Mike Johnson

Nov. 3 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate reconvened Monday afternoon for a possible funding bill as the federal government shutdown moved one day closer to a record 35 days, set in 2019 during President Donald Trump‘s first term.

There have been 13 unsuccessful procedural votes on a House-passed continuing resolution, which would fund the government through Nov. 21.

The Senate convened at 3 p.m. after last meeting on Thursday. The House hasn’t been in session since Sept. 19. The government shut down on Oct. 1.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Monday that he is “optimistic” but not necessarily “confident” senators from both parties will reach a deal to reopen the government this week.

“Based on sort of my gut of how things operate, I think we’re getting close to an off-ramp. But this is unlike any other government shutdown in terms of the way Democrats reacted to it,” he said.

Thune hopes to have an agreement this week because the Senate is scheduled to be in recess next week for Veterans Day.

“There were a lot of conversations over the weekend and hopefully that will bring about the desired result,” Thine said. “But you know, if we don’t start seeing some progress or some evidence of that by at least the middle of this week, it’s hard to see how we would finish anything by the end of the week. And I think that would be the objective here, to try and get something that we could send back to the House that would open up the government.”

Thune said he is agreeable to extending the resolution until January.

Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday that GOP leaders are discussing ways to deal with the expiration date of the continuing resolution that passed the House 217-212 on Sept. 19.

The House only needs a majority to pass legislation.

In the Senate, they have failed to reach the required 60 votes. The Republicans have a 53-47 advantage.

Trump has called for Senate Republicans to “get rid of the filibuster” to allow them to pass the stopgap funding bill with a simple majority. The so-called “nuclear option” would eliminate the need for the 60-vote supermajority typically required to pass legislation in the upper chamber.

Thune said he’s against invoking the nuclear option for fear Democrats would use it as a precedent and take advantage of it when they control the Senate in the future.

In fact, he said Monday that there’s not enough support among his colleagues on scrapping the filibuster.

“The votes aren’t there,” Thune told reporters.

The Trump administration opposes negotiating with Democrats on healthcare until the government reopens. The Democrats don’t want to approve any funding bill until subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, are extended into next year.

“Our position has been very clear,” one White House official told CNN. “The clean CR [continuing resolution] needs to be passed, and then there’s room for talks after that.”

The White House is calling it a “Democratic shutdown” on its website and social media.

A bipartisan quartet of House lawmakers released a “statement of principles” Monday for an extension of Obamacare subsidies for two years and an income cap for eligibility, Politico reported. It was by Republican Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska and Jeff Hurd of Colorado, and Democratic Reps. Tom Suozzi of New York and Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said lawmakers have been on a “taxpayer-funded vacation” instead of negotiating and Trump was at his home in Florida, including hosting a $1 million-per-play campaign fundraising dinner.

“What’s Donald Trump been doing this weekend? He was on the golf course, spitting in the face of the American people with his inaction and his indifference,” Jeffries said.

Only essential personnel are working and without pay. That includes air traffic controllers. Flights have been delayed at airports throughout the nation. At last 670,000 federal employees have been furloughed and roughly 730,000 working without pay. In past shutdowns, workers off the job received back pay.

“There is a level of risk that gets injected into the system when we have a controller that’s doing two jobs instead of one,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Sunday on ABC News’ This Week. “We will delay, we will cancel, any kind of flight across the national airspace to make sure people are safe.”

Flights are being spaced out to handle the diminished staff.

From Friday morning until Sunday night, 98 Federal Aviation Administration facilities reported a “staffing trigger” in which air traffic controllers had to alter operations to keep the airspace safe.

FlightAware reported 5,890 total delays involving U.S. airports on Sunday. The delays aren’t only related to air traffic control issues.

Oct. 18 (UPI) — Several million people plan to participate Saturday in more than 2,500 “No Kings” rallies throughout the United States in what organizers are billing as the largest single-day protest in modern history.

The first “No Kings’ events, in opposition to President Donald Trump, was on June 14, when there were more than 2,000 events drawing more than 5 million people. A military parade in Washington, D.C., also took place that day.

“I think what you’ll see on No Kings II in October is a boisterous, joyful crowd expressing their political opinions in a peaceful, joyous way,” Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin told USA Today. “People with dogs, people with kids, people with funny signs, music, dancing, laughing, community building, and a sense of collective effervescence that comes when you gather with a lot of people with a shared purpose.”

