Chuck Schumer

Nov. 7 (UPI) — Democrats are ready to end the federal government shutdown if Republicans agree to extend Affordable Care Act credits for another year, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Friday afternoon.

Schumer, D-N.Y., said Senate Democrats favor passing a temporary funding measure and three other bills that would fund the federal government for one year, CNN reported.

“Democrats are offering a very simple compromise,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.

“Now, the ball is in the Republicans’ court,” he added. “We need Republicans to just say yes.”

Schumer’s announcement came after Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., earlier said the Senate will work through the weekend to negotiate reopening the federal government and possibly vote after a bipartisan effort failed Thursday.

Thune wanted to hold another vote on the House-approved continuing resolution to fund the federal government through Nov. 21, but Senate Democrats aren’t on board, he told media earlier Friday.

“Our members are going to be advised to be available if, in fact, there’s a need to vote,” he said.

“We will see what happens and whether or not, over the course of the next couple of days, the Democrats can find their way to re-engage again,” Thune added.

Thune earlier this week expressed optimism that a funding agreement would be made this week, but that ended after Senate Democrats met on Thursday.

“All I know is that the pep rally they had at lunch yesterday evidently changed some minds,” he said Friday.

“We had given them everything they wanted and had asked for,” Thune explained. “At some point, I was gonna say they have to take ‘yes’ for an answer, and they were trending in that direction.”

The impasse is due to Senate Democrats not trusting President Donald Trump to agree to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire after December and to stop firing federal employees, The Hill reported.

Senate Democrats held a working lunch on Thursday, as referenced by Thune, during which they rejected a bipartisan proposal to reopen the government.

Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Angus King, I-Maine, had worked out a deal with the GOP, which buoyed Thune’s hope of ending the government shutdown on its record 38th day.

Senate Democrats discussed the bipartisan proposal during their Thursday lunch and rejected it due to their distrust of the president.

The proposal would have included a short-term funding measure to reopen the government and a three-year appropriations bill that would have funded the Agriculture Department, Veterans Affairs, military construction and the legislative branch.

The USDA funding would have meant full funding for currently suspended Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

Lacking strong guarantees that the president would support extending Affordable Care Act credits that initially were enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic and that are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, the Senate Democrats said they won’t support the bipartisan plan to move forward.

Despite the continued opposition from Senate Democrats, Thune doesn’t expect the shutdown to continue into the Thanksgiving holiday weekend at the end of the month, he said while appearing on Fox News Friday.

Thune needs at least five more Senate Democrats to join with Democratic Party Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and King, who caucuses with Senate Democrats, to approve the continuing resolution.

Fetterman, Masto and King consistently have voted in favor of continuing the 2025 fiscal year budget while negotiating the budget for the 2026 fiscal year, which started on Oct. 1.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is the only Republican senator to continually vote against the measure.

The House-approved continuing resolution consistently has received a majority of support in the Senate, but it has not received the 60 votes needed to overcome the Senate’s filibuster rule for passage.

Oct. 31 (UPI) — The White House is taking heat for construction and remodeling projects initiated by President Donald Trump as it opens up for tours again, and the president was touting the work being done in social media posts Friday.

Trump showed off images of the Lincoln Bedroom’s newly remodeled bathroom, which was lined from floor to ceiling with what he said was “black and white polished Statuary marble.”

He claimed the bathroom was “very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln and, in fact, could be the marble that was originally there!” Trump made seven Truth Social posts about the bathroom renovations with multiple photos.

The bathroom has gold fixtures and a large chandelier.

Critics were quick to point out that while people are losing health insurance and food benefits, Trump was busy remodeling.

“Donald Trump actually cares more about his toilet than he does about fixing your healthcare,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on X.

“Millions of people are being kicked off of food assistance and millions can’t afford health care anymore. But don’t worry everyone! Trump got a new bathroom,” commentator Harry Sisson said on X. “So tone deaf, out of touch, and disgusting.”

Visitors might get a glimpse soon as first lady Melania Trump announced Friday that tours will reopen at the White House on Dec. 2, “with an updated route offering guests the opportunity to experience the history and beauty of the People’s House,” a press release said.

“The decorations in each room will be thoughtfully designed and curated under the direction of first lady Melania Trump,” the release said. “Visitors will have the opportunity to enjoy the beloved annual tradition that transforms the White House into a festive reflection of the spirit, warmth, faith and hope of the holiday season.”

Trump’s critics are also making life difficult for construction companies that have government contracts to work on the new ballroom where the East Wing once stood.

Many of the contractors have taken down their websites, saying the sites are undergoing maintenance as people make posts and send e-mails shaming them for their work, the New York Daily News reported.

“How dare you destroy the people’s house!!!! You are a traitor and should be driven out of business. … You suck!” said one review left on a company’s Yelp page Thursday.

“Backstabbers who hate America and worship the AntiChrist. Took money from Trump and did work without a valid permit. These people are scum,” another said.

Demolition began on the East Wing to build the $300 million ballroom Oct. 20, sparking anger because of the speed of the demolition and lack of proper permits and notice.

Trump also announced on Truth Social Friday that he had inspected construction on the Kennedy Center. Earlier, The Washington Post reported that ticket sales for the center had dropped appreciably since Trump took over the performing arts venue and purged its board.

“It is really looking good!” he wrote. “The exterior columns, which were in serious danger of corrosion if something weren’t done, are completed, and look magnificent in White Enamel — Like a different place!

“Marble is being done, stages are being renovated, new seats, new chairs and new fabrics will soon be installed, and magnificent high-end carpeting throughout the building,” Trump wrote.

Oct. 24 (UPI) — U.S. House Democratic Party leader Hakeem Jeffries on Friday endorsed Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor, 11 days before the Nov. 4 election.

Jeffries hasn’t issued a public statement but his endorsement was confirmed in a statement to The New York Times, with sources telling USA Today and Politico about the House minority leader’s plans.

