Trump directs Pentagon to use \u2018all available funds\u2019 to pay troops despite shutdown<\/a><\/p>\nLabor unions have already filed a lawsuit to stop the aggressive move by President Donald Trump \u2019s budget office, which goes far beyond what usually happens in a government shutdown, further inflaming tensions between the Republicans who control Congress and the Democratic minority.<\/p>\n
The shutdown began on Oct. 1 after Democrats rejected a short-term funding fix and demanded that the bill include an extension of federal subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. The expiration of those subsidies at the end of the year will result in monthly cost increases for millions.<\/p>\n
Trump and Republican leaders have said they are open to negotiations on the health subsidies, but insist the government must reopen first.<\/p>\n
For now, negotiations are virtually nonexistent. Dug in as ever, House leaders from both parties pointed fingers at each other in rival Sunday appearances on \u201cFox News Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have repeatedly made clear that we will sit down with anyone, anytime, anyplace,\u201d said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. \u201cRepublicans control the House, the Senate and the presidency. It\u2019s unfortunate they\u2019ve taken a my-way-or-the-highway approach.\u201d<\/p>\n
House Speaker Mike Johnson blamed Democrats and said they \u201cseem not to care\u201d about the pain the shutdown is inflicting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re trying their best to distract the American people from the simple fact that they\u2019ve chosen a partisan fight so that they can prove to their Marxist rising base in the Democratic Party that they\u2019re willing to fight Trump and Republicans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Progressive activists, meanwhile, expressed new support for the Democratic Party\u2019s position in the shutdown fight.<\/p>\n
Ezra Levin, co-founder of the leading progressive protest group Indivisible, said he is \u201cfeeling good about the strength of Dem position.\u201d He pointed to fractures in the GOP, noting that Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly warned last week that health care insurance premiums would skyrocket for average Americans \u2014 including her own adult children \u2014 if nothing is done.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrump and GOP are rightfully taking the blame for the shutdown and for looming premium increases,\u201d Levin said. \u201cTheir chickens are coming home to roost.\u201d<\/p>\n
And yet the Republican administration and its congressional allies are showing no signs of caving to Democratic demands or backing away from threats to use the opportunity to pursue deeper cuts to the federal workforce.<\/p>\n
Thousands of employees at the departments of Education, Treasury, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, are set to receive layoff notices, according to spokespeople for the agencies and union representatives for federal workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hear a lot of Senate Democrats say, well, how can Donald Trump possibly lay off all of these federal workers?\u201d Vance said. \u201cWell, the Democrats have given us a choice between giving low-income women their food benefits and paying our troops on the one hand, and, on the other hand, paying federal bureaucrats.\u201d<\/p>\n
Democrats say the firings are illegal and unnecessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do not have to do this,\u201d said Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona on CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union.\u201d \u201cThey do not have to punish people that shouldn\u2019t find themselves in this position.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy.\n <\/p>\n
\n Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue.\n <\/p>\n
\n Donate now<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vice President JD Vance on Sunday said there will be deeper cuts to the federal workforce the longer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-208915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}