The events are being run by a coalition of organizations that also include the American Civil Liberties Union.

“No thrones. No crowns. No Kings,” states the “No Kings’ website, which lists event locations. “Millions of us are rising again to show the world: America has no kings, and the power belongs to the people.”

The first events are scheduled for 11 a.m. EDT, including a march in New York City. One in Washington is set for noon and in Chicago at 1 p.m. EDT. Hours later, events will take place in western time zones.

Events also occurred in Europe, including outside the U.S. embassy in Berlin, Germany.

Britannica lists the largest single-day protest in the United States as occurring on April 22, 1970, drawing an estimated 20 million on the first Earth Day. Hands Across America drew 5 million to 7 million on May 25, 1986, with the first “No Kings” listed as third. The Women’s March, one day after Trump first became president on Jan. 21, 2017, drew an estimated 4.6 million.

Nonprofit organizer Indivisible Project said the protests will be “nonviolent action” with people trained in safety and de-escalation.

The Department of Homeland Security has warned law enforcement agencies across the country about the potential for certain events to become violent. According to an intelligence report obtained by CNN, police should look out for demonstrators “with a history of exploiting lawful protests to engage in violence” and attendees with who are perceived to have had paramilitary-like training.

Some state leaders are calling up additional law enforcement.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said he’s activated the National Guard to support police “to help keep Virginians safe.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, wrote on X on Thursday, that he “directed the Dept. of Public Safety and National Guard to surge forces into Austin” ahead of the rallies.

“Texas will NOT tolerate chaos. Anyone destroying property or committing acts of violence will be swiftly arrested,” Abbott wrote.

Republican leaders describe the protests are a series of”Hate America” rallies.

“And I encourage you to watch — we call it the ‘Hate America Rally’ that will happen Saturday,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Wednesday. “Let’s see who shows up for that. I bet you see pro-Hamas supporters. I bet you see Antifa types. I bet you see the Marxists in full display, the people who don’t want to stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic.”

“The truth is — what Democrats really want is something Republicans can’t give them. And that is the approval of their far-left base,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday.

Organizers say the Republican stance will backfire.

“I think, if anything, it will increase turnout,” Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer of the ACLU, told ABC News. “I think Americans can really see through these sad attempts to distract attention from the failure of these Republican Congress people and Republican Trump administration to actually address what most Americans want and need from their government.”

Trump, who is spending the weekend at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., said in a Fox Business Network interview that aired Friday: “You know, they’re saying. They’re referring to me as a king. I’m not.”

During Trump’s 11th visit to his county of residence since he became president again, events are planned in Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Lake Worth Beach and Boca Raton.

A June rally was at the Meyer Amphitheater in downtown West Palm Beach.

The events are coming on the 18th day of the U.S. government shutdown. Senators on Thursday failed for the 10th time to resolve the impasse in votes on Thursday.

“We’ll be in the streets for immigrant families under attack and for voters who are being silenced,” the Progressive Change Campaign Committee wrote in an email obtained by ABC News. “For communities being terrorized by militarized policing. For families who are about to lose their health insurance. And for every single person whose rights are threatened by this administration’s cruelty.”

The political action committee said celebrities will include Jane Fonda, Kerry Washington, John Legend, Alan Cumming and John Leguizamo.

The protests are occurring amid a backdrop of immigration enforcement and a crackdown on crime.

Trump ordered National Guard deployments to Illinois; Memphis, Tenn.; Portland, Ore.; and Washington, D.C. In June, the guard and Marines were deployed to Los Angeles amid protests.

Oct. 15 (UPI) — Mike Johnson, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, called Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., a “faithful colleague” on Wednesday, one day after he was issued a restraining order.

A Florida judge issued the protective order Tuesday against Mills, directing him to have no contact with a former girlfriend who accused him of threatening her.

“I have not heard or looked into any of the details of that. I’ve been a little busy,” Johnson told reporters in the Capitol. “We have a House Ethics Committee. If it warrants that, I’m sure they’ll look into that.”

The petitioner was Lindsey Langston, a Republican state committeeperson and Miss United States 2024. She alleged that Mills threatened her on Instagram after blocking him and telling him she didn’t want further contact. “The messages progressively got more threatening over time,” she wrote.

She said he threatened to release nude videos of her.