Early voting begins Saturday.

Mamdani, who was born in India and raised in Uganda, is attempting to become the city’s first Muslim mayor.

Jeffries, who serves Brooklyn in New York, had held off endorsing Mamdani, who is a state assembly member serving Queens since 2020.

The state’s two U.S. senators, Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, haven’t endorsed Mamdani.

Mamdani has been endorsed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letita James.

Also, he has been backed by New York Reps. Jerry Nadler, Adriano Espaillat and Yvette Clarke. Two other House members, Ritchie Torres and Dan Goldman, have said they don’t plan to endorse in the election.

And New York Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs said he doesn’t plan to endorse him.

In the June 24 primary, Mamdani, 34, defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 67, and Mayor Eric Adams, 65. His opponents then chose to run as independents, but Adams dropped out on Sept. 28 and endorsed Cuomo on Thursday.

Mamdani is favored to defeat Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, 71, a Guardian Angels founder and radio show host. President Donald Trump has pressured Sliwa to drop out to give a better chance for Cuomo over Mamdani, whom he has labeled as a Communist.

Jeffries told The New York Times said they have had “areas of principled disagreement,” including Israel’s war in Gaza, but agreed on other matters, such as the desire to retain New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

“Zohran Mamdani has relentlessly focused on addressing the affordability crisis and explicitly committed to being a mayor for all New Yorkers, including those who do not support his candidacy,” Jeffries wrote.

“In that spirit, I support him and the entire citywide Democratic ticket in the general election.”

Jeffries first met with Mamdani in July in Brooklyn before the primary. They met again in August.

Jeffries had said he was focused on the federal government shutdown rather than the New York City race.

“Stay tuned,” he told reporters this week in Washington. “I have not refused to endorse. I have refused to articulate my position, and I will momentarily, at some point, in advance of early voting.”

Jeffries has questioned how Mamdani would implement his policies and combat antisemitism and gentrification.

“We’ve got to figure out moving forward how we turn proposals into actual plans so that he is successful if he becomes the next mayor, because we need the city to be successful,” Jeffries told CNN last month.

Jeffries noted that his district, which includes historically Black communities, has “been subjected to gentrification and housing displacement.”

Mamdani has sharply criticized Israel and the war in Gaza, which Mamdani describes as genocide.

During Wednesday’s debate, he said: “I look forward to being a mayor for every single person that calls the city home. All 8.5 million New Yorkers, and that includes Jewish New Yorkers who may have concerns or opposition to the positions that I’ve shared about Israel and Palestine.”

Hundreds of rabbis had signed a letter criticizing him.

And powerful real estate and finance industries have donated millions of dollars to political action committees opposing his candidacy.

Oct. 22 (UPI) — The top two candidates to become New York’s next mayor lashed out at one another Wednesday in their second and final general election debate two weeks before the election.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 67, is running as an independent after Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, 34, defeated him in the city’s Democratic Party primary.

In 2020, Mamdani, a Muslim, became the first Ugandan and South Asian man to serve in the state chamber. Cuomo was governor from 2011 until 2023, when he resigned amid sexual harassment allegations.

Also on stage was Guardian Angels founder and radio show host Curtis Sliwa, 71, who secured the Republican Party’s nomination and is vowing not to drop out of the race to close Cuomo’s gap.

During the 90-minute debate, they agreed on one issue: a federal crackdown by U.S. Immigration and Law Enforcement. But they disagreed how to best deal with President Donald Trump

Mamdani is polling as the favorite to win New York City’s mayoral election, which is scheduled for Nov. 4, but Cuomo has closed ground in recent polls, though Mamdani has a double-digit lead, according to CBS News. Early voting starts Saturday.

An AARP/Gotham Polling poll released on Monday shows Mamdani with 43.2%, followed by Cuomo at 28.9% and Sliwa at 19.4%. In a head-to-head race, Mamdani prevails 44.6% to 40.7% for Cuomo.

Trump would prefer Cuomo over Mamdani and has asked Sliwa to drop out.

“He has no respect for him,” Cuomo said about Trump, who has called his opponent a Communist. “He thinks he’s a kid and he’s going to knock him on his tuchus.”

Cuomo called Mamdani divisive and lacked experience. Mamdani responded that Cuomo was a “desperate man lashing out.”

Sliwa also noted Mamdani’s lack of experience, saying his resume could “fit on a cocktail napkin.” And he said that Cuomo has enough failures to “fill a library.”

Mandani’s experience was punctuated during an exchange on housing policy.

“The governor doesn’t build housing in New York City,” Cuomo said in response to a question.

“Not if it’s you,” Mamdani responded.

“I did things; you have never had a job,” Cuomo said, pointing toward Mamdani and drawing applause from the crowd. “There is no reason to believe you have any merit or qualification for 8.5 million lives. You don’t know how to run a government.”

In describing his opponent’s limited experience, Cuomo said: “You don’t know how to handle an emergency, and you literally never proposed a bill on anything that you’re not talking about in your campaign.”

Mamdani said Cuomo was “creating his own facts.”

“We just had a former governor say in his own words that the city has been getting screwed by the state,” Mamdani said. “Who was leading the state? It was you, governor.”

Cuomo has referred to his opponent as “de Blasio lite” and “de Blasio 2.0.” Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, was the city’s mayor from 2014 until 2021 and has backed Mamdani.

Mamdani has not been endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer or House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both Democrats of New York.

Mamdani’s opponents have accused him of promoting antisemitism.

“You’re the savior of the Jewish people? You won’t denounce ‘Globalize the Intifada,’ which means ‘Kill Jews,'” Cuomo said, noting that hundreds of rabbis had signed a letter criticizing him. “There’s unprecedented fear in New York.”

