Donald Trump previously directed the DOW to reshuffle $8 billion in unused funding to ensure that active-duty military personnel did not miss a paycheck in mid-October.

“We do think that we can continue paying the troops at least for now,” Vance said following a meeting with Senate Republicans. “But we’ve got food stamp benefits that are set to run out in a week. We’re trying to keep as much open as possible. We just need the Democrats to actually help us out.”

The shutdown would end if just five additional Senate Democrats crossed party lines to support a House-passed bipartisan stopgap bill. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and a majority of Democratic lawmakers voted against that measure for the 13th time Tuesday afternoon.

Vance did not explain how the administration planned to cover military personnel’s salaries for another pay period. If the Trump administration were not able to tap unused funding and the government is still closed, it would be the first time in American history that active-duty military personnel have missed a paycheck.

The White House did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Military families have faced weeks of financial stress from the prospect of missing a paycheck during the 28-day shutdown.

The Independent Women group sent letters to top Democratic leaders on Tuesday detailing firsthand accounts of Americans impacted by the funding lapse, the Daily Caller first reported. One letter mentions a Virginia military wife who said her family will not have enough money for food if her husband does not receive his paycheck this Friday.

Hundreds of thousands of federal employees, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and air traffic controllers, are also reporting to work without pay during the shutdown. The American Federation of Government Employees, the nation’s largest federal workers’ union representing roughly 800,000 employees, has urged Democrats to end the shutdown to no avail.

The Pentagon reportedly accepted a $130 million donation to partially cover military personnel’s pay during the funding lapse. Though President Donald Trump said the unnamed donor wished to remain anonymous, The New York Times first reported the benefactor to be Timothy Mellon, heir to the Mellon banking fortune.

Mellon is one of Trump’s largest donors and doled out $50 million in support of his 2024 presidential campaign.

“He doesn’t want publicity,” Trump told the press aboard Air Force One while en route to Malaysia on Friday. “He prefers that his name not be mentioned, which is pretty unusual in the world I come from, and in the world of politics, you want your name mentioned.”

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Reporter

RELATED ARTICLE: Independent Women Urges Dem Leadership To End Government Shutdown

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Democrats Defy Call From Allied Federal Workers Union To End Government Shutdown

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Senate Democrats largely brushed off the pleas of a longtime party ally to end the 28-day government shutdown on Tuesday, rejecting a clean funding measure to reopen the government for the 13th time.

Senators voted 54 to 45 to advance legislation temporarily funding the government through Nov. 21, falling short of the Senate’s 60-vote threshold. The vote tally has remained unchanged since the opening days of the shutdown with the same three Democratic caucus members — Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine — crossing party lines to reopen the government.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to prolong the shutdown comes after the country’s largest federal workers union called on Democrats to vote for the House-passed spending bill to reopen the government without mentioning either party by name.

“Federal workers – your constituents, who serve your constituents – are hurting,” American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) national president Everett Kelley wrote in an open letter on Monday. “As president of the largest federal employee union, I cannot countenance the sight of workers I represent standing in food lines. It should trouble the conscience of every member of Congress and indeed every American.”

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, told reporters that his caucus were taking federal workers’ concerns “seriously.” Hundreds of thousands of federal workers missed their first full paycheck of the shutdown on Friday and more federal employees, including air traffic controllers, did not receive their government salary on Tuesday.

“It has a lot of impact,” Durbin said of AFGE’s call for an end to the shutdown. “They’ve been our friends.”

However, Durbin signaled on Tuesday that Democrats would keep the government shuttered until their various partisan demands are met.

“The increase in health insurance [premiums], I think is going to be devastating for American families,” Durbin told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Senate Republicans have excoriated Democrats for choosing to continue the shutdown despite a bevy of federal food aid and early childhood support programs slated to run out of funding on or before Nov. 1.

“The pain is becoming intolerable for the American people,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso told the DCNF on Tuesday. “I see it at the grocery store, and if that [Women, Infants and Children program] goes away this Saturday, I expect I’m going to hear a lot about it at the grocery store.”

“I don’t know if the Democrats go out into public and talk to people, but the pain is significant already, and the Democrats view that as leverage,” Barrasso continued.

Fetterman, who has emerged as a vocal critic of Schumer’s shutdown strategy, argued that Democrats should listen to the federal workers union’s plea to vote for the bipartisan spending bill and end the shutdown.

“Our servicemembers, federal workers, and Capitol Police are hurting. It’s one of many reasons why I’ve continuously voted to open our government,” Fetterman wrote on X on Monday. “We need to end this chaos.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has continued to hold out hope that a handful of rank-and-file Democrats will buck Schumer to end the shutdown.

“I’m hoping enough [Democrats] come to their senses to give us the five votes that we need to actually get the government reopened again,” Thune told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Monday evening. “But they are playing a game, and these demands that they have … [are] not serious. It’s not realistic, and they know it.

“And all we’re simply trying to do is fund the government at last year’s levels and keep it open until we can get the appropriations process going,” Thune continued.

Andi Shae Napier contributed to this report. 

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Reporter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

ROOKE: Democrats’ Grip On Bargaining Power Dramatically Loosens As End Of Schumer Shutdown Looms

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Outwardly, Democrats claim their resolve to keep the government shutdown has never been stronger. However, cracks are beginning to form within the party, signaling that the shutdown might end soon.

When Democrats initially voted against the Republican House-passed clean continuing resolution (CR), voters in large margins blamed Republicans. This is likely due to a lack of knowledge about how many votes it takes to pass a CR after the Democrats invoked a filibuster on the bill. Without a filibuster motion, Senate Republicans needed a simple majority to pass the CR with 100 senators, so 51 votes. However, now that Democrats have invoked the filibuster, Senate Republicans need 60 votes (three-fifths of the 100 senators) to invoke cloture and end debate, after which a simple majority is still required for final passage.

Republicans hold a slim 53-seat majority in the Senate, enough to pass the CR without a filibuster, but not enough to pass the motion. As it stands, Republicans need seven Democrats to cross the aisle to invoke cloture and end the debate.

Democrats used this sneaky trick, with help from the media running cover, to push the blame onto Republicans and President Donald Trump. Their argument was simple: Republicans control both chambers of Congress plus the White House; therefore, the shutdown rests solely on their shoulders. For a while, their strategy has worked. Polling in early October showed a majority of Americans blamed Republicans for the shutdown. However, the longer the shutdown lasts, the worse it’s getting for Democrats.

While polling shows the Congressional Republicans are still shouldering the majority of the blame, approval ratings for Trump and both parties highlight the need for Democrats to quit stalling and pass the CR.

The most recent Quinnipiac University poll, conducted October 16-20, showed 40 percent of registered voters approved of Trump’s job as president, slightly up from Quinnipiac’s September polling, when 38 percent said the same.