In his order, the judge said the evidence supported Langston’s allegations that Mills had caused her “substantial emotional distress.” The judge said Mills offered “no credible rebuttal” to her testimony. He found that Langston has a “reasonable cause to believe she is in imminent danger of becoming the victim of another act of dating violence” without the restraining order being put in place, Politico reported.

When pressed about the allegations, Johnson brushed them off.

“You have to ask Rep. Mills about that. He’s been a faithful colleague here. I know his work on the Hill. I don’t know all the details of all the individual allegations, and what he’s doing — things outside life,” Johnson said. “Let’s just talk about the things that are really serious.”

The restraining order directs Mills, 45, to stay at least 500 feet away from Langston and to not contact her until Jan. 1. The order also blocks Mills from mentioning Langston on social media, according to NBC News.

Oct. 15 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate is expected to vote Wednesday afternoon on a measure that would fund the government, and President Donald Trump said he plans to release a list Friday of “Democratic” programs he’s eliminated.

Today’s vote will be the 10th Senate vote to open the government, which has now been shut down for 15 days. Democrats and Republicans are still at odds on bills to reopen.

The ninth vote on Tuesday to fund the government until Nov. 21 failed 49-45 with six senators absent. To pass, it needs 60 votes.

Trump’s list of cut programs is scheduled to be released Friday.

“We are closing up Democrat programs that we disagree with, and they’re never going to open up again,” Trump said. “We’re able to do things that we’ve never been able to do before. The Democrats are getting killed.”

Though Trump has made funding available for service members to get their next paychecks, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., said it’s a temporary measure.

“If the Democrats continue to vote to keep the government closed as they have done now so many times, then we know that U.S. troops are going to risk missing a full paycheck at the end of this month,” Johnson said at his daily press conference.

Democrats are holding out for healthcare subsidies from the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans recently cut from the appropriations bill, and approval for Medicaid funding. Millions of Americans are expected to see their health insurance premiums skyrocket when the subsidies expire at the end of the year.

The longest shutdown lasted 35 days in December 2018 and January 2019. Johnson said that “we’re barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history unless Democrats drop their partisan demands.”

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 19 (UPI) — House Republicans expect to hold a vote Friday on legislation that would fund the government through Nov. 21, but a battle over Affordable Care Act subsidies could upend the plans in the Senate.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., said Thursday he expects he’ll have the votes needed to pass the continuing resolution just as he did in March’s CR vote.

“We’re going to get this government funded,” he told reporters, according to NPR. “We’re going to keep the funding going and our appropriators will have more time to do their work.”

With a six-vote majority, House Republicans are likely to pass the CR, but things are less certain in the Senate, where the GOP can afford to lose only two votes.

An unnamed leader among House Republicans told The Hill that the party will attempt to force Senate Democrats into going along with the CR by refusing to return to business in Congress until Oct. 1. Congress is on a break next week in observance of Rosh Hashanah, but House Republicans have also canceled votes previously scheduled for Sept. 29 and Sept. 30.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York ended up striking a deal with Republicans and voted in favor of the March CR to avoid a government shutdown at the time. He could block the bill currently under consideration with a filibuster.

Both Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York have promised to vote against the CR. They cited the need to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year.

“We will not support a partisan spending bill that Republicans are trying to jam down the throats of the American people that continues to gut healthcare,” Jeffries said Tuesday.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, expressed support for the CR on a post on Truth Social.

“Congressional Republicans, including [Senate Republican] Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson, are working on a short term “CLEAN” extension of Government Funding to stop Cryin’ Chuck Schumer from shutting down the Government,” Trump posted on his social media site.

“In times like these, Republicans have to stick TOGETHER to fight back against the Radical Left Democrat demands, and vote “YES!” on both Votes needed to pass a Clean CRP this week out of the House of Representatives. Democrats want the Government to shut down. Republicans want the Government to OPEN.”

Sept. 11 (UPI) — The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the “Stop Illegal Entry Act,” which increases potential prison sentences for those who are convicted of repeatedly illegally entering the United States.

The proposed Stop Illegal Entry Act of 2025 is part of the Trump administration’s and the GOP’s efforts to discourage illegal immigration and related crimes.

Eleven Democrats joined with Republicans to approve House Resolution 3486, 226-197, and sent the measure to the Senate, where a similar measure has been introduced, Roll Call reported.

“The Biden Administration let over 10 million illegal immigrants into the country and failed to prosecute those who defied U.S.immigration law,” said sponsor Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla.