Mandani said: “I look forward to being a mayor for every single person that calls the city home. All 8.5 million New Yorkers, and that includes Jewish New Yorkers who may have concerns or opposition to the positions that I’ve shared about Israel and Palestine.”

He described his own Jewish family members, saying that members of the community were “scared.”

The debate at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center at LaGuardia Community College was moderated by Errol Lewis of NY1, Brian Lehrer of WNYC and Katie Honan of The City and aired live on Spectrum News’ NY1 and via streaming.

Cuomo favors city oversight of the New York City Transit’s budget, while Mamdani has advocated for revising how the city’s Department of Education approves contracts, WABC-TV reported.

Sliwa is running as a law-and-order candidate and on Wednesday morning said he is ending his conservative talk show on WABC Radio due to the station hosting Cuomo several times in recent weeks.

WABC Radio owner John Catsimatidis and program host Sid Rosenberg each have advocated for Sliwa to end his campaign in favor of Cuomo, according to WABC-TV.

After the debate, Cuomo went to the New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden with Mayor Eric Adams, who lost in the Democratic primary and dropped out as an independent.

Oct. 16 (UPI) — The Senate failed for the 10th time to approve a temporary funding bill to reopen the federal government and voted down a Defense Department appropriations bill on Thursday.

The Senate voted 51-45 in favor of a funding resolution to reopen the federal government, but the vote total was less than the 60 needed for approval.

Two Senate Democrats, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, voted in favor of the temporary government funding measure, according to CNN.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the lone GOP member to vote against the measure.

The Senate later in the day voted 50-44 on a year-long appropriations bill to fund the Defense Department as the government enters the 16th day of its shutdown over a stopgap funding bill.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., opposed considering the Defense Department spending bill without also considering the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill, The Hill reported.

Like the government funding measure, the defense budget needs 60 votes to pass. It also would have given a raise for military personnel.

Senate Democrats have voted consistently with no change during the 10 votes to reopen the federal government, as have GOP senators, including Paul in his funding opposition.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., responded to the legislative stalemate by offering to hold floor debates on respective spending bills to fund federal agencies for the 2026 fiscal year, Politico reported.

Thune also suggested Senate Democrats, who have proposed an alternative temporary funding measure, might have some caucus members vote for the House-approved funding resolution due to the effects of an extended government shutdown.

The House already approved the measure favored by the GOP, which simply extends the 2025 funding through Nov. 21 while continuing negotiations on a full-year funding bill.

Senate Democrats have proposed an alternative measure that would fund the federal government through Oct. 31 and extend Affordable Care Act tax credits on insurance premiums and expand Medicaid access.

Schumer blamed the GOP for the budget impasse by refusing to negotiate a proposed $1.5 trillion in additional spending over the next decade that Senate Democrats want to include in the stopgap funding.

“The Trump shutdown drags on because Republicans refuse to work with or even negotiate with Democrats in a serious way to fix the healthcare crisis in America,” Schumer said, as reported by Politico.

Thune in an interview that aired on MSNBC on Thursday morning said Senate Republicans will not negotiate the ACA tax credits until the government is open again, according to ABC News.

The fiscal year started on Oct. 1, which is the first day of the government shutdown due to a lack of funding.

Thune said his party plans to attach additional funding bills to the Pentagon measure, though it’s unclear if Democrats support the idea, CBS News reported.

The additional bills would seek to fund the Departments of Health and Human Services and Labor.

In an analysis published in September, the Urban Institute said the number of uninsured people between the ages of 19 and 34 would increase by 25% if the subsidies expire in the new year.

There would be a 14% increase among children. In all, 4.8 million people would lose health insurance coverage.

The Trump administration has said it’s against extending the ACA subsidies, and has accused Democrats at the state level of using federal tax dollars to provide undocumented immigrants with healthcare services, which Democrats have denied.

Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for health insurance under the ACA, the federal healthcare.gov website states.

In an appearance on MSNBC on Wednesday night, Thune said he told Democratic leaders he’d be willing to hold a vote on the subsidies in exchange for their help reopening the government.

“We can guarantee you a vote by a date certain,” he said. “At some point, Democrats have to take ‘yes’ for an answer.

“I can’t guarantee it’s going to pass. I can guarantee you that there will be a process and you will get a vote.”

Oct. 14 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday failed for the eighth time to pass legislation that would end the government shutdown that is now two weeks old.

A Republican-backed bill that would temporarily fund the government through Nov. 21 failed on a 49-45 vote, requiring 60 votes to advance under Senate rules.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote against the bill. On the other side of the aisle, Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Angus King of Maine voted in favor of the bill.

The vote means that the shutdown will extend into its 15th day on Wednesday with no clear offramp.

Democrats have demanded that extensions of health insurance subsidies be included in any funding deal. Tens of millions of Americans are expected to see their health insurance premiums skyrocket after the subsidies expire at the end of the year.

During a floor speech Tuesday, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., chastised President Donald Trump for meeting with Argentina’s right-wing President Javier Milei to offer a $20 billion bailout for his nation’s struggling economy.

“This Argentina bailout is a slap in the face to farmers and working families worried about keeping healthcare,” he said. “If this administration has $20 billion to spare for a MAGA-friendly foreign government, they can’t turn around to say we don’t have the money to lower health care costs here at home.”

During a press availability earlier that day, Senate majority leader John Thune, R-S.D., blamed any pain from the shutdown on Democrats, demanding that they agree to fund the government before negotiating on healthcare subsidies.

“This is outrageous what they are doing,” he said. “They ought to be ashamed.”

Thune called Schumer “checked out” and said the end will come from working with enough “reasonable Senate Democrats.”

Senators last voted on funding legislation on Thursday before heading into a long break coinciding with Monday’s bank holiday. With no action on the issue in several days, lawmakers in both chambers — and within the Trump administration — have used the time to trade criticisms over who’s to blame for the shutdown, which has left about 750,000 federal workers furloughed or working without pay.

