Capitol agenda: Careening into a shutdown

All signs point to the government shutting down at midnight Tuesday night. Just when Monday’s meeting between President Donald Trump and congressional leaders brought a glimmer of a potential offramp — the president expressed openness to extending Obamacare credits, Democrats’ asking price — it was back to the status quo hours later. Trump posted a […]

How Capitol Hill is set to feel the government shutdown pain

A government shutdown is looking increasingly likely, and Congress is set to experience the self-inflicted pain of the institution’s inability to pass a spending bill to fund its own operations. During the last, partial shutdown, which began at the very end of 2018 and concluded 35 days later, a legislative branch appropriations bill had already […]

Trump posts vulgar deepfake slam of Democratic leaders after White House meeting

If a government shutdown wasn’t already exceedingly likely, President Donald Trump might have made it a near certainty Monday night. The president posted a vulgar AI-generated deepfake video to his Truth Social slamming the top Democratic leaders — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — just hours after he hosted […]

White House shutdown summit fails to produce a deal

Congressional leaders left a high-stakes Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump without a breakthrough Monday, greatly raising the likelihood of a government shutdown starting early Wednesday morning. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters at the White House that “there are still large differences between us.” “Their bill has not one iota of Democratic […]

Johnson urges GOP unity as shutdown deadline nears

Speaker Mike Johnson told House Republicans on a conference call Monday that they need to stick together to force Senate Democrats to swallow the seven-week stopgap bill the House passed last week, according three people granted anonymity to describe the private call. Johnson said he plans to bring the House back into session next week, […]