32 minutes ago
Government shutdown leaves federal workers torn
From Samantha-Jo Roth
Union members and other federal employees rally to call for an end to the partial government shutdown on Thursday outside the White House. | (Washington Examiner/Graeme Jennings)
Wednesday’s federal government shutdown left workers to confront lost income, layoffs, and, for some, a complicated sense of relief that Democrats are challenging Trump.
“This is my third shutdown since I joined the federal workforce 13 years ago, and it’s definitely very demoralizing,” said a War Department IT specialist in Texas, who, as an essential employee, must continue working without pay.
“We have zero control over what happens with keeping our jobs. But honestly, if Democrats are standing up to Trump over healthcare, then it’s a worthy cause. If it’s going to save millions of people’s lives … of course it’s a worthy cause,” the person added.
Another decadelong Pentagon employee, who described herself as a Republican and military spouse, said she was furloughed but saw value in the shutdown. “I’m a patriot. I’m tired. I welcome the shutdown to see if we can get some bipartisan efforts back on track,” she said. “I’m tired of the rhetoric, I’m tired of being a toy to play with. I’m a real person, with a real life, who believes in what I do, making a difference for this country in the long term.”
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48 minutes ago
Kelly Loeffler says about 300 small businesses will lose funding per week during shutdown
From Jenny Goldsberry
Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler appears before the House Committee on Small Business on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler said Thursday that small businesses will lose approximately $200 million every week that the government shutdown continues.
“Main street’s growing, thriving, it’s investing and hiring, but that all comes to a stop thanks to the Schumer shutdown. That means about 300 small businesses every week will not get access to critical capital,” Loeffler said on Fox Business.
“That’s about $200 million a week,” Loeffler added. “That’s about 30 veteran-owned small businesses.”
Loeffler’s comments come days after the SBA announced it provided nearly 85,000 loans for small businesses, shelling out a record $44.8 billion in capital this fiscal year.
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3 hours ago
House Democrats call for investigation into Trump administration’s shutdown messaging
From David Zimmermann
Subcommittee Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) questions Robin Dunn Marcos, Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, hearing on resettlement of unaccompanied minors, on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is calling for a special counsel investigation into the Trump administration’s partisan messaging regarding the government shutdown in email communications with federal employees.
“On September 30, 2025, the Trump Administration posted political messages regarding the current government shutdown on at least one agency website and via official government emails to thousands of federal employees,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) wrote in a letter.
The agency in question was the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Its website said the “Radical Left” was to blame for inflicting “massive pain on the American people.”
Oversight Democrats said this “false and partisan Republican” messaging may violate the Hatch Act.
“The Hatch Act imposes clear restrictions on the political activity of federal executive branch employees and does not allow activity ‘directed toward the success or failure of a political party, partisan political group, or candidate for partisan political office,'” Garcia wrote.
“Given the Trump Administration’s blatant violation of the law, I request that the Office of Special Counsel immediately open an investigation into this clear misconduct, and for you to cooperate with our Committee as we investigate this blatant misuse of taxpayer dollars for political purposes.”
Acting Special Counsel Jamieson Greer has until Oct. 16 to provide a staff-level briefing to the committee on how to address the Trump administration’s actions.
Both Democrats and Republicans blame the other side for allowing the government shutdown to take effect after midnight on Wednesday, with no end in sight at this point.
3 hours ago
Hispanic groups are unhappy with sombrero memes
From David Zimmermann
A video posted on Donald Trump's Truth Social account depicting Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, of N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, of N.Y., is shown in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in Washington. The sombrero and mustache were superimposed on Jeffries. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
A coalition of Hispanic groups criticized President Donald Trump‘s sombrero memes that he has been deploying to mock Democrats amid the government shutdown.
“Targeting the Latino community is not only irresponsible — it is reprehensible and beneath the office of the presidency,” the Hispanic Federation, the Latino Victory Foundation, League of United American Citizens, Mi Familia Vota, UnidosUs, and Voto Latino said in a joint statement.
The groups take issue with the sombrero memes not only because they perpetuate Latino stereotypes but also because they act as a distraction from the issues surrounding the shutdown.