In addition to furloughs, the Trump administration has begun carrying out mass firings, including 1,446 employees at the Justice Department and another 1,200 at the Department of Health and Human Services, USA Today reported.

The Trump administration said it’s working to make sure active-duty military service members receive their next paychecks Friday by repurposing about $8 billion Congress had appropriated for other areas of the Defense Department. President Donald Trump took to Truth Social over the weekend to announce he ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th.”

Johnson held a news conference Tuesday morning at the Capitol and said Trump had “every right” to repurpose the funds.

“If the Democrats want to go to court and challenge troops being paid, bring it,” Johnson said.

Romina Boccia, the director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute, told The Hill on Monday that it is legal for Congress to repurpose un-obligated funds, but for the administration to do so unilaterally “is likely illegal.”

“An un-obligated balance does not give the administration the right to use the money as it wishes,” Boccia said. “If Congress wants to ensure that America’s troops will be paid during the ongoing government shutdown, Congress should pass a bill that authorizes funding to pay the troops.”

Doing so would require a vote by the House, which is on recess for the rest of the week. Johnson has said he will not call House members back to Washington, D.C., early.

At the heart of the deadlock are subsidies for Affordable Care Act premiums set to expire in the new year.

Schumer has said Senate Democrats wouldn’t support the stopgap legislation unless Republicans back extending the subsidies.

The Trump administration has said it’s against extending the ACA subsidies, falsely claiming undocumented immigrants are benefitting from it. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for health insurance under the ACA, the federal healthcare.gov website states.

Oct. 11 (UPI) — Maine Gov. Janet Mills is expected to launch a campaign on Tuesday to unseat longtime U.S. Susan Collins, R-ME, according to internal campaign documents and a now-deleted social media post.

According to a campaign document first reported by Axios and since confirmed by several other news organizations, Mills plans to join the Democrat primary field for Collins’ seat next year, as she is term-limited and cannot run for re-election as governor.

Democrats have been recruiting Mills to run against the five-term Sen. Collins, who is thought by party leaders to be vulnerable based on her low approval ratings, the Portland Press Herald reported.

A video launching the campaign was also briefly posted to Mills’ X account, which directed viewers to an ActBlue web page for donations, Fox News reported on Friday evening.

According to Fox, Mills said she is “running to flip Maine’s seat blue” because Collins has “sold out Maine and bowed down to special interests and to Donald Trump, but that ends now.”

Mills has gained national attention after breaking publicly with President Donald Trump at a White House event when he pushed to exclude transgender women and girls from female sports.

Although the five-term incumbent Collins is regarded as a moderate and has broken with Trump, as well as her party, in the past, the Democratic Senatorial Committee has made the Maine seat a priority, CBS News reported, and Fox noted that Mills is favored for the seat by Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY.

Collins in 2020 beat Democrat nominee Sara Gideon by nearly 9 points even though Gideon spent nearly twice on her campaign as Collins, $62.9 million compared with $29.6 million.

Before Mills can face off with Collins, however, she will have to wade through the Democratic primary, which already features the Sen. Bernie Sanders-endorsed progressive oyster farmer Graham Platner, former End Citizens United vice president Jordan Wood and brewery owner Dan Kleban.

Oct. 10 (UPI) — Federal employee layoffs have begun as the government shutdown continues at least into next week after Senate members left Washington on Friday.

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought announced the layoffs in a social media post that simply says, “the RIFs have begun.”

“RIFs” is an acronym for “reductions in force,” but Vought did not say how many federal workers or agencies are affected, The Hill reported.

An OMB spokesperson confirmed Vought’s statement is correct.

A Trump administration official told Politico the layoffs affect the Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior and Treasury departments.

President Donald Trump on Thursday told his Cabinet the layoffs would affect what he called “Democrat programs that aren’t popular with Republicans,” Politico reported.

The OMB earlier notified federal agencies to prepare for a potential reduction in force if the shutdown were extended beyond a few days.

The agencies were to lay off non-essential workers and those who oppose the president’s policies, the OMB memo said.

Monday is a bank holiday — the observance of Columbus Day — in the United States, and the Senate had no votes on a continuing resolution to fund the government on Friday.

The Senate is scheduled to resume session on Tuesday, while the House is scheduled to return on Oct. 20.

Friday marked 10 days since the government shut down after the Senate failed to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government.

Thursday night marked the seventh attempt to pass a stopgap funding bill, but the upper chamber was 6 votes short of the 60 needed for a supermajority for the Republican bill and 13 votes short of the Democrats’ bill.

At issue are subsidies for Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire in the new year and expansion of Medicare, while adding an estimated $1.5 trillion in costs over the next 10 years.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said his party wouldn’t support the stopgap legislation unless Republicans back extending the ACA tax credits and Medicare expansion.

President Donald Trump again threatened to cut federal programs if Democrats don’t support the Republican bill.

House and Senate Republicans say Senate Democrats want to provide healthcare funding for migrants who are not legal residents, which Senate Democrats have denied.

Some of the 750,000 federal workers furloughed as a result of the shutdown will begin missing their first paychecks Friday.

About 1.3 million members of the military are next set to receive pay on Wednesday, but they might have to wait until the federal government is funded to receive retroactive pay.

Oct. 9 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate will hold another vote on a measure to fund the government Thursday as the government shutdown enters its ninth day.

A vote in the U.S. Senate is expected around 11:30 a.m. EDT Thursday. On Wednesday, the Senate held its sixth failed vote on two stopgap funding measures — one each from the Democrats and Republicans. The Republican bill passed in the House.

Democrats are holding fast to their demands for healthcare reforms, while Republicans want to pass funding through Nov. 21.

President Donald Trump continued to threaten not to give back pay to workers after the shutdown, saying that some workers don’t deserve it.