When asked about Republicans, 35 percent gave them positive marks for their job performance, while 59 percent disapproved of Congressional Republicans. Compared to that, just 26 percent of registered voters approved of Congressional Democrats, while 67 percent told the survey they disapproved. Both Democrats and Republicans are up from Quinnipiac’s July 16 poll, where voters gave Democrats a 19 percent approval rating and Republicans a 33 percent approval rating.

Democrats are reportedly talking among themselves about the need to end the stalemate. Former Democratic strategist Dan Turrentine claimed Tuesday that Capitol Hill Democrats have texted him that the shutdown will end soon.

“Even texting with people on Capitol Hill here on the Democratic side, they know that this cannot go on too much longer,” Turrentine said on “The Morning Meeting” show. “There’s no talk of, ‘Yeah, we’ll do this through Thanksgiving.’”

“They’re like, ‘Yeah, we know this is going to have to end pretty soon.’ Again, the question is: who blinks?” he added. “And I do continue to think that by the end of next week, that middle part of the Democratic Party is going to start talking about, ‘How do we get out of this?’”

And while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries insist that their members will not be voting to pass the CR until Republicans fill the clean CR with their demands, the list of Democrats crossing the aisle to join Republicans ticked up Thursday.

Initially, just two Democratic senators, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, had joined Republicans to pass the CR. On Thursday, two more Democratic senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both from Georgia, voted with Republicans to end the government shutdown. However, Republicans lost Cortez Masto on the last vote, with her rejoining the Democratic side to keep the government shutdown.

Republicans have 55 votes (53 Republican senators and 3 Democratic senators) in favor of opening the federal government. The party needs just five more votes to invoke cloture and end the debate, thus allowing a simple majority vote to end the shutdown.

And while Democrats continue to keep the government closed, regular Americans and essential federal workers are going without the assistance or pay they need. It seems for the time being, Democrats are fine using their pain as leverage in order to score political points.

AUTHOR

Mary Rooke

Commentary and Analysis Writer. Follow Mary Rooke on X: @MaryRooke

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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Democrats Skip Town after Nixing a Bill to Pay Federal Workers during Shutdown

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It’s an ironic day to celebrate the “spirit of bipartisanship” in the Senate, but 23 days into a government shutdown, that’s exactly what both parties sat down to do. When Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) decided to host a special chamber-wide lunch (complete with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and blueberry crumble), no one could’ve dreamed that the two sides would be hunkered down on opposite sides of a funding war with no signs of budging. But at least for a couple of hours on Thursday, Democrats and Republicans broke bread — even if they couldn’t break through their differences.

Humble pie obviously wasn’t on the menu, as leaders retreated from the delicious spread to their separate corners, voting down bills that would’ve broken the logjam — or at least made the ordeal easier on cash-strapped staffers, who are working around the clock (thanks in large part to grandstanding filibusters) without paychecks. Asked if Democrats could possibly be talked into realistic negotiations, Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) shook his head. “I’m afraid I don’t,” he told Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on Wednesday’s “Washington Watch.”

Looking ahead to Thursday’s votes, he worried Democrats would, in fact, shoot down the push to compensate some federal workers. After all, Marshall pointed out, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has already rejected the idea of paying our military. “We have Capitol Police up here,” the senator reminded everyone. “My staff is working without paychecks as well.” And yet, Democrats refuse to even make those exceptions. “I don’t know what their off-ramp looks like right now,” Marshall admitted. “It’s a dire predicament for them right now.”

Marshall’s prediction was right. On Thursday, all but three Democrats — Senators Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) — voted to leave federal workers in a lurch. The outcome surprised even House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who had hoped Congress would “do something that makes sense around here for once.” Instead, Schumer’s party was left scrambling to explain why they thought our troops and other government employees should work for free. “I’m fine to support it,” Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said before, ironically, voting no. “I think we need to pay our military, but I want to define and limit it in a way that provides pay to essential workers who serve our public safety and our national defense.”

Ossoff, meanwhile, a surprising outlier in his party (who also happens to be facing a tough reelection next year), explained his break with Democrats by telling reporters, “Military servicemembers, TSA workers, and air traffic controllers are among those who simply must come to work, and they should be paid for that work.”

For now, Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), whose bill failed to find the magical 60 votes it needed to start signing paychecks for certain workers, stood outside the only thing the chamber can agree on — Paul and Peter’s bipartisan lunch — and insisted, “I’m going to work over the weekend, our staffs, figure out how to take my bill, make it acceptable to Democrats. Hopefully, we can pass it early next week. That’s my game plan. Wish me luck.”

But it’ll take a lot more than luck this time around. And although Democrats are publicly stoic, the optics certainly aren’t helping Schumer’s party. While he’s being showered with praise by the fringe Left for rebuffing Republicans’ attempts to sit down and find a solution, Americans are feeling the squeeze. And instead of seeing Democrats spring into action to help them, they see leadership content to sit back and try to score political points. “Every day gets better for us,” the New Yorker bragged to the press. This, while everyday people work without pay, offices are understaffed, and routine benefits trickle out at half speed. November 1 is rapidly approaching, The Daily Signal’s Elizabeth Mitchell told Perkins on “This Week on Capitol Hill,” “which is when SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] funding will run out.” That’s food for low-income people, moms and kids. Surely, that’s “another thing that’s putting pressure on Democrats,” she underscored.

But if families are hurting, Schumer’s party says, that’s just too bad. Democrats have their upcoming elections to think about. “Shutdowns are terrible, and of course, there will be families that are going to suffer,” House Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) said, while claiming they take that problem “very seriously.” “But it is one of the few leverage times we have,” the number two House Democrat explained to Fox News.

“So there you have it,” Breitbart’s John Nolte wrote. “Even though Republicans have made clear that they are willing to negotiate with Democrats on the health care issue… Even though President Trump has said this is a priority… Democrats refuse to open the government. They are openly admitting here [that] they are willing to make American families suffer just to gain leverage.”

And exactly what leverage have they gained? While Democrats have a slight edge among voters in the blame game, it’s nothing compared to the shellacking Republicans took for turning off the government’s lights in 2018. And Donald Trump’s approval rating has actually climbed as a result. According to Reuters/Ipsos, Trump’s approval is at 42% — up two from a couple of weeks ago.

Speaking of the president, he knows exactly what’s fueling this shutdown: Schumer’s insecurity. “He’s shot,” Trump stressed Wednesday. “This poor guy. I feel sorry for him. I’ve known him for a long time, but I think he’s mentally gone. He’s been beat[en] up by young radical lunatics. And I think that Chuck Schumer is — he’s gonzo. I really do.” Referring to the threats from his extreme flank, the president predicted that the minority leader wouldn’t run again. “It shows that he’s losing in every poll. … I’m just giving you the facts. I think Chuck is probably finished.”

