House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday reused an insult to criticize a congressional Republican who filed a report on former President Biden's use of an autopen.
“The so-called chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, continues to behave like a malignant clown," Jeffries told reporters at a press conference. "You can’t point to a single thing that he’s actually done to make life better for the American people.”
Jeffries urged C...
Month: October 2025
GOP struggles to avoid ObamaCare boomerang amid shutdown
The shutdown debate over expiring enhanced ObamaCare subsidies has put Republicans on the defensive over health care, reopening old wounds over the 2017 attempt to repeal and replace the law.
Fifteen years since the Affordable Care Act was passed, the scars from the repeal effort and the GOP’s lingering disgust for the law are influencing the party’s scattered response.
While Republicans are united i...
House Republican introduces bill to fund WIC during shutdown
Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.) on Tuesday introduced a bill to fund the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) during the government shutdown, as the funding lapse threatens payments of benefits if it continues.
It comes after the Trump administration earlier in October transferred $300 million in tariff revenue to WIC to prevent a funding lapse for the food aid program, which the National WIC Association warned last week wa...
Democrats vote against ‘clean’ GOP bill to end shutdown despite union pressure
Senate Democrats are resisting calls from the nation’s largest union representing federal workers — a longtime political ally — to accept Republicans’ “clean” stopgap to reopen the government.
It is the latest display of how outside pressure and deadlines have failed to move the parties away from their entrenched positions surrounding Democrats’ demands to negotiate on health care as the shutdown reaches its fourth week.
“I get where they're coming from. We want t...
Greene says Johnson refused to share health care plans on GOP conference call
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) on Tuesday called out House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for not providing any plans on a Republican alternative to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and tax subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.
"You left out that I said I have no respect for the House not being in session passing our bills and the President’s executive orders," Greene wrote on social platform X, in response to a post from Punchbowl News's Jake Sherman following a r...
Medicare staffing raises alarm with open enrollment underway
Health policy experts on Tuesday urged the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to boost staffing, noting that the government shutdown has only hindered services.
This staffing shortage couldn’t have come at a worse time, as open enrollment for Medicare plans began earlier this month.
“We don't have the infrastructure right now in place to really make sure those benefits get delivered well and get communicated well,” said Jon Blum, a health...
Johnson: Stand-alone SNAP, federal salary bills a ‘waste of our time’
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday dismissed any stand-alone bills seeking to pay federal workers or fund assistance programs during the government shutdown.
These bills stretch from providing federal workers with their salaries to funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), with no benefits issued starting Nov. 1.
“We voted Sept. 19 to fund every one of those priorities, and every Democrat in the House except one voted to not fund the...
Watch live: Jeffries, House Democrats speak amid shutdown showdown
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Democratic leaders will speak with reporters Tuesday afternoon as the government shutdown persists.
Democrats have ramped up pressure on their GOP counterparts to address expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies that could raise premiums on health insurance. Their remarks also come as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program faces a lapse in funding and as open enrollment is set to begin later this week.
The ev...
Democratic-led states sue Trump administration over looming SNAP benefit lapse
Democratic officials in 25 states sued the Trump administration Tuesday in an attempt to block a food assistance program from drying up this weekend amid the ongoing government shutdown.
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has indicated that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, which are provided to more than 40 million low-income Americans, will be suspended starting Nov. 1.
The states contend the administration i...
Trump’s new bestie: Japan’s prime minister
It’s Tuesday. For anyone who stayed up to watch the end of last night’s World Series game, I hope you got an extra cup of coffee today.
In today's issue:
• Trump lavishes Japan’s new leader with praise
• 14 killed in new US strikes on alleged drug boats
• Catastrophic Hurricane Melissa nears landfall
• Senators feel increased shutdown urgency
• The talk of DC: KJP’s New Yorker interview
Not on ...