The Internal Revenue Service announced furloughs on Wednesday for 34,000 workers, which is about half of its staff. There are now about 750,000 furloughed government workers.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he may allow votes on bills to fund parts of the government, CBS News reported. One is the defense appropriations bill, which has already passed the House of Representatives.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told callers on C-SPAN Thursday morning that Democrats are the ones keeping the government closed.

“The Democrats are the ones that are preventing you from getting a check,” he said. “Chuck Schumer and the Democrats are preventing your family from getting the care they need, not Republicans, and my heart goes out to you.”

Oct. 8 (UPI) — The Senate on Tuesday confirmed a bloc of 107 people nominated to serve in the Trump administration after majority Republicans secured a rules change making it easier to overcome Democratic delay tactics.

The 51-47 party line vote approved nominations that included ambassadorships, assistant or undersecretary positions, U.S. attorneys, seats on regulatory commissions and other roles in the federal government that required Senate approval.

Republicans began publicly looking into a rules change in September to speed up the confirmation process, which members of both parties at various times have used for political gain. The move is the latest in a series of rules changes that have weakened the leverage held by the chamber’s minority party.

Those confirmed Tuesday include Sergio Gor, a businessman and political operative, as ambassador to India, as well as former Georgia Senate candidate and football star Herschel Walker as ambassador to the Bahamas.

Senate majority leader John Thune issued a statement hailing the vote for “overcoming historic Democrat obstruction” and “getting more” of President Trump’s team in place. The vote is the second mass approval of Trump nominees after the Senate confirmed 58 positions last month.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer had earlier criticized the rules change, stating it would mean Republicans were caving to Trump and weakening the chamber’s “traditional and powerful sense of deliberation.”

“Well, the kind of people who have been confirmed by this chamber so far this year have been unprecedentedly bad,” Schumer said in a floor speech in September. “Beyond the pale. Scandal after scandal, expose after expose”

Oct. 7 (UPI) — Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said Tuesday that “some good things could happen with healthcare” after he spoke with President Donald Trump about the government shutdown, a vote on which is expected later in the day.

During a news conference Tuesday morning, Johnson said he spoke “at length” with the president Monday about the failure of Congress to pass a continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government.

The inability for the Senate to reach a supermajority vote in favor of the stopgap funding package shut down the government starting Oct. 1.

Johnson said Trump “wants to solve the problem.”

“The president is a dealmaker. He likes to figure these things out and work toward solutions,” the speaker said, according to ABC News.

At issue are subsidies for Affordable Care Act premiums set to expire in the new year. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said his party wouldn’t support the stopgap legislation unless Republicans provisions extending the ADA subsidies.

The Trump administration has said it’s against extending the ADA subsidies, falsely claiming undocumented immigrants are taking advantage of it. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for health insurance under the ADA, according to the federal healthcare.gov website.

Johnson said Tuesday that negotiations over healthcare won’t happen until “the Democrats stop inflicting pain on the American people and turn the lights back on Congress and get everybody back to work.”

The Senate failed for a fifth time to pass a continuing resolution Monday evening.

Meanwhile, there appears to be some question about whether furloughed government workers will receive back pay when they return to their jobs. A memo by the White House Office of Management and Budget obtained by Axios indicates that 750,000 workers won’t receive back pay despite a 2019 law signed by Trump that guarantees it.

“Does this law cover all these furloughed employees automatically? The conventional wisdom is: Yes, it does. Our view is: No, it doesn’t,” an unnamed senior White House official told Axios.

Senate Republican leader John Thune and he believes furloughed workers would be entitled to back pay.

“I don’t know what statute they’re using,” Thune said, according to CBS News. “My understanding is, yes, that they would get paid.

“I haven’t heard this up until now, but again, it’s a very straightforward proposition … they government reopens, and this question of whether people get paid or not is a non-issue.”

Johnson, however, declined to say definitively whether that would happen.

“It is true that in previous shutdowns, many or most of them have been paid for the time that they were furloughed. But there is new legal analysis — I don’t know the details, I just saw a headline this morning, I’m not read in on it and I haven’t spoken to the White House about it — but there are some legal analysts who are saying that may not be appropriate or necessary in terms of the law requiring that backpay be provided.

“If that is true, that should turn up the urgency and the necessity of Democrats doing the right thing here,” Johnson said.

Oct. 6 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate is expected to hold a vote on a stopgap funding bill Monday evening as the government enters the sixth day of a shutdown.

The upper chamber is scheduled to hold its first vote on reopening the government at 5:30 p.m. EDT, according to ABC News.

Lawmakers must reach a supermajority, or 60 votes, to pass a continuing resolution that would fund the government. The Senate’s 53 Republicans need the votes of seven Democrats to reach that supermajority.

At issue are subsidies for Affordable Care Act premiums set to expire in the new year. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said his party wouldn’t support the stopgap legislation unless Republicans provisions extending the ADA subsidies.

The Trump administration has said it’s against extending the ADA subsidies, falsely claiming undocumented immigrants are taking advantage of it. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for health insurance under the ADA, according to the federal healthcare.gov website.

Speaking Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation, Schumer said Republicans must negotiate with Democrats on the short-term funding bill.

“We ought to be talking about the real issue here, which is that we have a healthcare crisis in America caused by Republicans,” he said. “They’ve … barreled us towards a shutdown because they don’t want to deal with that crisis. Plain and simple.

President Donald Trump has threatened to cut government agencies supported by Democrats if they don’t vote to reopen the government.

Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, warned the president will “start taking sharp measures” Monday.

“You know, my friends over at the Council of Economic Advisors gave ma report at the end of the week that said that it costs the U.S. GDP about $15 billion a week for a shutdown, or about a 10th of a percent of GDP,” Hassett said on an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Monday.

“And so, if the shutdown continues for a long time, then there’s going to be a lot of things that don’t happen, and it will show up at the GDP number.”