“These individuals included people from countries designated as state sponsors of terror, with 400 illegal aliens on the Terrorist Watch List being encountered at the border,” Bice continued.

“We must deter future illegal immigration and give our law enforcement and border patrol officers the tools they need to hold dangerous criminals accountable.”

The measure would set a mandatory prison sentence of at least five years and up to life for those who are convicted of a felony after illegally entering the nation.

The resolution also increases to five years the prior maximum sentence of two years for those convicted of repeated illegal entry.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the measure includes “common-sense provisions” that deter illegal entry into the United States.

“Deterrence is an effective method of prevention, and the Stop Illegal Entry Act delivers the enforcement measures necessary to help strengthen law and order at our border,” Johnson said.

American Civil Liberties Union officials oppose the measure’s passage and in a press release said H.R. 3486 “would impose extreme prison sentences” on asylum seekers, teenagers and people trying to reunite with their families.

“H.R. 3486 would supercharge President Trump’s reckless deportation drive, which is already damaging our economy and destabilizing communities,” said Mike Zamore, ACLU national director of policy and government affairs.

“This legislation would hand the Trump administration more tools to criminalize immigrants and terrorize communities at the same time they are deploying federal agents and the military to our streets,” he continued.

“It would also undermine public safety by diverting more resources away from youth services and prevention programs that actually improve community safety.”

Sept. 3 (UPI) — Survivors of convicted sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, flanked by lawmakers and lawyers, spoke out at a press conference on Capital Hill Wednesday.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, called the fight for the Epstein files a “Democrat hoax.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., called on Republicans in the House to support the survivors by signing his discharge petition to force a vote to release all the files. But House GOP leaders are pushing members to avoid the petition and support the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is working for disclosures from the Department of Justice, The Hill reported.

In a closed-door meeting in the Capitol, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called on GOP lawmakers to instead support the efforts of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, led by Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., which is seeking more disclosures on the Epstein case from the DOJ, the Epstein estate, and former law enforcement officials who worked on the case.

Massie said of Comer’s committee, “They’re allowing the DOJ to curate all of the information that the DOJ is giving them.”

“I hope my colleagues are watching this press conference,” Massie said. “Hopefully today we’ll get two more signatures on the discharge petition, that’s all we need.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said she and the others would fight for the victims.

“Today, we are coming forward and we are going to fight like hell for these women, because we have to fight like hell for those that are enduring sexual abuse and are living in a prison of shame,” Greene said.

Trump said in a meeting Wednesday with the president of Poland to a reporter, “So this is a Democrat hoax that never ends. You know, it reminds me a little of the Kennedy situation [assassination], we gave them everything. Over and over again. More and more and more. And nobody’s ever satisfied.”

He said Democrats are trying to distract from his successes as president.

“I know that no matter what you do, it’s going to keep going,” the president said of the focus on the Epstein files.

“I think we’re probably having, according to what I read, even from two people in this room, we’re having the most successful eight months of any president ever,” he said. “And that’s what I want to talk about. That’s what we should be talking about. Not the Epstein hoax.”

Brad Edwards, who represents some of the victims, responded, urging Trump to join the survivors.

“Back in 2009 and several times after that, [Trump] didn’t think that it was a hoax then. In fact, he helped me. He got on the phone, he told me things that were helping our investigation. Our investigation wasn’t looking into him, but he was helping us then,” Edwards said. “So at this point in time, I would hope that he would revert back to what he was saying to get elected, which is, ‘I want transparency.'”

One of Epstein’s survivors, Chauntae Davies, said Epstein was very proud of his friendship with Trump.

“His biggest brag, forever, was that he was very good friends with Donald Trump. He had an 8-by-10 framed picture of him on his desk with the two of them,” Davies said.

Several victims expressed their pain and frustration with the lack of transparency and support at the event.

“Why was he so protected? And why didn’t anyone ever care to stop him?” survivor Haley Robson asked.

She urged lawmakers to “lift the curtain on these files and be transparent.”

Marina Lacerda said she was “one of dozens of girls that I personally know who was forced into Jeffrey mansion … when we were just kids,” CBS News reported.

Lacerda said she was 14 when she met Epstein, after being told she could earn $300 “to give an older guy a massage.”

“It went from a dream job to the worst nightmare,” Lacerda said.

She said she had “no way out … until he finally told me that I was too old.”

Lacerda questioned why Epstein was able to “go on with the abuse,” saying she could have testified earlier on to “help stop him.”