The New Yorker’s colleague, Senator Jon Husted (R-Ohio), can’t help but notice that Schumer’s grip on power is slipping. “I think we all know that Chuck Schumer is feeling the pressure of younger Democrats who think he’s a failure as a leader. And so, he’s trying to prove to his political left base that he can fight back against President Trump,” the Ohioan noticed. “But fighting back against President Trump is at the expense of what’s best for the American people in this case,” he told Perkins on Thursday’s “Washington Watch.” “And I think ultimately, this is a terrible thing for everyone. But it just proves that they’re not interested in being serious about trying to serve the American people.”

“Remember,” Husted paused, “this is a clean CR that we’re asking them to vote for — meaning that there [are] no politics in it, no games. We’re spending at Biden-era levels in these agencies. So why should they be against that? And it would only create funding through November the 21st, at which time we will have to go through this again. So even if you vote for the CR and you get people funded, then do that, and then we’ll keep negotiating about whatever you want.” Until then, Husted said, “Chuck Schumer is going to have to decide that he cares about the American people and not just his own political fortunes.”

In the meantime, senators are headed home without a solution — again. Obviously, it’ll take a lot more prayers like Senate Chaplain Barry Black’s to bring Democrats to the table. “We continue our importunity for the ending of this shutdown,” he prayed, “particularly praying for our Capitol Police and the many others who are serving without monetary compensation. We pray also for those who are not considered essential workers. Lord, reward them all.”

If God needs a shortcut, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said, “I have great news. The clean CR would pay everyone. We just need five more Democrats to support it.”

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Dems’ Shutdown Strategy Benefits Health Insurance Firms That Give Millions in Campaign Contributions

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Congressional Democrats claim their refusal to end the government shutdown unless President Donald Trump and Capitol Hill Republicans agree to make permanent Obamacare’s temporary COVID-related tax credits is intended to protect the health care coverage of millions of low and middle-income Americans.

But an analysis by The Washington Stand of campaign contributions data compiled by OpenSecrets.org suggests such solid-wall support for the shutdown also shields a health care insurance industry that gives hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions to Democratic incumbents, challengers, committees, and PACs.

The temporary COVID-related tax credits are hugely important sources of revenues for many of the largest health care insurers that are active in the Obamacare segment, according to Economic Policy Innovation Center Researcher Gudai Bulgac. And the tax credits are significant incentives for fraudulent enrollment.

“The Biden COVID Credits are paid directly to health insurance companies from the U.S. Treasury. Since the funds do not go to individuals, millions of people have been fraudulently enrolled and often do not even know that they have been signed up. About 40 percent of people who are fully subsidized by Biden’s COVID Credits did not make a single claim for a medical procedure or medication in 2024,” Bulgac reported earlier this month.

“This allows the insurance companies to collect thousands of dollars in credits from the government per enrollee while incurring little to no cost. An estimated $27 billion in these improper payments to insurance companies were made in 2025 alone as many insurance companies jumped to take advantage of these credits,” Bulgac continued.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), for example, is viewed as the Democrats’ chief shutdown strategist. The New York Democrat’s Impact leadership PAC received $271,284 in contributions from Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group and the St. Louis-based Centene, two of the 10 biggest health care insurance firms that depend on Obamacare for significant portions of their annual revenue.

The Schumer PAC received an additional $78,024 from Indianapolis-based Elevance, which was formerly known as Anthem, as well as $49,024 from Rhode Island-based CVS Health. That brings the Schumer PAC’s total haul for the period 2019 to 2024 to $398,332. Each of these four firms are among the 10 biggest health care insurance firms in the Obamacare universe, as ranked by Venteur.

UnitedHealth Group is the biggest health care insurance firm in Obamacare, and its political contributions to Democrats far exceed those to Republicans. In the 2024 election cycle, $988,411, or nearly 59% of all the firm’s donations went to Democrats.

Centene gave $38.88 million to Democratic Senate contenders during the 2018-2024 period, compared to $19.16 million to GOP Senate candidates. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris was the recipient of Centene’s biggest individual contribution, at $225,262 out of a total of $634,223 to six Democrats during the 2024 campaign cycle. The Centene total to the four GOP recipients in the firm’s top 10 came to $348,478, slightly more than half the Democrat total.

Bulgac explains another key factor in Centene’s significance in the behind-the-scenes shutdown influences.

“Centene is the largest Obamacare insurer by market share,” he noted. “Their Obamacare membership nearly doubled from 3.3 million enrollees in 2023 to 5.9 million in 2025. This comprises 21 percent of their total membership of 28 million, with their Medicaid membership making up an additional 12.8 million enrollees. In their 2024 10-K filing for their investors, Centene stated that ‘[r]evenues from CMS are significant to the Marketplace segment.’ In other words, Centene is heavily reliant on payments from the federal government to sustain their business.”

Molina, which ranks ninth in the top 10 of Obamacare insurers, further illustrates the importance of the temporary COVID-related subsidies, Bulgac writes. “Molina also noted in their 10-K that they ‘expect [their] Marketplace enrollment to increase by almost 50 percent in 2025, to a total of 580,000 members by the end of the year … This would represent an estimated Marketplace premium revenue increase of approximately 60 percent in 2025, while continuing to maintain [their] target margins.’”

A more balanced picture is seen with CVS Health political contributions. Republican recipients during the 2024 cycle, led by the Congressional Leadership Fund’s $575,000, received $832,805, while Democrats got $551,352. Among Senate candidates, Democrats in the 2024 cycle received $18.99 million, while Republicans got $28.53 million from CVS Health.

Curiously in the context of the intense partisan deadlock between Senate Republicans and Democrats that occasioned the present shutdown, the excessive influence of health care insurance firms on American politics is a bipartisan concern, according to the Pew Research Center.

“Of the eight groups and institutions we asked about in this survey — such as Congress, the general public and federal courts — health insurance companies are the one that a majority of Americans agree has too much sway in health policy. Just 9 percent say they have about the right amount of influence, and an equal share say they don’t have enough,” Pew reported in a July 10 survey analysis.

“Although politics and health policy are often deeply entangled, this dim opinion of health insurance companies’ influence is an area of notable partisan agreement. Roughly equal shares of Democrats (including those who lean to the Democratic Party) and Republicans (and GOP leaners) express this view. Similar shares of Democrats and Republicans also say Congress has too much influence on health policy, although this view is less widely held than it is for health insurance companies,” Pew said.

Among Republicans, 71% said health care insurers have too much influence of federal health policy, while 69% of Democrats said the same thing.

It is important to understand that the Obamacare temporary subsidies that Democrats backed in 2021 and now demand be made permanent were effective in expanding enrollment by lower and middle-income families because the government made premiums artificially cheap.