“The troubling use of AI to amplify hateful stereotypes is not only reckless,” they added,” but it serves as an act of disinformation designed to further stigmatize Latinos when the tensions facing the community, driven by policy and rhetoric, are at an all-time high.”
Trump has been posting memes on Truth Social showing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wearing Mexican sombreros. The White House has maintained that the memes are all in good fun, while Democrats find the posts racist and offensive.
4 hours ago
Trump administration cancels billions in energy grants to states that voted for Harris
From Annabella Rosciglione
The Trump administration said it would cancel $7.6 billion in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states, all of which supported former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
“Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled,” Vought said in a social media post.
The cancellation will likely affect battery plants, large-scale hydrogen technology projects, and upgrades to states’ electric grids and carbon capture efforts, according to the environmental nonprofit group Natural Resources Defense Council.
4 hours ago
Johnson tells Jeffries to ignore sombrero memes
From Molly Parks
Johnson told Jeffries during a press conference on Thursday to ignore Trump’s AI deepfake videos of him in a sombrero.
“To my friend Hakeem, who I was asked about, man, just ignore it. I mean, Gavin Newsom was trolling me last night. He painted me like a minion. He painted me yellow with big glasses and overalls. And I thought it was hilarious. You don’t respond to it,” Johnson said.
Johnson was referring to a video Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) posted on X of the speaker dressed as a minion from the movie Despicable Me. “Trump’s Minion Mike lies to the American people,” Newsom wrote.
As many Democrats have criticized Trump’s Truth Social videos of Jeffries and Schumer as being racist and offensive, Johnson called on both sides of the aisle to ignore the online trolling.
“These are games, these are sideshows, people are getting caught up in battles over social media memes,” Johnson said. “This is not a game. We have got to keep the government open for the people. I don’t know why this is so complicated.”
5 hours ago
Johnson is ‘stunned’ Democrats decided to shut the government down
From Molly Parks
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Johnson told reporters Thursday that he was “stunned” Democrats did not vote for his continuing resolution.
“I am stunned. I am stunned that they decided to shut the government down and hurt people,” Johnson said. “It is on them, 100%.”
Johnson said he “quite literally” has nothing to negotiate about with Schumer and Jeffries. He said there are no GOP partisan sticking points in his continuing resolution to take out for negotiations.
“There’s nothing I can pull out of the bill that was a Republican priority to say, ‘Oh, we won’t do that, why don’t you guys vote for it now?’ I don’t have anything. I didn’t put anything in it to send it over,” Johnson said.
5 hours ago
Trump has constitutional authority to layoff thousands of federal workers during shutdown: Johnson
From Molly Parks
Johnson affirmed that he believes the Trump administration can lay off thousands of federal workers because of the shutdown.
“He does. This is the way the system works,” Johnson told reporters at a press conference on Thursday. “The president takes no pleasure in this. The president did not want a shutdown.”
Johnson’s comments come as Trump announced he would be meeting with Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought on Thursday to discuss federal worker cuts. Trump floated cuts as a possibility during the negotiating stage before the government shut down on Wednesday.
“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Johnson again blamed the Democrats for the shutdown, saying they turned the responsibility over to the executive branch, namely Trump and Vought, to determine “which policy, personnel, and which programs are essential and which are not.”
“When Congress turns off the funding, and the funding runs out, it is up to the Commander in Chief, the president of the United States, to determine how those resources will be spent,” Johnson said.
5 hours ago
Leavitt: White House preparing ‘thousands’ of federal layoffs
From Christian Datoc
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested to reporters Thursday that Trump will fire thousands of federal workers if Democrats do not vote to reopen the government.
“It’s likely going to be in the thousands,” she stated during an impromptu gaggle on the White House driveway. “That’s something that the Office of Management and Budget and the entire team at the White House here again, is unfortunately having to work on today. These discussions and these conversations, these meetings, would not be happening if the Democrats had voted to keep the government open.”
Earlier in the day, Trump announced that he would meet with White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought to finalize the total number of layoffs.
6 hours ago
2018 GSA warns extended shutdown could undermine stability and confidence in US
From Brady Knox
Emily Murphy, head of the General Services Administration during the longest government shutdown in 2018-2019, warned of far-reaching consequences if the shutdown dragged on.