“Our government could have saved so many women, but Jeffrey Epstein was too important and those women didn’t matter,” Lacerda said. “Why? Well we matter now. We are here today, and we are speaking, and we are not going to stop speaking.”

A lawyer for some of the victims, Brittany Henderson, said the women want transparency and protection.

“The women here represent hundreds of other women who we have spoken to, many of whom were trafficked from other countries — from eastern European countries — where women don’t have the rights that we have here, women don’t have the protections that we have here. And those women are terrified that their names will be released in those files.”

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who is working with Massie on the discharge petition, said, “A nation that allows rich and powerful men to traffic and abuse young girls without consequence, is a nation that has lost its moral and spiritual core.”

Khanna said there are “corrupt, special-interest forces” blocking the release of the full files, saying “There is something that is rotten in Washington.”

Survivor Jena-Lisa Jones said, “Together, we can finally make a change.”

“Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, this does not matter,” Jones said. “This is not about sides.”

One survivor, Teresa Helm, spoke out against the interview that Attorney General Todd Blanche conducted with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

“Her voice was elevated way before our voices were elevated here today. And that same calm, manipulative voice that she had, so polite there that day with Todd Blanche, was the same, polite, coercive, manipulative voice that I heard as she was grooming me to then send me off to the home of Jeffrey Epstein, where he would assault me.”

She criticized Blanche’s failure to counter what Maxwell said.

“Does he even have the facts to be able to push back on her? We could sit there and push back. Why didn’t we get to attend that? Why weren’t we there that day? Or why wasn’t even one of us consulted prior to that day in that meeting?” she asked.

“We all work very hard on healing and [Maxwell’s voice] still gets to us after two decades,” she said.

Annie Farmer, a survivor who testified at Maxwell’s trial, said that there are two Americas.

“At a time with record high levels of distrust in our institutions, and a perception that there are two Americas — one for those with power and privilege and one for everyone else, passing this Epstein transparency bill is one important step that can be taken to prove to Americans that the government does not side with sexual perpetrators,” Farmer said.

Anouska De Georgiou, another survivor, said the issue is secrecy.

She called the discharge petition “so essential,” saying it’s “about ending secrecy wherever abuse of power takes root.”

“The only motive for opposing this bill would be to conceal wrongdoing,” she said.

Massie voiced the same concern.

“What’s clear is they’re not redacting just to protect victims; they are redacting to protect reputations,” Massie said. “Some of those people are probably innocent, but some of them are most certainly guilty.”

Aug. 29 (UPI) — President Donald Trump is attempting to recoup around $5 billion in federal funding already approved for distribution to the State Department and foreign aid programs, the White House confirmed Friday.

Trump is attempting to use the so-called pocket recession clause to claw back the $4.9 billion, a tactic last attempted in 1977 by then-President Jimmy Carter, a White House Office of Management and Budget spokesperson said Friday.

The clause allows the president to ask Congress to consider withholding the money, giving it 45 days to make a decision. In this instance, the 45-day window would run through the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30. At that point, the funds would not be restored.

Trump made the request Friday in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

The president is targeting around $3 billion already earmarked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, along with an additional $990 million to be sent to the State Department and $445 million in separate peacekeeping funding.

The pocket recession came into existence with the passing of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.

In a post earlier this month, the U.S. Government Accountability Office addressed the issue of pocket recessions, calling them “illegal.”

It points to a 2018 review of the tactic, which “concluded that the ICA does not permit the withholding of funds through their expiration date. In reaching that conclusion, we considered the language in the law, legislative history of the ICA, Supreme Court case law, and the overarching constitutional framework of the legislative and executive powers. We found that there is no basis to interpret the ICA as a mechanism by which a president may shorten the time period that an appropriation may be used.”

A White House spokesperson Friday told The Hill the tactic is legal and that the budget office was aware of the GAO’s position, but that previous administrations failed to act by closing the loophole despite recommendations.

Earlier this week, Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in and block a lower court order compelling the federal government to release around $12 billion in foreign aid funding.

July 25 (UPI) — Ghislaine Maxwell, associate of child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, is meeting with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche Friday to answer more questions about her knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and who may have associated with him.

The two met Thursday and spoke for six hours at a federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Fla. Friday’s meeting is a continuation of the questioning. Blanche is a former defense attorney of President Donald Trump.

Before leaving for Scotland Friday, Trump brushed off questions about Epstein.