“Since enhanced subsidies began in 2021, the market enrollment has grown tremendously, rising from 11 million people in 2020 to 25 million today. Again, Democrats and Republicans interpret this growth in opposite ways. Democrats see it as a sign of success, whereas Republicans are concerned about waste and over-use,” states Mark Shepherd, Harvard Kennedy School associate professor of public policy.

In other words, more customers paying the government subsidized premiums keeps more revenue flowing into the health care insurers’ coffers, while terminating those subsidies could dramatically reduce such revenues for the companies.

AUTHOR

Mark Tapscott

Mark Tapscott is senior congressional analyst at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Hakeem Jeffries Calls Bill To Pay Troops During Shutdown ‘Political Ploy’

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Congressional Democrats are coming out hard against Republican-led efforts to alleviate the worst impacts of the government shutdown.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Monday that he opposed standalone legislation to pay troops and federal employees reporting to work during the funding lapse. Democratic lawmakers are showing few signs of ending the 20-day long shutdown despite millions of federal employees facing mounting financial stress due to the prospect of missing their next paycheck.

“It appears to be more like a political ploy giving Donald Trump discretion over which employees should be compensated and which employees should not be compensated,” Jeffries said during a press conference in the U.S. Capitol. “All employees should be compensated, and that will happen when we reopen the government.”

Though President Donald Trump tapped unused Pentagon funds to avert a pay lapse for U.S. service members, they are still at risk of missing their salary during the next pay period. Federal employees are slated to miss their first full paycheck on Friday due to the funding lapse.

The Senate bill would pay the cohort of federal employees who are reporting to work during the shutdown.

Jeffries invoked healthcare when arguing why he could not support the legislation to pay military personnel and some federal workers. Democrats have consistently demanded that Republicans attach unrelated healthcare provisions amounting to more than $1 trillion to a government funding measure in exchange for their support.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has declared Democrats’ demands to be a nonstarter, but has offered them a vote on extending COVID-era Obamacare subsidies after they reopen the government.

Jeffries and Schumer, however, have balked at that overture to end the shutdown.

Jeffries notably led nearly all House Democrats in voting against a clean funding measure to avert a shutdown in September. The minority leader has since encouraged his Senate Democratic counterparts to keep the government shuttered until their demands are met as the shutdown drags on to its fourth week.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday that he would call his chamber back into session to consider the funding measure in the event it passes the Senate. Republicans will need seven Democrats to cross party lines in order to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster.

The speaker also slammed Democrats for digging in against efforts to fund the government despite the current funding lapse holding the title as the longest full shutdown in U.S. history. A 35-day shutdown during President Donald Trump’s first term did not impact every government agency because Congress had passed five out of the 12 appropriations bills.

“It is the most costly, most selfish, most dangerous political stunt in the history of the United States Congress,” Johnson said Monday.

Andi Shae Napier contributed to this report.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Reporter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Hakeem Jeffries Goes On Angry Rant About Karoline Leavitt After She Dissed Democrats Over Shutdown

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday of being “demented” and “ignorant” after she criticized the Democratic Party’s “main constituency.”

Democrats have raged at Leavitt for stating on Thursday that the Democratic Party is made up of “Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals” as she criticized them for keeping the government shut down. Jeffries also told reporters that Leavitt was a “stone-cold liar” and shifted blame toward Republicans and the White House for the shutdown.

“And then you’ve got Karoline Leavitt, who’s sick. She’s out of control,” Jeffries said. “And I’m not sure whether she’s just demented or ignorant, stone-cold liar or all of the above. But the notion that an official White House spokesperson would say that the Democratic Party consists of terrorists, violent criminals and undocumented immigrants. This makes no sense that this is what the American people are getting from the Trump administration in the middle of a shutdown. So their actions continue to speak for themselves which is why they’re on the wrong side of public sentiment.” 

WATCH:

Almost all of the Democrats voted to shut the government down on Oct. 1 after the Republicans attempted to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that did not include an extension of Biden-era subsidies in the Affordable Care Act. Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and independent Maine Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, voted to keep the government open.

Democrats had previously voted for the same CR in past sessions. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who voted for the shutdown, previously said in September 2024 that a shutdown would make the average American “suffer most,” including those on Social Security.

President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance said that Schumer voted to shut the government down because he is afraid of Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez launching a primary challenge against him. Ocasio-Cortez and Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders lashed out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during a Wednesday town hall for asking if Ocasio-Cortez is considering running for his seat.

AUTHOR

Nicole Silverio

Media Reporter

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White House Prepares for Extended Shutdown as Dems Refuse to Yield on Obamacare Subsidies

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As the federal government shutdown stretches into its 14th day, reports from Capitol Hill and the White House suggest that the impasse won’t end anytime soon, with the Trump administration refusing to budge on the Democrats’ demands of expanding COVID-era Obamacare subsidies and other spending by $1.5 trillion.

According to a report from Punchbowl News, the Trump administration appears to be finding new sources of federal dollars in order to fund critical functions such as paying federal law enforcement officers and continuing to serve the over six million Americans who rely on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (known as WIC). The hundreds of millions of dollars that will be needed will reportedly come from Section 32 tariff revenue.

One Office of Management and Budget (OMB) official told Punchbowl that the agency is “making every preparation to batten down the hatches and ride out the Democrats’ intransigence. Pay the troops, pay law enforcement, continue the RIFs [reduction in force], and wait.”

During “This Week on Capitol Hill” over the weekend, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) underscored just how painful the shutdown is for civilian federal employees and military servicemembers due to the Democrats’ refusal to sign on to a short-term continuing resolution (CR) that would continue Biden-era spending levels.

“[A]s of today, they have now voted eight times to keep the government closed,” he pointed out. “Now, who’s going to be hurt? Not just vital services, not just national parks and that kind of stuff. I mean, you’re talking about two million federal employees, civilian employees of the government who will not get a paycheck. … We have 1.3 million active duty servicemembers, men and women in uniform, who will not be paid. They’re going to miss a paycheck. Real hardship for families who live paycheck to paycheck. This is not a game.”

Johnson went on to express surprise over the Democrats’ refusal to sign on to a “clean” CR — one that did not contain any added Republican spending priorities — for the first time in U.S. history.

“I just assumed that [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer [D-N.Y.] and the Democrats would do what they’ve done every year,” he acknowledged. “I mean, they voted 13 times for CRs during the Biden administration. And when we were in the minority party, we never shut the government down over something like that because we knew real Americans would be hurt, but they seem not to care. You’ve seen what Chuck Schumer said two days ago, … ‘Every day the government is closed is better for us.’ It is stunning to me that they say these things out loud. He tried to clean [it] up … but that tells you what they really think. He’s getting accolades from the far Left and that is 100% what all this was about.”

As Johnson further observed, the Democrats are attempting to extort increased funding for a government program that failed to deliver on its promises.

