How Democrats are trying to bust Republican lies about healthcare for undocumented immigrants

At the centre of the government shutdown is the issue of healthcare for Americans being stripped by Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

Leading up to the government shutdown on Wednesday, congressional Republicans and Donald Trump have repeated misleading claims that Democrats were trying to pass a resolution that would provide “free healthcare for illegals”. It’s become a well-rehearsed refrain fueling GOP lawmakers as government funding lapsed this week.

At the White House on Wedne...

Trump to meet with Project 2025 architect on cutting ‘Democrat agencies’ amid government shutdown – live

Trump touts meeting with Russ Vought ‘of Project 2025 fame’ to determine where cuts can be made as the federal government remains shut for second day

In his interview this morning with CNBC Scott Bessent also said that he could “guarantee” Republicans will not meet Democratic leaders’ demands to extend Obamacare subsidies as a way to end the government shutdown.

Democrats are negotiating “like terrorists”, the treasury secretary claimed, adding: “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.’”

President Trump, in the first nine months now, has been unstoppable. 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.

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What does a government shutdown mean and why is this year’s threat more serious?

The US government has shut down because Congress couldn’t reach a funding agreement. Here’s what to know about what happens next

  • US government shutdown – live updates

Much of the federal government officially began to shut down on Wednesday, after Congress failed to reach a funding agreement before the midnight deadline. The shutdown will have a wide range of effects on government services and potentially the US economy.

Republicans put forward a stopgap...

Kamala Harris’s book tour lets her plot a course for 2028

Interest in the Democratic presidential race intensifies as President Trump’s presidential approval rating sinks. His general presidential approval is now 11 points underwater in a new national survey of registered voters for The New York Times. His performance rating is also net-negative in every issue area, except for crime. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) had his moment in the sun during the long hot summer. Now it’s time for former Vice President Kamala Harris (D) to shi...

Why healthcare spending was at the center of the US government shutdown battle

Democrats said they won’t vote for legislation unless Republicans reversed Medicaid cuts and extended subsidies

  • US government shutdown – live updates

The federal government shut down on Wednesday in part, due to a battle between Democrats and Republicans over healthcare spending.

Democrats had said that they would not vote for legislation to keep the government open unless Donald Trump and Republicans, who hold the majority in Congress, agreed to reverse...

Tensions expected as Trump meets with top Democrats and Republicans in effort to avoid shutdown

Trump and Republicans are unfazed at prospect of shutdown, and talks with Democrats are anticipated to be confrontational

  • US politics – latest updates

Democrats and Republicans are gearing up for a crunch White House meeting with Donald Trump in an 11th-hour bid to avert a potentially damaging federal government shutdown.

Monday’s gathering is aimed at reaching an agreement over funding the government and largely hinges on Democrat demands for an extensi...

The pandemic is over — let Biden’s health insurance handouts expire

Ronald Reagan once quipped that “nothing lasts longer than a temporary government program.”

He could have been talking about the effort to extend — for a second time — former President Joe Biden’s Affordable Care Act-enhanced tax credits, a set of extremely generous federal health insurance subsidies intended to help Americans get through the COVID-19 crisis.

That crisis ended two years ago. Biden’s extra help, enacted by a Democratic-majority Congress in 2021 and ex...

If Trump wants to cut health spending, he’s defunding the wrong agency

The second Trump administration has made it a core mission to cut spending on public health programs. But ironically, one agency in its crosshairs is pivotal to cost-effectiveness research in health care delivery.

The Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, housed within the Department of Health and Human Services, is aimed at helping health care organizations and providers to deliver safe, high quality and equitable health care. 

Despite this vital mission ...