“I have nothing to do with the guy,” Trump said of Epstein. He socialized with Epstein for years before falling out with him in the mid-2000s.

Trump said reporters should focus on those who allegedly spent time with Epstein, such as former President Bill Clinton and ex-Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who was also once the president of Harvard.

People “don’t talk about them. They talk about me,” he complained.

“You should focus on Clinton. You should focus on the president of Harvard, the former president of Harvard, you should focus on some of the hedge fund guys,” CNBC reported that Trump said.

“I’ll give you a list. These guys lived with Jeffrey Epstein, I sure as hell didn’t.”

When asked if he would pardon Maxwell, who has served five years of a 20-year sentence for finding and grooming young girls for Epstein’s abuse, Trump said, “It’s something I haven’t thought about.”

“I’m allowed to do it,” he added.

Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus said Maxwell was “hoping for another productive day.”

“Ghislaine has been treated unfairly for over five years now,” he added.

“If you looked up scapegoat in the dictionary, her face would be next to the definition next to the dictionary definition of it,” he said. “So, you know, we’re grateful for this opportunity to finally be able to say what really happened, and that’s what we’re going to do yesterday and today.”

“We just ask that folks look at what she has to say with an open mind, and that’s what Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has promised us, and everything she says can be corroborated, and she’s telling the truth,” Markus said.

“She’s got no reason to lie at this point, and she’s going to keep telling the truth.”

Markus refused to comment on the nature of the questioning.

On social media, Blanche said he would reveal what he learned from Maxwell “at the appropriate time.”

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that a recent review of Epstein-related documents by the Justice Department and FBI allegedly found that Trump’s name appeared several times in the files.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., during a press conference on Wednesday, said making the Epstein files public needs to be done in a way that protects the victims mentioned, some of whom are minors.

July 24 (UPI) — The U.S. Department of Justice is meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, the accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, at a federal courthouse in Florida on Thursday.

She was originally scheduled to meet Justice Department representatives at the minimum-security prison where she is serving a 20-year sentence for sex-trafficking, but instead the meeting will happen at the U.S. attorney’s office, located inside the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, as first reported by ABC News.

“For the first time, the Department of Justice is reaching out to Ghislaine Maxwell to ask: what do you know?” posted U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to X Tuesday in regard to the Thursday meeting.

Maxwell has also been subpoenaed by House Oversight Committee Chairperson Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., for a deposition slated to take place at the prison where she is held on Aug. 11.

Maxwell was convicted and sentenced in June 2022 as an accomplice in Epstein’s sex-trafficking scheme and was denied a reassessment by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that a recent review of Epstein-related documents by the Justice Department and FBI allegedly found that President Donald Trump‘s name appeared several times in the files, and that Trump was informed of that by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in May before the Justice Department said it would not make those files public.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Wednesday during a press conference that when the Epstein files are made public, “which we must do as quickly as possible,” it needs to be done in a way that protects the victims mentioned in the files, some of whom are purportedly minors.

But he also stressed that only “credible evidence” should be revealed, and Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus responded on X Wednesday that “We understand [Johnson’s] general concern, Congress should always vet the credibility of its witnesses.”

However, Markus claimed, “those concerns are unfounded,” and that Maxwell testifies before Congress and not invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, that “she would testify truthfully.”

Markus also said that Maxwell is looking forward to her meeting with the DOJ, and that will inform how she proceeds in regard to the Congressional subpoena.

Rumors that Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while in custody, had a list of clients who participated in the abuse and exploitation have been denied by the DOJ. Further rumors involve President Donald Trump’s past relationship with Epstein, although Trump has since called public’s interest in the Epstein files a “scam” and a “hoax” created by his political opponents.

July 23 (UPI) — The U.S. House Oversight Committee on Wednesday subpoenaed Ghislaine Maxwell as a subcommittee sought subpoenas for President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and the Justice Department.

A House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee also approved subpoenas to obtain Department of Justice records related to the Epstein files and deposing former President Bill Clinton and other Democrats.

Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., introduced the motion to subpoena the DOJ’s “full, complete [and] unredacted” Epstein files, which passed with an 8-2 vote.

Republican Reps. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Brian Jack of Georgia and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania joined Democrats in voting in favor of the subpoena motion.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said he will sign the DOJ subpoena for the Epstein files, ABC News reported.

The subcommittee also seeks former President Clinton’s and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s depositions.