“[N]ever forget when the government subsidizes something, it means it’s not working,” he noted. “Obamacare did not achieve what they promised everyone that it would. It was supposed to bring down the cost of care. It’s done the opposite. Premiums [have] gone up 60% since Obamacare became law in 2010. Everybody knows it’s not working, so now they want to prop it up with these subsidies, just as they did, for example, with electric vehicle mandates. Nobody wanted to buy electric cars, so they said, ‘We’ll pay you. The government will pay you $7,500 if you do it.’ That means it’s not working.”

Not only are Obamacare subsidies failing to improve health insurance premiums, experts are also emphasizing that the subsidies are forcing taxpayers to pay for highly controversial procedures like abortion and gender transitions.

“Although the Schumer shutdown is hitting many hard-working federal employees who deserve better treatment, it’s encouraging to hear that the administration is making preparation to meet the Democrats’ unprecedented intransigence with a stubborn refusal to be bullied,” Quena González, Family Research Council’s senior director of Government Affairs, told The Washington Stand. “There is too much at stake in this debate to fold. Family Research Council is carefully tracking the Democrats’ central demand — to make the COVID-era subsidies for the ‘Affordable’ Care Act permanent — because those subsidies force taxpayers to pay for gender transitions and abortion.”

“Republicans are right to demand that the subsidies be reformed and ended; taxpayers should not be forced to pay for abortions or gender transition procedures,” González underscored. “It is critical that Americans weigh in with Congress and tell their elected officials not to spend their taxpayer dollars on gender transition procedures or abortion.”

As to the underlying reasons why Chuck Schumer is backing his party into a corner, Johnson argued that it can largely be attributed to the highly influential leftist movement within the Democratic Party. “There’s a rising Marxist movement in the Democratic Party right now. They’re about to elect a mayor of New York City. … Chuck Schumer serves from the state of New York, and he’s terrified he’s going to get a challenge in his next Senate reelect. That is all this is about.”

Johnson went on to observe that the picture of how long the shutdown will go on will likely become clearer after this weekend’s “No Kings” rally in Washington, D.C.

“We call it the ‘Hate America Rally,’ because it will be a collection of the pro-Hamas wing and the socialist[s] and the Marxist[s] and all the rest,” he described. “[T]hey’re coming to the National Mall on October 18th. Chuck Schumer is terrified of that group, and it is being whispered around here that there’s no way he could open the government before that is finished.”

AUTHOR

Dan Hart

Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: Democrats block legislation to pay troops during shutdown

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permision. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Multiple Failures of Obamacare are the Unspoken Skunk for Dems in the Shutdown Showdown

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) chose extending “temporary” Obamacare COVID pandemic tax credits as their hill to die on in the October 2025 government shutdown showdown with President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.

But the ugly reality behind Democrats’ hyperbolic rhetoric predicting soaring monthly premiums and millions of Americans losing coverage is the fact Obamacare has been a disaster for the American health care system, according to multiple voices across the political spectrum. Thus, whether they realize it or not, Schumer and Jeffries are now stuck holding the skunk.

Least expected to be among those critical voices was an October 5 missive from the editorial board of The Washington Post — long the hometown voice of the Government Party in American politics, but more recently experiencing a Jeff Bezos-directed slow-motion re-introduction to reality.

“The real problem is that the Affordable Care Act [Obamacare] was never actually affordable. President Barack Obama’s signature achievement allowed people to buy insurance on marketplaces with subsidies based on their income. The architects of the program assumed that risk pools would be bigger than they turned out to be. As a result, policies cost more than expected,” the Post editorial board wrote.

But that fundamental failure underlying Obamacare was not all on the Post editors’ minds that day, as they continued:

“To salvage the program, Democrats expanded subsidies to entice more people to buy plans. Many poor families wound up getting insurance for free, and the rolls grew: 24 million people now have coverage through the ACA exchanges. People earning more than 400 percent of the poverty line — about $129,000 for a family of four — would see their subsidies go away.

“Democrats picked this fight because they see health care as a winning issue. A Post poll, conducted on the first day of the shutdown, found that 71 percent of Americans say federal insurance subsidies should be extended while 29 percent say they should end as scheduled. Just as significantly, the question divides Republicans: 38 percent support extending the subsidies, and 62 percent want them to end.”

And then, in a statement that was even less expected than the admission of Obamacare’s “real problem,” came this paragraph:

“This is how entitlement programs work. Once you habituate people to some generous government handout, they grow dependent on it. And it becomes politically perilous, if not impossible, to fully claw it back. Conservatives fought so hard to stop Obamacare 15 years ago because they anticipated fights like this one.”

Whether the Post editors realized it or not, with that paragraph, they endorsed the Right’s fundamental critique of the Welfare State since its advent in Bismarck’s Germany in the late 1800s. Somewhere, a stunned former President Ronald Reagan, who often declared federal programs to be “the closest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this Earth,” is declaring his amazement that “they finally get it.”

Even if Democrats succeed through the shutdown in salvaging some sort of interim preservation of the “temporary” Obamacare tax credit subsidies, think tankers on the Right point to a host of additional profoundly serious flaws in the government health care system.

“Rarely in public policy have we witnessed such a radical disparity between high-profile promises and real-world performance. Obama said that his signature bill would bend the health care cost curve downward. Instead, aggregate health care spending has soared,” Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow Robert Moffit told The Washington Stand.

Moffit spent eight years as a senior Reagan administration political appointee handling congressional relations at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where he learned valuable insider lessons about the federal workforce and the government health care system. At Heritage, Moffit became one of the most widely respected and quoted conservative health care experts.

“Recall that Obama said that the average family would see a $2,500 reduction in their yearly health costs, but instead exchange premiums exploded and family deductible increases were crazy. While Obama claimed his bill would create robust choice and competition in the individual markets, in fact, choice and competition sharply declined, leaving many families at the mercy of a monopoly or a duopoly,” Moffit continued.

“Worse, most Obamacare plans had narrow networks, limiting patient access to preferred doctors, hospitals, and specialists. Meanwhile, taxpayers have been forced to pay for Obama’s massive failure in health care cost control through ever higher health insurance subsidies, now reaching families with six figure incomes, while simultaneously funding a massive expansion of Medicaid, a poorly performing welfare program,” he said.

Economic Policy Innovation Center Budget Policy Director Matthew Dickerson offered additional insights into the problems ravaging Obamacare, telling TWS that “the Biden COVID tax credits are an attempt to paper-over the failures of Obamacare to deliver affordable health care that people want to purchase.”

Dickerson also pointed out that “giving hundreds of billions in subsidies to big insurance companies may shift costs to the taxpayers, but it won’t solve the problems caused by Obamacare. Premiums would still increase for most families, according to the filings from the insurance companies.”