Oct. 3 (UPI) — The government shutdown continues into Monday afternoon after the Senate failed to approve one of two proposed temporary funding measures on Friday.

The Senate voted 54-44 on a Republican-sponsored and House-approved continuing resolution that would have funded the federal government for another seven weeks while negotiating a budget for the 2026 fiscal year that started on Wednesday.

The measure needs at least 60 votes to overcome a potential filibuster and go to President Donald Trump for signing.

A counterproposal by Senate Democrats that would fund the federal government through the end of October but would add $1.5 trillion in spending and was defeated by a 46-52 vote.

The Senate convened at 11:30 a.m. EDT and adjourned at 3:57 p.m. following the defeat of the two temporary funding proposals.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., earlier said the government could reopen as soon as a funding bill is passed, but the Senate won’t reconvene until 3 p.m. on Monday.

Thune briefly discussed matters with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., during Friday’s floor votes but said he likely would have more success by meeting with others in the Senate Democrats’ caucus, CBS News reported.

Many senators were hopeful of reaching an agreement to end the legislative impasse and reopen the government, but Schumer urged his colleagues to oppose the House resolution, according to The Hill.

The GOP reportedly is willing to extend tax credits for the Affordable Care Act after they expired on Tuesday.

With the GOP controlling 53 Senate seats, it would need support from all Republican Senators and seven more from the Democratic Caucus to approve the House-approved measure, but Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has been the lone dissenting Republican vote.

Thune earlier said the Senate will adjourn until Monday if the Senate does not approve one of the funding resolutions, which would extend the federal government through the weekend.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has halted $2.1 billion in federal funding for public transportation infrastructure in Chicago and $18 billion for projects in New York City.

The Trump administration also canceled $7.5 billion in funding for energy projects in states carried by former Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election.

President Donald Trump said his administration also will determine which federal agencies will be defunded and possibly eliminated.

Oct. 1 (UPI) — The U.S. government shut down at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday after the Trump administration and Democrats failed to agree on a funding resolution, trigging a blame game and creating uncertainty over the future of federal programs and employees.

Over Tuesday, both sides failed to pass legislation to keep the government open — a stalemate the product of Republicans trying to pass a funding resolution that holds spending flat for the rest of the year, while Democrats are adamant that the resolution protect and expand medical coverage for millions of Americans who could lose their insurance by the end 2025.

After the deadline passed, each side was quick to blame the other.

“It’s midnight. The Republican shutdown has just begun because Republicans wouldn’t protect America’s healthcare,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Senate minority leader, said in a recorded statement posted to X.

“We are going to keep fighting for the American people.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in turn, blamed the Democrats.

“Democrats have officially voted to CLOSE the government,” he said on X.

“The only question now: How long will Chuck Schumer let this pain go on — for his own selfish reasons?”

It’s the fourth government shutdown under a President Donald Trump administration, and the first since late 2018, when the government closed for 35 days. The fight was over billions in border-wall funding Trump wanted that the Democrats resisted.

According to a Congressional Budget Office report, some 75,000 federal workers are at risk of furloughed, though the Trump administration has threatened to fire them and slash government programs.

Last week, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memorandum threatening mass firings of federal employees if “congressional Democrats” do not agree to the Trump administration’s proposal.

During a press conference in the White House earlier Tuesday as the shutdown loomed, Trump said if the government closes, they could cut programs, the federal budget and benefits.

“The last person who wants it shut down is us. Now, with that being said, we can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like,” Trump said.

“So, they’re taking a big risk by having a shutdown.”

The threat of mass firings was swiftly met Tuesday by a lawsuit from federal worker unions, challenging it as an unlawful abuse of power designed to punish workers and pressure Democrats.

“Announcing plans to fire potentially tens of thousands of federal employees simply because Congress and the administration are at odds on funding the government past the end of the fiscal year is not only illegal — it’s immoral and unconscionable, American Federation of Government Employees President Lee Saunders told UPI in an emailed statement.

“If these mass firings take place, the people who keep our skies safe for travel, our food supply secure and our communities protected will lose their jobs.”

Republicans have attempted to frame the Democrats’ healthcare demands as support for undocumented migrants, while Democrats lambasted their GOP counterparts for lying.

“This is a lie,” Schumer said on X in response to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller accusing the Democrats of not supporting the GOP’s spending resolution “because it doesn’t give free healthcare to illegals.”

“Not a single federal dollar goes to providing health insurance for undocumented immigrants. NOT. ONE. PENNY,” Schumer responded to the pair on X.

“Republicans would rather lie and shut down the government down than protect your healthcare.”

Sept. 30 (UPI) — A lot of federal government employees might be laid off after the Senate votes on a continuing resolution to keep the government open while working on a new budget.

The Senate has scheduled a 5 p.m. EDT vote on the continuing resolution that would fund the government for another month while working on a Fiscal Year 2026 budget.

Democrats and Republicans each have introduced resolutions to keep the government open, but neither is expected to pass as the 2025 fiscal year ends at the end of the day on Tuesday, according to The Hill.

When asked how many federal government workers might be laid off, President Donald Trump told reporters: “We may do a lot, and that’s only because of the Democrats.”

“They want to be able to take care of people who come into our country illegally, and no system can handle that,” Trump said.

“They want to give them full health care benefits, [and] they want to open the wall again,” the president added. “They don’t change.”

The president’s contention about free healthcare benefits for illegal migrants is untrue.

Senate Democrats are proposing to keep the government open through Oct. 31 with a continuing resolution that would extend Affordable Care Act subsidies for health insurance premiums that are scheduled to expire at the end of the year.

They also want to restore $1 trillion in Medicaid reductions that the president said would provide health care for non-citizens, including those who illegally entered the United States.

Congressional leaders met with the president on Monday, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., afterward said the two sides are very far apart on their demands, Roll Call reported.

Schumer said any short-term funding deal must include extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits and that he and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., refuse to negotiate an extension separately from a continuing resolution that would keep the government open.

