The federal government may have to lay off ‘thousands’ of employees if the government shutdown continues, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Thursday. Leavitt made the comments during a gaggle with reporters outside the White House, saying administration officials are already gaming out the layoffs. ‘Look, it’s likely going to be in the thousands. […]
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., made clear on Thursday that House Republicans will not budge amid the ongoing standoff over government funding, as Democrats continue to insist on healthcare concessions. ‘Don’t ask the Republicans what we should be doing or what we should be negotiating. I don’t have anything to negotiate. I sent them, in […]
Senate Democrats appear ready for the long haul as the government shutdown continues and are putting the onus of reopening the government on Republicans. The Senate was out Thursday to observe the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur and is expected to return to action Friday to again vote on the dueling proposals to reopen the government. […]
Senate Majority Leader John Thune isn’t endorsing the slash-and-burn campaign White House budget director Russ Vought has planned for the federal government during the pending shutdown. But he says Democrats have no one to blame for it but themselves. “This is the risk of shutting down the government and handing the keys to Russ Vought,” […]
Speaker Mike Johnson moved to shut down any attempts to negotiate a way out of the shutdown Thursday as some senators look for off-ramps. Johnson said in a news conference outside his Capitol office that Democrats should stop pressing Republicans to come to any agreement to reopen the government, saying Senate Democrats instead need to […]
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he’ll speak with Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought about which ”Democrat Agencies” should be nixed as the government shutdown enters its second day. “I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of […]
Bipartisan rank-and-file negotiations on expiring Obamacare subsidies are picking up steam as lawmakers hunt for a shutdown off-ramp. Republicans still say those talks won’t lead to action until the government reopens. Senate Majority Leader John Thune underscored this point in an exclusive interview Wednesday with POLITICO, where he said he needs to see a “critical […]
Hakeem Jeffries has spent nearly three years in relative anonymity as House minority leader. Now the New York Democrat is treating the government shutdown fight as a potential breakout moment. Shedding his reputation as a cool, careful and sometimes overly calculating leader, Jeffries has staked out a much more aggressive approach in recent weeks as […]
Rejecting reports of a split with the brass, the Department of War says the National Defense Strategy was ‘seamlessly coordinated’ with senior civilian and uniform leaders — and that ‘any narrative to the contrary is false.’ On Monday, The Washington Post reported that multiple senior officers had raised concerns about the forthcoming strategy, pointing to […]
Recent Russian incursions into NATO airspace have sharpened divisions inside the alliance over how to respond, exposing both the strength and the limits of collective defense. Secretary General Mark Rutte clashed with Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal last week after Estonia invoked NATO’s Article 4 clause, which triggers consultations when a member feels its security […]