democratic leader

WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers took a significant risk this week by choosing to fight the Trump administration over the extension of healthcare credits.

A stalemate over the matter led to the federal shutdown on Tuesday night, when Democrats denied Republicans the votes needed to continue funding the government, forcing hundreds of thousands of federal workers into furloughs or to work without pay.

It’s a gamble for a party facing its lowest approval numbers since the Reagan era — and a calculated risk Democratic leaders felt feel compelled to take.

“I am proud to be fighting to preserve healthcare for millions of people, ” Sen. Adam Schiff of California said in an interview Wednesday. “I think this is a very necessary fight.”

The healthcare tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year, and if Democrats are unsuccessful in securing an extension as part of a shutdown deal, then premiums for millions of Americans are expected to skyrocket, Schiff said.

“There’s really not much that can be done to mitigate these dramatic health premium increases people are going to see unless the president and Republicans are willing to work with us on it,” he said.

Entering the shutdown, polls indicated the country was split over who would be to blame, with 19% of Americans faulting Democrats and 26% charging Republicans, according to a New York Times poll. A plurality of respondents — 33% — said both parties were responsible.

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, a Democrat and the Senate minority leader, is leading the charge with his worst favorability numbers among his home state residents in over 20 years — and with the highest disapproval ratings of any congressional leader, according a recent Pew survey.

Schumer faced widespread ridicule from within his party in March after reversing course during the last government funding deadline, choosing then to support the Trump administration’s continuing resolution proposal.

That showdown came at the height of an aggressive purge by President Trump of the federal workforce. A government shutdown would only enable more mass firings, Schumer said at the time.

But the current shutdown is already giving Trump administration officials license to resume mass layoffs, this time specifically targeting Democratic states and priorities.

“We’d be laying off a lot of people who are going to be very affected,” Trump said in the hours before the shutdown, adding: “They’re going to be Democrats.”

On Wednesday, Russ Vought, Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget and a longtime advocate of concentrated presidential power, wrote on social media that $8 billion in “Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda” would be canceled to 16 Democratic-majority states, including California, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii.

Hours earlier, the Trump administration had frozen roughly $18 billion for infrastructure projects in New York City pending a review that Vought said would “ensure funding is not flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans at a news conference Wednesday discussing the shutdown.

(Mariam Zuhaib / Associated Press)

Seeing these actions, Schiff worries about further punitive measures against California.

“California, I’m sure, won’t be far behind in the kind of vindictive actions of the president,” he said.

At a White House press briefing Wednesday afternoon, Vice President JD Vance denied that the administration was planning to structure layoffs based on politics.

“We’re going to have to make things work, and that means that we’re going to have to triage some certain things,” he said. “That means certain people are going to have to get laid off, and we’re going to try to make sure that the American people suffer as little as possible from the shutdown.”

Vance placed the blame squarely on Schumer and other Democrats, saying repeatedly that Democrats had shut down the government because Republicans refused to give billions of dollars in healthcare funding to immigrants in the country illegally. Immigrants without legal status are not eligible for any federal healthcare programs, including Medicaid and health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

“To the American people who are watching: The reason your government is shut down at this very minute is because, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of congressional Republicans — and even a few moderate Democrats — supported opening the government, the Chuck Schumer-AOC wing of the Democratic Party shut down the government,” the vice president said.

Vance said policy disagreements should not serve as the basis for keeping hostage essential services that Americans need. But before those discussions can happen, the government must be reopened.

“I’d invite Chuck Schumer to join the moderate Democrats and 52 Senate Republicans. Do the right thing, open up the People’s Government, and then let’s fix healthcare policy for the American people,” he said.

Some senators, including Democrat Ruben Gallego of Arizona, are exploring a bipartisan offramp from the crisis, including a potential continuing resolution that would reopen the government for roughly a week to provide room for negotiations.

While that option is on the table, less than 24 hours into the shutdown, some Democrats think a short-term solution is contingent on Trump being willing to negotiate with Democrats in good faith.

“It really just depends on whether the president decides he’s going to try to resolve this conflict and negotiate,” Schiff said. “Until he makes that decision that he wants the shutdown to end, it will continue.”

Vance described two categories of demands from congressional Democrats: those acting in good faith who want to make sure the administration engages in a conversation about critical issues such as healthcare, and those who refuse to reopen the government until every demand is met.

“We just write those people off because they’re not negotiating in good faith — and frankly, we don’t need it,” he said, noting that three senators who vote Democratic — John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and Angus King (I-Maine) — had already broken ranks to vote to fund the government.

“Three moderate Democrats joined 52 Republicans last night,” he said, adding: “We need five more in order to reopen the government, and that’s really where we’re going to focus.”