Others targeted for subpoenas include James Comey, Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch, Robert Mueller, Alberto Gonzales and Jeff Sessions.

House speaker questions Maxwell’s credibility

The Oversight Committee wants to depose Maxwell on Aug. 11 at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Fla.

Maxwell, 63, was an associate of former financier and convicted sex offender Epstein, who killed himself while jailed in New York City and awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges that included minors in 2019.

She also is the daughter of former British media mogul Robert Maxwell and is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Florida after a jury found her guilty of sex trafficking in 2021.

“The facts and circumstances surrounding both your and Mr. Epstein’s cases have received immense public interest and scrutiny,” Comer said in the subpoena.

Comer said the Justice Department also is undertaking “efforts to uncover and publicly disclose additional information related to your and Mr. Epstein’s cases.”

“It is imperative that Congress conduct oversight of the federal government’s enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally,” he added, “and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of you and Mr. Epstein.”

Comer submitted the subpoena a day after a House Oversight subcommittee approved a motion that directed him to seek Maxwell’s testimony before the Oversight Committee.

The Justice Department on Tuesday also announced it will interview Maxwell soon to provide greater transparency in the case against Epstein.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Wednesday questioned the credibility of Maxwell’s testimony.

“Could she be counted on to tell the truth?” Johnson asked reporters. “Is she a credible witness?”

He called Maxwell “a person who’s been sentenced to many, many years in prison for terrible, unspeakable conspiratorial acts and acts against innocent young people.”

Federal judge denies Epstein grand jury files access

A federal judge on Wednesday denied one of three DOJ requests to release grand jury records from Epstein’s case there.

U.S. District of Southern Florida Judge Robin Rosenberg refused to unseal the grand jury testimony and records from cases against Epstein in 2005 and 2007.

Rosenberg said the Justice Department did not sufficiently outline arguments to unseal the court records.

She also denied a request to transfer the matter to the U.S. District Court for Southern New York.

Two federal judges there similarly are considering DOJ motions to unseal grand jury files from the former Epstein cases.

Bondi said Trump’s name is in the files

While those rulings are pending, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump his name appears in the Epstein files, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Bondi did not state the context in which Trump is mentioned, and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said Trump did not engage in any wrongdoing.

Instead, Trump expelled Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club because the president thought Epstein was a “creep,” Cheung added.

Bondi earlier suggested she would release files related to the Epstein case, but recently said they don’t contain anything noteworthy.

Her announcement regarding the files triggered controversy, including among Republican congressional members.

Johnson canceled Thursday’s House session and said the chamber will recess until Sept. 2.

July 16 (UPI) — President Donald Trump said a deal has been made with almost all the Republican House members who sank a procedural vote on his cryptocurrency bills Tuesday.

“I am in the Oval Office with 11 of the 12 congressmen/women necessary to pass the Genius Act and, after a short discussion, they have all agreed to vote tomorrow morning in favor of the rule,” Trump said via Truth Social Tuesday.

“Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was at the meeting via telephone, and looks forward to taking the vote as early as possible,” he added.

Two of the bills in question are the aforementioned Genius Act, which would regulate stablecoins and the Clarity Act, which would set rules to decide if an asset is to be regulated as either a security by the Securities and Exchange Commission or as a commodity supervised by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The third bill would stop the creation of a central bank digital currency by the Federal Reserve.

It is unclear what guarantees Trump made to lock in the 11 switched votes of support for the procedural rule.

“I’m thankful for President Trump getting involved tonight,” posted Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to X Tuesday, who then declared that the Genius Act will pass when the new vote happens Wednesday.

Shares of stablecoin companies Circle and Coinbase had both dropped Tuesday upon the failure of the procedural vote, as did shares of the digital asset firm MARA Holdings, but all three had upward-heading premarket numbers Wednesday.

July 9 (UPI) — Legendary cyclist Greg Lemond on Wednesday became the first cyclist and 10th athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal during a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.

Lemond, 64, joins the likes of Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, Billie Jean King and Jack Nicklaus in being so honored by Congress.

Lemond was the first American to win the Tour de France with a victory in 1986 and won two others in 1989 and 1990.

He also is the only American to officially win the prestigious, multiday cycling event following disqualifications of Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis over doping allegations, USA Today reported.

A strong and faithful support system

“Throughout his life, Greg has put his talent and success to good use, speaking up for children and our military veterans, for fairness in the sport and for the next generation of cyclists, ” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said during Wednesday’s award event.