He continued, “The Biden COVID Credits were always meant to be temporary, based on the partisan law signed by President Biden. When the extra subsidies paid to insurance companies expire, the taxpayers will still pay for more than 80% of the premium costs for a typical enrollee and an even greater share for low-income families.”

Another devastating analysis of Obamacare’s multiple failures comes from The Paragon Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank headed by former White House Special Assistant for Economic Policy under Trump Brian Blase. In an analysis entitled “The Falsehoods of Obamacare,” the Paragon study pointed to multiple unfulfilled promises from the program.

One of those promises was that the program would help save many lives that would otherwise be lost due to inadequate access to health care, but, according to Paragon, “life expectancy fell three consecutive years for the first time in nearly 100 years” following Obamacare’s implementation.

Another such failed promise spotlighted by Paragon was that Obamacare would make shopping for health care insurance easy. In fact, “the [Obamacare] portal was one of the most notoriously unreliable websites ever launched.”

Yet another failed promise, according to Paragon, was the claim Obamacare would boost the individual coverage field into a competitive, robust, growing marketplace. The actual result has been “enrollment was less than half of expectations, with higher premiums and deductibles and more restrictive provider networks than expected through 2020.” Things are little improved in this respect in 2025.

Finally, in perhaps the best-known failed Obamacare promise that “if you like your plan, you can keep it and if you like your doctor, you can keep him or her as well.” The reality has proven to be that “millions of people had their plans canceled and lost access to their doctors.”

AUTHOR

Mark Tapscott

Mark Tapscott is senior congressional analyst at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Federal Layoffs Begin as Government Shutdown Enters Day 10

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In a pair of votes Thursday night, the U.S. Senate failed for the eighth time to end the government shutdown, which reached 10 days on Friday. Republicans have backed a clean continuing resolution (CR), while Democrats demand a major increase in health care spending, but neither side seems close to budging from their position. On Friday, the Trump administration also advanced a hitherto unused gambit that it hopes can break through the sea ice.

As he has done every work day of the shutdown, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) scheduled votes Thursday night on two proposals to end the shutdown. The Democratic proposal, a continuing resolution through October 31 with $1.5 trillion in health care and other spending, failed (47-50) to gain any Republican votes. The Republican proposal, a “clean” CR through November 21, failed (54-45) to break the filibuster.

These votes occurred mostly on party lines. Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) joined Republicans in voting for the measure, while Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Angus King (I-Maine) did not. Masto and King, who caucus with Democrats, voted with Republicans on five previous votes. Otherwise, the Senate has seen no aisle-crossing nor — more to the point — no movement towards a resolution.

On Friday, the White House attempted to introduce this movement towards resolution by laying off federal workers. “The RIFs [Reductions in Force] have begun,” tweeted the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Russ Vought tweeted.

The OPM has broad discretion over the federal workforce during a government shutdown. It has traditionally used this discretion to determine which federal workers would be furloughed, and which would have to remain at their posts without pay. This is the first time a presidential administration has attempted to lay off staff during a government shutdown.

According to initial media reports, these layoffs affected at least the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Treasury. “All HHS employees receiving reduction-in-force notices were designated non-essential by their respective divisions,” announced HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon. “HHS continues to close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda.”

The White House will not proceed with layoffs uncontested, however. Two unions, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the AFL-CIO have both promised lawsuits to block the action.

At least before the layoff announcement, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) thought — or said he thought — all the cards were coming up aces for his Democratic conference. “Every day gets better for us,” Schumer beamed to Punchbowl reporters in a Wednesday interview. “Every time they try something, it doesn’t quite work. Even the threat of shutting things — ‘We’re gonna close this, we’re gonna close that.’ It’s [reflecting] at least as negative on them as it is on us. I think more so on them.”

On the surface, Schumer is putting on a bold face, claiming that Democrats have the better hand, so why would they fold?

Recall for a moment that the only reason this shutdown happened is that, the last time Schumer voted to keep the government open, he took withering fire from his far-left base in New York, where he is vulnerable to a primary challenge from a rising progressive darling like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.). So, this time, Schumer chose to lead his party into almost certain defeat simply to “fight Trump.” The reality is that this political dynamic — the real cause of the shutdown — remains unchanged, so why would Schumer change course now?

Some rogue Republicans have begun to echo the Democrats’ talking points. “I’m actually putting the blame on the Speaker and Leader Thune in the Senate,” insisted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).

One possible explanation for Greene’s position has nothing to do with the shutdown per se. Greene is driving a discharge petition, mostly supported by Democrats, that would force the administration to turn over information on Jeffrey Epstein. The shutdown has delayed the House swearing in newly elected Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who would likely provide the last signature needed to force a floor vote on that petition.

Greene tried to justify her assigning blame to Republican leadership, “We control the House. We control the Senate. We have the White House.” In reality, however, these facts undercut her position; Republicans are united in their desire to fund the government, and the only thing preventing them from doing so is Senate Democrats, who have withheld the votes necessary to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.

Schumer claims to have the better hand, but that is, by definition, a bluff coming from the leader of the minority party. “If Democrats would only agree, we could reopen the government in just a few hours,” protested Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

Republicans, for their part, have underscored Schumer’s words as a fair characterization of his position. “This notion that somehow, in this political game, the Democrats believe, according to their leader, that ‘every day gets better for us’ — that is not the experience of the American people,” declared Thune.

“Workers are missing paychecks; travelers are missing flights; businesses are struggling; military families are forced to rely on food pantries; but to Chuck Schumer that means ‘every day gets better,’” added White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson. “No matter what Chuck Schumer thinks, Americans struggling is not good and the Democrats must stop inflicting this pain on them and reopen the government now.”

Behind the scenes, “the president is working on ways that he may have as well to ensure that troops are paid,” revealed House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). “The Republican Party stands for paying the troops. The Democrats are the ones that are demonstrating over and over and over — now eight times — that you don’t want troops to be paid.”

Paychecks for federal employees are not the only significant issue languishing in limbo during this shutdown. With each passing day, Congress also loses valuable time it could be using to fund the government through regular order — which was the whole point of a short-term CR in the first place. The Democratic minority in the Senate shows no sign yet of surrender, but we shall soon see what leverage the White House is able to exert through federal layoffs.

AUTHOR

Joshua Arnold

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Democrat: The Party of the Shutdown, by the Shutdown and for the Shutdown

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A senior Democratic aide said they will not reopen the government short of “planes falling out of the sky,” as long as public perception is in their favor, according to CNN. 

WATCH: This video from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is playing in airports across the country

TORRE in a column titled US Democrats won’t end shutdown unless ‘planes fall out of the sky’ – CNN. reports:

Over 9,000 flights have already been canceled or delayed due to a shortage of air traffic controllers across the country

Democrats have said they will not agree to end the US government shutdown unless Republicans meet their demands, with one senior aide telling CNN it would take an airline catastrophe for the party to back down.