WASHINGTON — As a possible federal shutdown looms, the Democratic leaders of Congress are demanding a meeting with President Trump to negotiate an end to what they call “your decision” to shut government offices if no action is taken by the end-of-the-month deadline.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Saturday that Republicans, at Trump’s insistence, have refused to enter talks. Democrats are pushing to preserve healthcare programs as part of any deal to keep government running past the Sept. 30 funding deadline.

The New York Democrats’ remarks come after the House passed a spending bill Friday to avoid a shutdown but the Senate remained stalemated.

“We write to demand a meeting in connection with your decision to shut down the federal government because of the Republican desire to continue to gut the healthcare of the American people,” Schumer and Jeffries wrote.

“Democrats have been clear and consistent in our position,” they continued. “We are ready to work toward a bipartisan spending agreement that improves the lives of American families and addresses the Republican healthcare crisis.”

A Trump administration official, who was not authorized to comment on the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, was dismissive of the Democrats’ demand.

Congress, which is controlled by Republicans, failed to address the funding issue before lawmakers left town Friday for a break.

The House approved a Republican proposal to keep the federal government funded into November, but the measure failed in the Senate. A Democratic proposal that would have boosted healthcare funds also failed.

It all leaves Congress and the White House with no easy way out of the standoff that threatens a shutdown in less than two weeks when the current budget year and funding expire. Trump’s first term in office saw a monthlong shutdown, the longest in federal history, in 2018-19.

Trump predicted Friday that there could be “a closed country for a period of time.” He said the government will continue to “take care” of the military and Social Security payments in the event of a closure.

Republicans have contended that they are not to blame for any possible shutdown, blaming Democrats.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) have put forward the short-term measure, which is a typical way that Congress resolves such logjams. That would keep government operations running at current levels as talks get underway.

While the House was able to narrowly pass the temporary funding measure on a mostly party-line vote, in the Senate the process can require a higher 60-vote threshold, which means support is needed from Republicans and Democrats.

Democrats are working to protect healthcare programs. The Democratic proposal would extend enhanced health insurance subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, plus reverse Medicaid cuts that were included in Republicans’ massive spending and tax cut bill enacted in July.

Republicans have said the Democrats’ demands to reverse the Medicaid changes are a nonstarter, but they have also said there is time to address the health insurance subsidy issue in the months ahead.

Mascaro writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.

The California Legislature on Thursday passed a pair of bills to prohibit on-duty law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from masking their faces and to require them to identify themselves.

Senate Bill 627, written by Sens. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Jesse Arreguín (D-Berkeley), includes exceptions for SWAT teams and others. The measure was introduced after the Trump administration ordered immigration raids throughout the Los Angeles area earlier this year.

Federal officers in army-green neck gaiters or other face coverings have jumped out of vans and cars to detain individuals across California this summer as part of President Trump’s mass deportation program, prompting a wave of criticism from Democratic leaders.

Representatives for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security defend the face coverings, arguing that identifying officers subjects to them to retaliation and violence.

If supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the law would apply to local and federal officers, but not state officers such as California Highway Patrol officers. Wiener, when asked about that exemption on the Senate floor, declined to elaborate.

Leaders in Los Angeles County are exploring a similar measure to ban masks despite some legal experts’ view that the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution dictates that federal law takes precedence over state law.

The bill’s backers argue that permitting officers to disguise themselves creates scenarios where impostors may stop and detain migrants, which undermines public trust and ultimately hinders legitimate law enforcement operations.

“The idea that in California we would have law enforcement officers running around with ski masks is terrifying,” Wiener said in a brief interview. “It destroys confidence in law enforcement.”

Wiener’s bill allows exceptions for masks, including for undercover officers. Medical coverings are also allowed. .

Senate Bill 805, a measure by Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Alhambra) that targets immigration officers who are in plainclothes but don’t identify themselves, also passed the state Legislature on Thursday.

Her bill requires law enforcement officers in plain clothes to display their agency, as well as either a badge number or name, with some exemptions.

As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push to redraw California’s congressional maps plays out at the state Capitol and on the national stage, a quieter but no less bloody scramble is simultaneously underway.

Newsom’s plan — a bid to counter President Trump’s drive for more GOP House seats with his own California show of force — still needs to be approved by the state Legislature before voters decide its fate in November.

But behind the scenes, consultants, lawmakers and would-be candidates already are jockeying for position in the newly competitive or vastly redrawn districts that may soon exist across the state.

As rumblings emerged that there probably would be a new southeast Los Angeles County congressional seat — later confirmed by the official maps released last week — political watchers braced for a full-on feeding frenzy. A fresh seat in a safe Democratic district can be a once-in-a-generation opportunity, particularly in a region crowded with ambitious politicians.

But a race that doesn’t even officially exist yet seems to already be practically tied up with a bow.

L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis hasn’t publicly announced her candidacy. But she’s made her intention to run for the redrawn 38th district clear within the close-knit world of California politics. And other would-be candidates appear to be staying out of the veteran politician’s way.