“When they say later, they mean never,” Schumer said of the GOP’s offer to negotiate an extension. “Now is the time we can get it done.”

Senate Republicans favor a “clean” resolution that was approved in the House of Representatives and would keep the government open another seven weeks while Congress continues working on a fiscal year 2026 budget bill.

Either resolution would require 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and pass in the Senate.

The House already approved the GOP-proposed continuing resolution that only received 47 votes for versus 45 against in the Senate on Sept. 19.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Thune, R-S.D., intends to hold another vote on the GOP resolution as it was presented on Sept. 19. A vote also is expected on the Democrats’ proposal.

Sept. 29 (UPI) — The chances of a government shutdown increased on Monday after congressional leaders from both parties, during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, weren’t able to agree on a stopgap funding bill less than 48 hours before the deadline.

Without the funding bill signed by Trump, the government will run out of money, starting after midnight Wednesday.

Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both serving New York, have said they won’t support any stopgap bill unless it protects healthcare programs. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dajota, both Republicans, don’t want to restore recent Medicaid cuts, and it omits an extension of the currently enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits scheduled to expire.

The congressional leaders spoke separately with reporters outside the White House. Trump didn’t comment, including on Truth Social.

Schumer told reporters outside the White House’s West Wing that “there are still large differences between us.”

He added: “Their bill has not one iota of Democratic input.”

On Sept. 19, the House passed a seven-week stopgap funding bill that Senate Democrats rejected earlier this month.

“That is never how we’ve done this before,” Schumer said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune accused Democrats of “hostage taking” in their demands

“Republicans are united,” Thune said. House Republicans, Senate Republicans, President Trump. The House has passed a clean funding resolution to fund the government until November the 21st. It’s clean, it’s bipartisan, and it is short-term, but it gives us enough time to finish the appropriations process, which is the way we should be funding the government.”

He held up a copy of the bill, saying: “This is sitting right now at the Senate desk. We could pick it up and pass it tonight, pick it up and pass it tomorrow before the government shuts down, and then we don’t have the government shut down. It is totally up to the Democrats, because right now, they are the only thing standing between the American people and the government shutting down.”

Thume said the Senate will vote on the House’s continuing resolution before negotiating a full-year appropriations bill. They have a 53-47 majority, but 60 votes are needed for passage.

Last week, a memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget sent to federal agencies said there will be mass firings without stopgap funding. The OMB asked the federal agencies to identify programs that would lose funding and have no other sources of funding.

Essential services, including Social Security and Medicare payments, and mail delivery, will continue, though new applications, loans and some regulatory functions can face delays. Air travel and law enforcement also remain in place.

Essential workers and those sent home won’t get paid initially, but they all will get the money when the government reopens.

Vice President JD Vance said the nation is headed into a shutdown “because the Democrats won’t do the right thing.”

“Look the principle at stake here is very simple,” Vance said. “We have disagreements about tax policy, you don’t shut that government down. We have disagreements about healthcare policy, but you don’t shut the government down. You don’t use your policy disagreements as leverage to not pay our troops and not have essentials for services.”

Vance took a more conciliatory tone than the Republicans, saying he favors further discussing the Democrats’ demand. “They had some ideas that I actually thought were reasonable, and they had some ideas that the President thought was reasonable,” he told reporters. “What’s not reasonable is to hold those ideas as leverage and to shut down the government unless we give you everything you want.”

Democrats are concerned about increased healthcare premiums and closure of rural hospitals. On July 4, Trump signed the legislation that is called “the Big Beautiful Spending Bill” of tax and spending policies.

“By his face and by the way he looked, I think he heard about them for the first time,” Schumer said, noting he told Trump some families could see monthly premiums for the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, will rise $400 if enhanced subsidies are allowed to expire at the end of the year.

The Democrats warn that many rural hospitals would close in the next year because of nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts.

Republicans also rejected a stopgap bill to last seven to 10 days.

Republicans have differed on how to handle subsidies to help healthcare, including rural hospitals.

Trump continues to criticize Democrats, including a joint news conference with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu before the meeting with congressional leaders.

“They’re going to have to do some things because their ideas are not very good ones,” he said. “They’re very bad for our country, so we’ll see how that works out.”

The meeting was Trump’s first with top Democrats since he became president again on Jan. 20. Trump canceled a meeting scheduled for last week at the request of Johnson and Thune.

The meeting was announced late Saturday.

“I want to thank President Trump for the strong, solid leadership,” Johnson said. “He listened to the arguments and they just wouldn’t acknowledge the simple facts. If the Democrats make the decisions to shut the government down, the consequences are on them.”

Jeffries said, though “significant and meaningful differences remain,” they had a “frank and direct discussion” in the Oval Office.

The last U.S. government shutdown was 35 days, starting on Dec. 22, 2018, and ending on Jan. 25, 2019, when Trump was first president. Trump demanded $5.7 billion in federal funding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border at that time.

Sept. 28 (UPI) — President Donald Trump will meet Monday with the top four congressional leaders in a bid to avert a potential government shutdown.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced in a news release late Saturday that Trump had agreed to meet with them in the Oval Office of the White House ahead of an Oct. 1 deadline to pass a spending bill that would avoid a government shutdown.

“As we have repeatedly said, Democrats will meet anywhere, at any time and with anyone to negotiate a bipartisan spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people,” the top Democratic lawmakers said in the joint statement.

“We are resolute in our determination to avoid a government shutdown and address the Republican healthcare crisis. Time is running out.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, both Republicans, will join them at the White House, NBC News and CBS News reported.

The announcement of the meeting came after Trump cancelled a planned meeting last week with the Democratic lawmakers at the request of Johnson and Thune.

Congress has been deadlocked for weeks. Republicans are pushing to keep the government open with a short-term spending bill that would extend funding into November. Their bill would not restore recent Medicaid cuts, and it omits an extension of the currently enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits scheduled to expire.