“The government functions best when it is predictable,” she told the Washington Examiner. “Shutdowns undermine that stability, creating costly stop-and-start cycles that erode efficiency, drive away competition, and weaken trust between agencies and industry partners.”
“These disruptions have a trickle-down effect on innovation, R&D, healthcare, and readiness, while forcing contractors and federal employees to shoulder the burden of uncertainty. In the private sector, no organization would expect partners to keep working without pay—yet that is exactly what shutdowns demand,” Murphy added.
Murphy was Trump’s GSA from December 2017 until the week before his first term ended in January 2021.
6 hours ago
Vance demonstrates how ‘money is fungible’ in rant about why Democrats shut down the government
From Molly Parks
Vice President JD Vance speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Vice President JD Vance took to X Thursday morning to explain the GOP stance that the shutdown is about Democrats wanting to “give health care money to illegal aliens.”
Vance said that “money is fungible,” meaning when the federal government allocates Medicaid funds to specific states, those states can administer those funds as they see fit.
“Consider, for instance, two state Medicaid programs–Ohio and New York. New York gives Medicaid to illegals and Ohio doesn’t. When the government gives billions of dollars to New York for Medicaid, that frees up state money in New York that can then be spent on illegals,” Vance wrote on X.
Vance used a metaphor of giving money to a mobster to explain his point further.
“It’s like if you give a mobster $100 but he PROMISES you he won’t spend the money to buy a gun and commit a crime. Well, he takes the $100 you gave him and buys food, and then takes the money he would have spent on food and uses that money to buy the gun instead,” Vance wrote.
7 hours ago
Trump to meet with OBM leader to make decisions on cuts
From Brady Knox
Russell Vought, Office of Management and Budget director, listens as he addresses members of the media outside the West Wing at the White House in Washington, Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Trump announced he was meeting with Russell Vought on Thursday, issuing an ominous warning to Democrats in the process.
“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” he said in a post on Truth Social.
“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump added.
Threats of permanent government cuts have been a key source of leverage for Trump in the shutdown negotiations.
7 hours ago
Bessent says Democrats are negotiating ‘like terrorists’
From Brady Knox
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent denounced the Democrats’ negotiation tactics around the government shutdown in harsh terms.
In an interview with CNBC, Bessent said the Democrats were negotiating “like terrorists.”
“They want to say, ‘This is what we have to have, and if we don’t get it, we’re going to close down the government,'” he said.
The treasury secretary also said he could “guarantee” Republicans would not meet the Democrats’ current healthcare subsidy demands as a way to end the shutdown. He gave a positive assessment of the Republicans’ position, saying that Schumer and Jeffries were “weak” and “discombobulated.”
“President Trump, in the first nine months now, has been unstoppable,” Bessent said. “They’ve tried to stop him in the courts, they tried to stop him in the press, and now they’re trying to stop him with the shutdown.”
8 hours ago
Senate adjourns for the Yom Kippur Jewish holiday
From Brady Knox
The Senate won’t hold any votes on Thursday in observance of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur.
The Senate will return at noon, but no votes will be held.
Thune noted on Wednesday that speeches will be heard, but “it will be fairly quiet around here,” though he’s “sure there’ll be a lot of conversations going on.”
The Senate will return on Friday, the third day of the shutdown, and attempt to break the gridlock. Republicans and Democrats have been waging a war of messaging in the meantime, trying to pin blame for the shutdown on the other party.
8 hours ago
Pritzker blames Trump for government shutdown
From Brady Knox
Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) speaks to reporters after visiting Prairie Oak Elementary School, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, in Berwyn, Illinois. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP, Pool)
Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) blamed Trump for the government shutdown, arguing the president was responsible for the shutdown due to his unwillingness to cede on certain issues.
“The president of the United States decided to shut down the government because he’s unwilling to sit down with Democrats to discuss things,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker made the comments on Wednesday after hosting a panel discussion with health officials at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine.
Democrats have attempted several angles to fully pin the blame for the shutdown on Republicans, usually targeting Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) specifically. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that Johnson was “the real bad guy” in discussions, portraying him as the most responsible.