In the brass-knuckles world of southeast L.A. County politics, Solis, 67, has long been a starring player.

She previously served in Congress and the statehouse before becoming one of the five “little queens” holding the reins of the county kingdom.

Her desire for the new seat and her ability to claw back potential competition are widely known, according to conversations with more than a dozen political operatives and current and former lawmakers, most of whom asked for anonymity to speak freely about a sensitive topic. Through a consultant, Solis did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Solis was telling California lawmakers and other civic leaders that she was planning to run and was seeking endorsements, even before the maps were finalized.

At least one California lawmaker noted that Solis referred to the district as “my seat” when asking for backing — a reference to the seat she once held, even though the new district doesn’t yet exist.

Some have bristled at the alacrity with which Solis has appeared to consolidate support. The frustration is sharpened at a time when aging politicians in Washington have become a political flashpoint and Democratic leaders have been criticized for sidelining younger talent.

“It kind of looks like Hilda Solis has completely sewn up that seat in one night of making phone calls. And the excitement of a brand new seat was quickly extinguished,” one Southern California Democratic political consultant said.

Several of the consultant’s clients have already agreed to endorse Solis, they added.

“Unless Cesar Chavez himself is running out there, Hilda Solis will get our support,” a leader of one politically influential union said, name-checking the late labor trailblazer.

Solis was reelected to a third and final term on the powerful county Board of Supervisors in 2022, representing a district that sprawls from downtown and northeast Los Angeles to Pomona. She has been a leader on environmental justice and immigrant issues and made history early in her career as the first Latina in the state Senate.

Congress would be a homecoming of sorts for her — she was elected to the House in 2000 and served several terms before stepping down for a role as President Obama’s Secretary of Labor in 2009.

Under the proposed maps, Democrats could pick up five seats now held by Republicans while bolstering vulnerable Democratic Reps. Adam Gray, Josh Harder, George Whitesides, Derek Tran and Dave Min. To make those changes work, the maps vastly alter other districts around the state while creating an additional district in L.A. County.

A wide swath of what is now the 38th Congressional District, represented by Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Whittier), would be divided into two neighboring southeast L.A. County districts.

Because members of Congress do not have to live in the district they represent, and because the proposed 38th and 41st districts both include a large chunk of Sánchez’s current district, it was initially unclear which would lack an incumbent and be seen as the “new” district.

But should the maps pass, Sánchez is likely planning to run in the 41st district, according to a source close to her.

During the state’s last redistricting process — when California lost a congressional seat for the first time due to dwindling population — the Southeast L.A. County seat held by Lucille Roybal-Allard, the first Mexican American woman elected to Congress, was eliminated.

Both of the proposed new districts contain portions of Roybal-Allard’s old district — which had the most Latino voters of any district in the country, according to the 2010 census.

“The L.A. delegation gets one more member of Congress when this is all over, and that member will be elected by the Latino community,” said Paul Mitchell, the political data expert tapped by Newsom to draw the new lines.

The proposed 38th District, where Solis is planning to run, would include a swath of southeast L.A. County, including some or all of cities such as Bell, Montebello and Pico Rivera, as well as El Monte, City of Industry and Hacienda Heights, stretching east to Diamond Bar before dipping south to encompass the Orange County city of Yorba Linda.

The proposed new 41st District, where Sánchez is expected to run for reelection, would include some or all of Downey, Whittier and Lakewood, as well as La Habra and Brea in Orange County. (The “old” 41st District, represented by GOP Rep. Ken Calvert, is located entirely in Riverside County, stretching from Corona to Palm Springs.)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom poses for a photo with Los Angeles area Democratic lawmakers Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio, center, and her sister Sen. Susan Rubio, right, after his State of the State address in 2020.

(Rich Pedroncelli/AP)

There initially had been talk that one of the politically ambitious Rubios of Baldwin Park, who became the first sisters to serve together in the state Legislature, might be interested in the 38th.

But Susan Rubio failed to make it past the primary in a House bid last year, and her Senate seat is up for reelection in 2026, making her less likely to forgo a relatively easy path back to Sacramento for a far riskier congressional contest. A spokesperson said Rubio has not expressed interest in the seat.

Blanca Rubio said through a spokesperson Tuesday that she is solely focused on her Assembly district.

Solis’ position as a powerful county supervisor, along with her years of name recognition, would give her a strong advantage in drumming up money and endorsements.

Still, should the new maps pass, it’s unlikely that she would go entirely unchallenged. Even as some appear ready to anoint her, others are ready for a generational change.

Former state Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo of Boyle Heights cited Democratic leaders such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Greg Casar of Texas, all of whom are under 40.

“The area includes a lot of smaller cities with a lot of dynamic leaders and is obviously representative of a very diverse community,” Carrillo said of Southeast L.A. County. “The Democratic Party has an opportunity to elect a new generation of leaders that can inspire the voter base and can inspire the future of the Democratic Party.”

Times staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.