The government shutdown is now officially the longest on record, surpassing the previous record of 34 days that occurred during President Trump’s first term in office. That shutdown, which lasted from Dec. 22, 2018 through Jan. 25, 2019, ended when the president backed down on his border wall funding demands.
It is becoming clear that there are no obvious concessions available at this time that can lead ...
Opinion
The government may not open again this year, thanks to Speaker Johnson
The government shutdown is now officially the longest on record, surpassing the previous record of 34 days that occurred during President Trump’s first term in office. That shutdown, which lasted from Dec. 22, 2018 through Jan. 25, 2019, ended when the president backed down on his border wall funding demands.
It is becoming clear that there are no obvious concessions available at this time that can lead ...
How Republicans can make health care affordable
As the government shutdown drags on, lawmakers remain locked in a standoff over whether to extend ObamaCare subsidies. Supporters of these taxpayer-provided subsidies claim they’re the fix for rising health costs when, in fact, they only mask rising costs. ObamaCare is the primary reason costs are rising.
Congress faces a choice: Keep pouring taxpayer dollars into a failing, unaffordable health care system, or take this opportunity to fix the struc...
What Democrats should learn from Zohran Mamdani
Ask Thomas Dewey. Politics is unpredictable. The polls are often wrong, and even the smartest of the commentariat don’t always get it right. Nobody thought Tom Dewey would lose to Harry Truman in 1948; Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump in 2016; or Kamala Harris, to Trump in 2024.
And few commentators, including me, thought Zohran Mamdani would win the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City.
So, at the risk of being proven wrong yet again, I want to boldly ...
If taxpayers must keep subsidizing health care, they deserve to see the prices
The government shutdown has continued for weeks with no end in sight. Although Affordable Care Act subsidies have been at the center of the debate, one of the most basic questions remains unanswered: Where is the money actually going?
And we cannot answer that, because the U.S. still lacks real price transparency in health care.
In 2024, the federal government spent roughly $125 billion on Affordable Care Act subsidies. According to the Congressional Budget Offic...
Trump says he’s targeting Democrats’ programs, but the suffering is bipartisan
Throughout the government shutdown, President Trump has maintained that his administration would “clear out dead wood, waste and fraud.” Because Democrats “started this thing,” he has said, the shutdown presents “an unprecedented opportunity” to eliminate “Democrat-oriented” programs and give his opponents “a taste of their own medicine.”
Trump then posted an image of himself on Truth Social signing a document emblazoned with a statement: “Cry all you want.”
Trump d...
Democrats can’t keep the Schumer shutdown going much longer
The government shutdown will end soon. How do I know? Because whatever political advantage Democrats had a few weeks ago by “standing strong!” and “confronting Trump!” is quickly evaporating. When the polls flip, so will the party that has lost its way.
Voters have a way of sniffing out the truth. They are beginning to understand that Democrats are rudderless, and are voting to keep the government closed out of confusion, not conviction.
House Mi...
Reestablishing the dignity of work
The late Charlie Kirk warned that a dangerous disease was spreading through America — a rising generation adrift, disconnected from community, stuck in stalled mobility, and cut off from opportunity. His warning has only grown more urgent with time.
One of the central engines of this decline is ObamaCare. Passed in 2010, it allowed and even incentivized states to enroll able-bodied adults in Medicaid without work requirements. In doing so, Washington turned a focused safety ne...
Moderate Democrats should reject socialism, embrace a GI Bill for all
Moderate Democrats like Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Rep. Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey are running for governor on a message that resonates: tackle affordability, fix health care and expand opportunity. If they win, they will be hailed as the future of the Democratic Party.
But there is a trap. There are few policy prescriptions that are bold enough to matter but moderate enough to win.
As it turns out, the American government al...
No Kings indeed: A partial list of Trump’s shameless power grabs
Millions of Americans opposed to President Trump’s attacks on our Constitution, democracy and the rule of law are expected to join some 2,000 peaceful No Kings Day protests around the nation tomorrow. The protests are a follow-up to the No Kings Day held on June 14 — Trump’s 79th birthday.
The protests are backed by a long list of nonprofits and will draw patriotic Republicans, Democrats, independents and third-party backers determined to...