The federal government shut down on October 1 after Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on a spending bill in the Senate. The impasse has left hundreds of thousands of federal employees furloughed or working without pay as the standoff enters its second week.

The shutdown has also disrupted air travel across the country. According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data, more than 9,000 flights have been delayed or canceled amid a shortage of air traffic controllers.

Air traffic controllers are classified as essential workers and must continue working without pay, which has led to widespread absences and temporary closures at several major airports.

Nevertheless, Democratic leaders have told CNN they will hold their position until Republicans agree to extend Affordable Care Act healthcare subsidies. One anonymous senior Democratic aide told the outlet that as long as public perception remains in their favor, the party “will not concede short of planes falling out of the sky” – a remark that has drawn widespread criticism.

Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has also condemned Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for reportedly saying that “every day of the shutdown makes it better for us,” accusing the Democrat of forcing Americans to suffer for political gain.

Schumer has accused the Republicans of “risking America’s healthcare” and refusing to negotiate in good faith.

Continue reading.

The Party of the Shutdown, by the Shutdown and for the Shutdown

Key Impacts of the 2025 Government Shutdown:

  1. Essential Services: Critical services like air traffic control, Social Security, and veterans’ healthcare will continue, but many federal agencies are operating with reduced staff. For instance, the CDC, NIH, and FDA will have fewer personnel available to monitor health issues and conduct inspections, potentially impacting public health and safety.
  2. Public Services: National parks remain open but with minimal staffing, leading to fewer services for visitors, such as trail maintenance and ranger programs. Passport and visa processing will slow down, affecting international travel plans. 
  3. Economic Consequences: The shutdown could cost the economy billions, particularly affecting local economies where federal workers reside. While federal employees typically receive back pay after a shutdown, contractors and businesses reliant on government contracts may not receive compensation, leading to broader economic repercussions. 
  4. Political Context: The shutdown stems from a partisan dispute over healthcare funding, with Democrats advocating for the extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies, while Republicans seek to separate these discussions from government funding. This political stalemate has led to the current funding impasse. 

Conclusion

The ongoing government shutdown in 2025 is having widespread effects on federal operations, employee livelihoods, and public services.

The longer the shutdown persists, the more pronounced these impacts will become.

Affecting not only government functions but also the daily lives of citizens and the overall economy.

The 2026 midterm elections will be held on November 3, 2026.

Remember that the Republican Party is of the people, by the people and for the people.

2025 . All rights reserved.

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Trump Admin Begins Wide Spread Layoffs In Response To Government Shutdown

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Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought announced Friday that the administration has begun mass layoffs as the government shutdown continues another day.

Vought issued a memo ahead of the government shutdown to federal agencies on Sept. 24 telling them to prepare for large-scale layoffs and cuts to program via Reduction-in-Force (RIF) measures. Vought posted Friday on X that the layoffs had started.

“The RIFs have begun,” Vought wrote.

The government officially shut down on Oct. 1 after Senate Democrats voted against a clean continuing resolution and demanded increased funding for Medicaid, including Affordable Care Act subsidies and reimbursements on for spending from states on illegal immigrants.

After the shutdown, Trump and Vought met last week to discuss which federal agencies could be downsized. The day the shutdown began, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Caller that layoffs were “imminent.” She later estimated that thousands would be let go.

On Tuesday, Trump said he would have a clearer idea of how many jobs would be cut in four or five days if the shutdown dragged on. The president also told reporters on Tuesday that he had identified programs he wanted to eliminate as punishment for the shutdown.

“How many permanent jobs are you talking about eliminating?” a reporter asked Trump.

“I’ll be able to tell you that in four or five days. If this keeps going on, it’ll be substantial, and a lot of those jobs will never come back,” Trump responded. “You’re going to have a lot closer to a balanced budget.”

AUTHOR

Reagan Reese

White House Correspondent

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Schumer’s Treasonous Legacy

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Chuck Schumer represents the lowest point of American political corruption — the worst senator our country has ever faced, a malicious traitor hiding behind a leader’s facade while betraying the American people through every sneaky move. This corrupt relic, rooted in Washington for nearly fifty years, epitomizes everything corrupt about our Republic: a spineless hypocrite who abandons the working class, kowtows to dark money bosses, and causes chaos among the very citizens he claims to serve. Schumer isn’t merely ineffective; he’s a calculated enemy of the people, a puppet of elite interests who thrives on division, lies, and chaos. His record drips with betrayal, showing clearly that he deserves not a Senate seat but a prison cell in the deepest dungeon of justice.

Schumer’s hypocrisy surges like a toxic flood, drowning any pretense of integrity. This snake once railed against illegal immigration in 1993, thundering that asylum abuses were shattering our borders and that policies were “wide open to abuse.” He demanded ironclad reforms, warning that unchecked influxes would cripple America. Fast-forward to today, and Schumer flips like a gutless weasel, championing open borders that flood our streets with crime, drugs, and economic ruin — all while his Wall Street masters profit from cheap labor. This isn’t evolution; it’s outright treason against the American worker. Schumer’s flip-flops extend to the filibuster, where he once defended it as sacrosanct but now shreds it when it suits his power grabs. And don’t forget his Supreme Court rants: he accused Republicans of “the absolute height of hypocrisy” for filling vacancies, yet he orchestrated the same partisan warfare when it benefited Democrats. Schumer’s words are weapons of mass deception, fired only to protect his throne while the people bleed.

His leadership? A catastrophic farce that exposes him as the weakest link in a chain of cowards. Schumer caves to Democrat radicals, pushing bills that bankrupt families and empower globalists, leaving Main Street to rot. In March 2025, he rammed through a funding disaster that gutted protections for the vulnerable, all to keep his party’s machine humming. Progressives rightly branded it a “huge slap in the face,” a betrayal that fueled shutdown threats and left families in peril. Schumer’s excuse? He claims Republicans are “vicious nihilists” too extreme to negotiate with, yet he rolls over like a beaten dog instead of fighting tooth and nail. This isn’t a strategy; it’s surrender. He misreads every room, fails to arm-twist allies, and leaves Democrats looking like fools. Even his own candidates abandon him, refusing to back his leadership in key races because they see the rot: a man who prioritizes his ego over victory. Schumer isn’t leading; he’s looting the Senate’s soul, turning it into a graveyard of broken promises.

Now, Schumer has escalated his war on the people by forcing a government shutdown set to slam shut at midnight on October 1, 2025, plunging millions into uncertainty over jobs, services, and security. Demanding “real negotiation” while dismissing Republican-led bills as “partisan,” he pushes for ACA subsidy extensions at the cost of essential funding, holding America hostage to his party’s priorities. In a tense White House clash with President Trump, Schumer lectured on health care fallout, claiming the president ignored realities — yet walked away with nothing, his distrust of GOP offers ensuring a stalemate that hurts workers, veterans, and families. This shutdown isn’t a strategy; it’s sabotage, as Schumer bets on chaos to smear Republicans, proving once again his contempt for the public good.

