{"id":70456,"date":"2025-10-09T22:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T22:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/70456\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T22:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T22:48:09","slug":"democrats-keep-the-focus-on-health-care-in-the-shutdown-fight-from-the-politics-desk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/70456\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats keep the focus on health care in the shutdown fight: From the Politics Desk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk<\/a>, a newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team\u2019s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s edition, our Capitol Hill team explores why Democrats are feeling increasingly confident about their position in the shutdown fight. Plus, we take a look at what comes next after President Donald Trump\u2019s announcement of a Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. <\/p>\n

Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Adam Wollner<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udea8Breaking news: New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who has clashed with President Donald Trump, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Virginia, three sources familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News. Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n

Emboldened Democrats dig in on health care demands in shutdown fightBy Sahil Kapur and Scott Wong<\/p>\n

Eight days into the government shutdown, Senate Democratic communications directors received a private briefing and a memo from pollster Geoff Garin. <\/p>\n

The crux of the message: Stay the course because Democrats are winning the battle of public opinion.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoters continue to blame Trump and Republicans more than Democrats for the shutdown,\u201d said the memo, which was obtained by NBC News and featured new polling data conducted by Hart Research, with findings that are backed by other public national surveys<\/a> on the shutdown fight.<\/p>\n

It added that voters are siding with Democrats\u2019 health care funding demands, that \u201cRepublicans are starting to feel the heat\u201d on the issue and that the GOP\u2019s political pain will worsen \u201cthe longer and more aggressively\u201d Democrats litigate it.<\/p>\n

Republicans need five more Democratic votes to break a filibuster and pass their bill to reopen the government on a temporary basis and buy time for a larger spending deal. On Thursday, the Senate voted again \u2014 for the seventh time \u2014 on that plan and a Democratic alternative. No senators budged. <\/p>\n

Instead, Democratic leaders, emboldened and energized, are taking every opportunity to highlight their central demand: extend the expiring Obamacare subsidies to avoid health insurance premium hikes or coverage losses for millions of Americans next year. Insurers are already sending out notices of upcoming rate hikes in the mail, and bringing costs back down will get messy if Congress waits until the end of the year to act. <\/p>\n

Republican leaders, facing a divided conference with many members who want to end the subsidies, are refusing to make any promises on the issue. Instead, they say, Democrats must vote to reopen the government, and then the two parties can discuss the subsidies.<\/p>\n

The pivot to health care has frustrated House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to make this about health care. It\u2019s not. It\u2019s about keeping Congress operating so we can get to health care. We always were going to. They\u2019re lying to you,\u201d Johnson told reporters. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe health care issues were always going to be something discussed and deliberated and contemplated and debated in October and November.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: C-SPAN caller confronts Mike Johnson about shutdown effects<\/a>, by Megan Lebowitz<\/p>\n

Trump’s Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal sparks celebrationBy Alexander Smith and Freddie Clayton<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s announcement that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a ceasefire deal<\/a> was widely welcomed by world leaders, the families of hostages and Palestinians who have endured more than two years of war.<\/p>\n

But huge questions remain about whether Trump\u2019s 20-point plan can successfully resolve the long-term future of the Gaza Strip, with uncertainty over its directive for Hamas to disband, as well as the governance of the shattered enclave.<\/p>\n

The plan, which was mediated by Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, will also need formal agreement by Israel\u2019s government. A spokesperson for the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a ceasefire would then take effect 24 hours after the Cabinet agrees to the deal and hostages would be released after 72 hours.<\/p>\n

Trump said a White House Cabinet meeting<\/a> that he is planning to travel to Egypt for an official signing of the ceasefire deal. He also said hostages would be released \u201con Monday or Tuesday.\u201d <\/p>\n

There were celebrations in \u201cHostages Square\u201d in Tel Aviv, the culmination of two years in which families and friends of the remaining captives have angrily campaigned for their government to prioritize their loved ones over the continuation of the conflict.<\/p>\n

They could be heard in video chanting \u201cNobel Prize to Trump\u201d \u2014 a reference to the president\u2019s long-standing ambition to win the Nobel Peace Prize, which is being announced Friday.<\/p>\n

Trump also won praise from Democrats and Republicans alike<\/a> on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, I am on tenterhooks, because the exciting prospect of this peace deal is monumental. Nothing like it in recent history, potentially, and there are a lot of people who deserve credit for it if it happens. President Trump is among them,\u201d said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. <\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83d\uddde\ufe0f Today’s other top stories\ud83e\ude96 Boots on the ground: A three-judge panel in Oregon appeared likely to be willing to grant the Trump administration\u2019s request to pause a lower court ruling that blocked efforts to deploy the National Guard to Portland. Read more \u2192<\/a>\ud83e\ude7a Medical timeout: Trump will receive a \u201croutine yearly check up\u201d at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center tomorrow, according to the White House, six months after he underwent an annual physical exam. Read more \u2192<\/a>\u2696\ufe0f SCOTUS watch: Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones asked the Supreme Court to hit pause on an almost $1.5 billion defamation judgment that was imposed over his false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax. Read more \u2192<\/a>\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f Debate night: Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli clashed during their final debate of the New Jersey governor\u2019s race last night, with each telling the other \u201cShame on you\u201d in heated exchanges. Read more \u2192<\/a>\ud83d\uddf3\ufe0f 2026 watch: Five Democrats piled into a primary for one of the nation\u2019s most tightly divided House districts in Pennsylvania\u2019s Lehigh Valley. And they all have different pitches about how to win. Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today\u2019s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.<\/p>\n

If you have feedback \u2014 likes or dislikes \u2014 email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com<\/a><\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign up here<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, a newsletter that brings you the NBC News…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-70456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}