The longer the shutdown, the worse for schools, education experts say

Education advocates are biting their nails as the government shutdown begins. 

A contingency plan for the Education Department has been put in place, with 95 percent of its staffers furloughed, apart from the Federal Student Aid Office. Most of the funding designated over the summer and other money set to be released Wednesday will continue, creating some cushion for schools.  But facilities on tax-exempt federal land such as Native American reservations will feel the ...

When will shutdown end? Lawmakers have no clue

The intense partisan politics that drove Washington into a shutdown are making the path out of it hard to see.

It's a stare-down, and one side has to blink — with Republicans and Democrats each vowing it won't be them. 

Democrats have shot down a GOP-crafted stopgap to fund the government at current levels through Nov. 21, demanding an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies and new restrictions on the administration’s practice of withholdin...

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...

US government shuts down after Congress fails to find funding deal

The federal government officially entered a shutdown at midnight on Wednesday after congressional leaders were unable to reach a deal on a stopgap spending bill, leaving lawmakers grasping at straws over how to break the impasse. 

The shutdown became a certainty after lawmakers voted down a pair of stopgap funding packages — one a “clean” bill offered by Republicans, the other filled with Democratic priorities — on Tuesday evening, with few discussions taking place bet...

Democrat confronts Johnson over Trump AI video: ‘It’s racist. You should call it out’

Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) confronted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) over President Trump posting a deepfake video of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). 

The fake video, altered with artificial intelligence, depicts Jeffries donning a sombrero and handlebar mustache and Schumer saying Democrats “have no voters left because of our woke, trans bulls---,” while mariachi music plays in the background. ...

OMB issues shutdown order, citing Dems’ ‘insane policy demands’

Russell Vought, the head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), issued a memo on Tuesday evening directing government agencies to begin executing their plans "for an orderly shutdown."

Vought wrote to agency leaders with just hours to go until government funding lapses at midnight. The OMB director blamed the impending shutdown on "Democrats' insane policy demands, which include $1 trillion in new spending."

“As such, affected agencies should now execute th...

Senate blocks rival bills to prevent midnight shutdown

The Senate on Tuesday, as expected, failed to approve a GOP stopgap to keep the government funded or a Democratic alternative, edging the government closer to a midnight shutdown.

The votes came at the end of a day notable for the lack of public work being done by either party to prevent a shutdown.

Normally, the hours and days before the prospect of a shutdown on Capitol Hill are filled with scenes of lawmakers and aides scurrying about to negotiate possible sett...

Smithsonian says it can stay open through at least Monday in event of shutdown

The Smithsonian Institution announced Tuesday that its museums, research centers and the National Zoo will remain open through “at least” Monday if the federal government shuts down. 

In a post on the social platform X, the Smithsonian said that it will use “prior-year funds” to stay open. It will provide updates on its website. 

The Smithsonian operates 17 museums and the National Zoo in Washington, two museums in New York City and eight research centers — f...

Democrats defeat Republican funding plan, taking government to brink of shutdown

The Senate Democrats on Tuesday voted almost in unison to defeat a House-passed bill to fund the government through Nov. 21, putting Washington on the brink of a government shutdown that could last for days or even weeks.

Democrats are jittery about how the likely shutdown will play out over the next several days after President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he would take “irreversible” actions to gut their priorities during a shutdown.

But they eme...

Trump threatens firings as shutdown looms

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