“As Greg will tell you, no race gets easier, and no great victory is won all alone,” Johnson continued. “Behind every champion stands a strong and faithful support system.”

Johnson cited Lemond’s wife, Kathy, and his extended family as the cyclist’s support system and acknowledged their attendance at the Gold Medal ceremony.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., called Lemond an “American and worldwide cycling legend” who initially was a skier but began cycling as a way to stay in shape during the off season at age 13.

“Once he got on two wheels, he had a new passion,” Thompson said of Lemond.

“After just one year of training, Greg placed second in his first club ride,” Thompson said, “He rode in a tank top, jogging shorts and tennis shoes.”

Lemond “didn’t have the right gear or the right bike, but it didn’t matter,” Thompson added. “His rocket-ship rise to success had begun.”

Honoring people, places and moments

Lemond and his family joined Johnson and other lawmakers on the stage for the medal presentation.

“The honor is more than I ever expected, and I accept it with deep gratitude and a profound sense of humility,” Lemond said of the Congressional Gold Medal.

“Today isn’t just about reflecting on my own journey,” Lemond told the audience. “It’s also about honoring the people, places and moments that shaped it.”

He thanked his parents and family for their support and all of the teammates who helped make him a champion.

“Cycling was an unusual sport for a 14-year-old kid in 1976,” Lemond said. “I didn’t even know the sport existed until one day a bicycle race passed my home.”

Lemond said he became “passionately obsessed with racing” after winning his first cycling event and “believed that, as an America, if I worked hard enough, anything was possible.”

His dream was to become the world’s best cyclist, so he moved to Europe at age 19 to make it happen.

Just a blonde-haired, blue-eyed kid

“I brought an American attitude to the sport of cycling,” Lemond said. “I was open to new ideas and bringing innovation and technology to a very traditional sport. That was a huge competitive advantage.”

He said Europeans taught him a lot and embraced him as “le American.”

“I was just a blonde-haired, blue-eyed kid from America, and for some reason, that resonated with people,” Lemond said. “I think Europeans saw in me what the U.S. has meant to Europe at critical times — as an ally, a liberator and a friend.”

He recalled a recent encounter in a village of about 80 people in the French Alps, where he said an old man approached him and announced he was the one who invented the carbon fiber disc wheels that Lemond was the first to use and that helped him to win the 1986 Tour de France.

Lemond told the man he wished he still had those wheels. The man told him they were in his mother’s garage and asked if he would like to have them.

“They were the first carbon fiber wheels to win the Tour de France,” Lemond said.

A legacy of sacrifice and courage

Lemond, his wife, Kathy, and the man walked to the 104-year-old woman’s home, where the old woman hugged him, invited them into her home.

She had an old U.S. flag and lots of American-related memorabilia in her home and told Lemond and Kathy that she witnessed the Nazis occupy France in 1940.

Her brothers fled into the mountains to join the resistance, and she rode her bicycle through the countryside to deliver food and information, Lemond told the audience.

“Sadly, one of her brothers was killed in the fighting, and then the Americans came,” he said.

The woman told him Americans saved her father, her family and her country.

“She cried as she told us, and so did we,” Lemond said. “That moment has stayed with me.

“It reminded me that being an American, especially abroad, carries a legacy of sacrifice, of courage and showing up when it matters most,” he said. “So I am honored beyond words to receive this Congressional Gold Medal.”

Lemond said the honor isn’t his alone and belongs to every teammate, supporter, family member and to “all the extraordinary Americans whose courage and sacrifice made my life possible.”

Greatest U.S. cyclist who raced clean

The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest award that a civilian can receive from Congress, which Congress initially awarded to Lemond in 2020.

The Covid-19 pandemic delayed Lemond’s receipt of the Gold Medal until Wednesday.

Lemond was born in northern California and grew up in Reno, Nev., where he was graduated from Wooster High School in 1979 and soon after pursued his cycling dreams in Europe.

He is considered the greatest U.S. cyclist who did not resort to performance-enhancing drugs to become a champion.

Lemond’s final two wins came he was nearly killed when accidentally shot during a turkey hunt on his family’s ranch in northern California in 1987.

His 8-second margin of victory during the 1989 race is the closest in the history of the Tour de France, which covers more than 2,000 miles in the French Alps over 21 stages each summer.

It is one of the world’s most popular sporting events and its oldest and most prestigious cycling race.