Corruption courses through Schumer’s veins like poison. A career parasite with zero private-sector experience, he’s spent 45 years sucking the lifeblood from taxpayers while enriching himself and his cronies. His top donors? Wall Street vultures, like Blackstone, buy his loyalty to crush the middle class. Schumer works not for the people but for dark money empires, shutting down governments when it suits his games but ensuring his paycheck rolls in. He and Hakeem Jeffries prioritize self-enrichment over American interests, defunding food programs for women and children while police go unpaid – all in the name of political theater. This demon blocks U.S. attorney confirmations out of spite, reeks of double standards on impeachments, and even threatens Supreme Court justices with mob-like warnings: “You will pay the price.” Schumer’s malignant mannerisms mark him as the enemy within, a psycho-political beast infiltrating our institutions to dismantle them from the inside.

Look at his scandals – they pile up like corpses in a war zone. Schumer decries misinformation to silence critics like Tucker Carlson but spreads lies himself, demanding firings for dissent. On Israel, his silence amid Democratic disgrace exposes his gutless core. Schumer accuses others of undermining democracy while hypocritically crying foul over the rightful indictment of Comey, claiming no faith in the judicial system under Trump, and all the while accusing Republicans of eroding democratic norms. He’s a human waste, a straight-up corrupt who places party over nation, betraying America at every turn. In rankings of congressional scum, he tops the list of the worst, alongside warmongers and sellouts.

Schumer’s reign of terror must come to an end now. This geriatric crank, this poster child for everything vile in politics, has declared war on the American people through his endless betrayals. We the people see through his contempt, his sky-is-falling b—–t, his games with our lives. Shut down the government if that’s what it takes to purge this plague – America demands a reset, starting with obliterating Schumer and his Democratic cabal of crooks. He isn’t a senator; he’s a scourge, the ultimate enemy of the people, and history will crush him under the boot of righteous fury. Rise, America — expose, expel, and erase this monster before he drags us all into the abyss.

©2025 . All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: Democrats embrace shutdown strategy they once opposed: ANALYSIS

DAY 9: Democrats Continue Government Shutdown In Order to Hurt the American People

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Rational Americans agree, why shutdown the government? The House passed a clean continuing resolution, the same CR that Democrats have voted for thirteen times in the last four years, including back in March.

So what’s the point? The point is to hurt Americans. Trump has made things better for every American (except terrorists and America’s worst domestic enemies). His transformational presidency, surging economy and pro-America foreign policy has moved the country even further right. Going into the November elections, this bodes most ill for the Democrats. So the Democrat ‘strategy’ is to hurt Americans hoping they’ll blame Trump and vote accordingly. These are the actions of evil actors whose aim is to destroy the country.

So far, most Americans have barely noticed. But air travel is beginning to suffer from the Democrat shutdown. And Democrats couldn’t be happier. Fruits of the Schumer Shutdown.

What’s happening: Air traffic controllers are considered essential employees. They are obligated to continue working during a shutdown. Conveniently, a growing number of them are calling in sick.

ABC News: A week into the government shutdown, flight delays and cancellations are starting to climb as sick calls involving air traffic controllers leave a number of airport towers and control facilities without enough staff to properly handle all flights. The air traffic control tower overseeing airspace over Nashville International Airport was operating at an extremely limited amount of staffing on Tuesday, forcing some approach traffic to be handled by the air traffic control center in Memphis, Tennessee (ABC News).

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy: Our dedicated air traffic controllers shouldn’t be worrying about their next paycheck and travelers across this country shouldn’t have to worry about delays and cancellations because of the SCHUMER-JEFFRIES Shutdown (Duffy).

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

ROOKE: Trump Scores Major Optics Win In Schumer Shutdown Battle

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President Donald Trump has found a way to fund federal programs, despite Senate Democrats — led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — keeping the government shut down.

On Monday, the Trump administration funded the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) during what Republicans have rightly dubbed the “Schumer Shutdown,” by redirecting revenue generated from Trump’s tariffs on imported goods. The White House announced the move as a temporary stopgap measure to prevent immediate disruptions to the nearly 7 million low-income pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and young children up to age five, who rely on the program for nutritional assistance, breastfeeding support, and other related services.

While Trump hasn’t been able to secure funding for essential federal employees, such as U.S. military members, the Secret Service, and air traffic controllers, they haven’t missed a paycheck yet. However, the deadline for that, Oct. 15, is coming up quickly. And, yes, most of these employees will receive back pay for any missed pay periods, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll be able to survive without some loan assistance.

Democrats have a decision to make about whether their radical left policies are worth continuing the government shutdown or if they’ll do the right thing and vote for the House-passed continuing resolution (CR). Recent polling indicates they are losing the narrative battle on this issue. Almost half (40 percent) of Democrats think their party’s positions are not worth shutting down the government, leaving essential workers and programs unfunded, according to CBS News. Only 28 percent agree with Senate Democrats in holding the funding hostage.

It begs the question of why Democrats believe it’s politically expedient to keep this fight going when a majority of their base wants them to capitulate to Republicans. Especially taking into account that Democrats essentially lost the 2024 election because elected members chose to embrace the radical left wing of their party, sending many independents who would have otherwise voted blue into the ballot box to support Republicans. How are Democrats expecting to bring these voters back if they are choosing to fund healthcare for illegal immigrants over paying U.S. military members and funding programs like WIC?

And while Republicans are fighting a similar internal struggle, with a majority of voters begging for the shutdown to end, the optics that Trump has been able to create by using tariff revenue to fund WIC is a masterclass in garnering political capital. Here, he addresses an issue (tariffs) that, while successful, hasn’t made a significant difference in solving kitchen-table issues and directly links it to being able to keep mothers and infants fed.

Trump has taken away a major weapon in the Democrats’ political arsenal by serving the most vulnerable in our country despite the Democrat led shutdown. If Republicans were smart, they’d bring these mothers on media hits with them to explain what this funding means to their families, similar to how Trump gave a mic to mothers who lost children to violent illegal immigrants. Then, to drive home the narrative, remind the American people that while our military members are faithfully serving overseas, their wives with small children are suffering due to Democrats refusing to fund the government.

Trump, more than any politician in our lifetime, understands the importance of controlling the optics in winning the narrative war. His move to fund WIC with tariff revenue killed two birds with one stone. It made Democrats politically vulnerable on a critical issue, while also protecting vulnerable mothers and their children.

AUTHOR

Mary Rooke

Commentary and Analysis Writer. Follow Mary Rooke on X: @MaryRooke. Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.