Democrats, led by Schumer and Jeffries, have said they won’t support any stopgap bill unless it protects healthcare programs. They argue that those healthcare protections must be included in any emergency funding deal, not delayed for later talks.

“They want all this stuff. They don’t change. They haven’t learned from the biggest beating they’ve ever taken,” Trump previously said about meeting with Schumer and Jeffries. “I’d love to meet with them, but I don’t think it’s going to have an impact.”

So far, both sides have tested their positions with failed votes. On Sept. 19, the House passed the Republican plan to fund the government through Nov. 21, but the Senate rejected it. Republicans hold a slim majority of 53 seats and need Democratic support to get the 60 votes required to pass a funding bill.

Democrats have tried to advance their own version that included the healthcare protections, but that measure also failed to clear the Senate.

The standoff has raised fears of a repeat of past shutdowns, which disrupted federal services and cost the government billions of dollars.

Sept. 25 (UPI) — The White House has warned federal workers there will be more mass firings if Congress is unable to agree on a stopgap funding measure by the end of the month.

The warning came in the form of a memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget sent to federal agencies and viewed and first reported on by Politico.

CNN and The New York Times also viewed the memo sent Wednesday night.

The OMB asked the federal agencies to identify programs that would lose funding and have no other sources of funding if the stopgap measure measure fails to pass by Sept. 30. Programs that don’t align with President Donald Trump‘s priorities would then face a permanent elimination of jobs.

“Programs that did not benefit from an infusion of mandatory appropriations will bear the brunt of a shutdown,” the memo said.

“We remain hopeful that Democrats in Congress will not trigger a shutdown and the steps outlined above will not be necessary.”

The House passed a short-term funding measure Friday, but the bill failed in the Senate. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said his party wouldn’t support the legislation unless it included provisions extending Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the New Year.

Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries were expected to meet with Trump Tuesday, but the president canceled the meeting, saying he didn’t like their list of “demands.”

Schumer said Wednesday’s OMB memo was “an attempt at intimidation.”

“Donald Trump has been firing federal workers since day one — not to govern, but to scare,” he said. “This is nothing new and has nothing to do with funding the government. These unnecessary firings will either be overturned in court or the administration will end up hiring the workers back, just like they did as recently as today.”

Sept. 23 (UPI) — President Donald Trump canceled a planned meeting with Democratic congressional leaders to prevent a government shutdown Tuesday.

Trump planned to meet this week with the two as a Sept. 30 funding deadline to keep the government open nears. He was expected to meet with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on Thursday.

But Tuesday, he posted on Truth Social that he’d canceled the meeting because he didn’t like the list of Democrats’ demands, which he painted as “Radical Left Policies that nobody voted for– High Taxes, Open Borders, No Consequences for Violent Criminals, Men in Women’s Sports, Taxpayer funded ‘TRANSGENDER’ surgery, and much more.”

Earlier Tuesday, Jeffries and Schumer said in a statement they planned to use the meeting to “emphasize the importance of addressing rising costs, including the Republican healthcare crisis. It’s past time to meet and work to avoid a Republican-caused shutdown,” they said.

Republicans want a “clean” seven-week stopgap spending bill, while Democrats introduced a measure that would keep the government open for four weeks while attaching other demands, Politico reported.

In a post on X, Jeffries responded to the cancellation by saying, “Trump Always Chickens Out,” referring to the acronym TACO, which he coined. He added that “extremists want to shut down the government because they are unwilling to address the Republican healthcare crisis that is devastating America.”

One of the biggest sticking points is healthcare. Democrats are demanding any resolution include an extension of the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year.

Schumer said on X, “Happy New Year, Mr. President [referring to Rosh Hashanah]. When you’re finished ranting, we can sit down and discuss healthcare.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Tuesday that if a meeting happened, he would insist on attending.

“If there’s a meeting, I will certainly be there,” Johnson said. “But I’m not certain that the meeting is necessary.”

Sept. 22 (UPI) — President Donald Trump plans to meet this week with the two top Democratic leaders in Congress, as a Sept. 30 funding deadline to keep the government open nears, according to a source familiar with the planning.

Trump is expected to meet with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, both from New York, on Thursday after receiving a letter, the source told Roll Call, CBS and NBC News.

The president told reporters over the weekend he is not expecting any breakthroughs but will “continue to talk to the Democrats, but I think you could very well end up with a closed country for a period of time.”

“They want all this stuff. They don’t change. They haven’t learned from the biggest beating they’ve ever taken,” Trump said. “I’d love to meet with them, but I don’t think it’s going to have an impact.”

One of the biggest sticking points is healthcare. Democrats are demanding any resolution include an extension of the Affordable Care Act‘s enhanced tax credits, which are currently set to expire at the end of the year.

“I hope and pray that Trump will sit down with us and negotiate a bipartisan bill,” Schumer told CNN on Sunday.

On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the meeting is still under consideration.

“Discussions are ongoing with both Republican and Democratic members of Capitol Hill,” Leavitt said. “I don’t have any meetings or any scheduling updates for you today. But what I will share is … what this White House wants and what Republicans want, we want a clean funding extension to keep the government open.”

The Republican bill to keep the government running narrowly passed Friday in the House before lawmakers left Capitol Hill for a week. The short-term funding measure that would have kept the government open through Nov. 21, and boost security funding for lawmakers by $88 million, failed in the Senate.

A Democratic measure, prioritizing heath care at the expense of Trump policies while keeping the government open until Oct. 31, also failed.

“Tens of millions of Americans are on the brink of their healthcare costs increasing by thousands of dollars per year, risking bankruptcy for many families,” Schumer and Jeffries wrote to Trump.

“We do not understand why you prefer to shut down the government rather than protect the health care and quality of life of the American people.”