Congress
Jeffries demands ‘ironclad’ health care deal in latest shutdown escalation
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries laid out a new ultimatum for a government funding deal Wednesday, telling reporters Wednesday that an agreement addressing health care has to be “ironclad and in legislation” to win Democratic support ahead of next week’s shutdown deadline.
Jeffries’ position escalates the odds that agencies could shutter on at midnight Sept. 30. While Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are insisting Republicans negotiate a deal on expiring health insurance subsides and other matters, there are no lines of communication open between the GOP and Democratic leaders a day after President Donald Trump scuttled a planned bipartisan sitdown at the White House.
“There’s no trust that exists between House Democrats and House Republicans at this particular point in time, given the fact that they’ve consistently tried to undermine bipartisan agreements that they themselves have reached,” Jeffries said at a Capitol news conference. “Any agreement related to protecting the health care of the American people has to be ironclad and in legislation.”
Jeffries and Schumer have sought to health care the focus of the shutdown fight, especially with the insurance subsidies used by more than 20 million Americans set to expire at the end of the year. GOP leaders have expressed an openness to negotiating on an extension, but they have rejected entering into talks this month and have put forward a “clean” seven-week stopgap bill instead.
It’s not clear whether Senate Democrats are drawing the same red line on potential health care negotiations. Schumer recently sidestepped a question about whether a GOP commitment to work on the insurance subsidies and other health care issues would be enough to earn Democratic votes for a shutdown-averting punt.
Some progressive Democrats are publicly and privately fretting that Schumer and Senate Democrats will once again cave to pressure and vote to advance a GOP-led stopgap — as 10 Senate Democrats, including Schumer, did in March. Jeffries said he and Schumer would talk “at some point later on today.”
Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said a symbolic vote or other toothless gesture would not suffice.
“Democrats need to put up a real fight against” the GOP bill, he wrote on X Wednesday, “not just put on a show then cave for crumbs.”
Congress
House Democrat pushes DOJ on possible pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi wants answers from the Justice Department about internal communications regarding a possible pardon for Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.
In a letter sent Wednesday to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Illinois Democrat pointed to a recent POLITICO story where Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, said there was “a good chance and for good reason that [Maxwell] would get a pardon” from President Donald Trump.
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her role in the sex trafficking scheme. The Supreme Court recently denied a bid to review her case, leaving presidential clemency the only obvious reprieve that could be available to her. Trump has not ruled out granting her clemency.
As Blue Light News reported earlier this month, Markus said in an extensive interview he had reached out to Blanche last year to set up a meeting for his client to answer questions about the Epstein case. They met in Tallahassee for a two-day meeting in July, and Maxwell was moved to a minimum security prison camp in Texas shortly afterward. Blanche and Markus have both maintained that she was transferred because she was unsafe at her former facility.
“It is unacceptable that DOJ would be engaging at all with such an outrageous request,” Krishnamoorthi wrote to Blanche, who has known Markus for years.
Krishnamoorthi asked Blanche to promise he would not engage with the convicted sex offender around a pardon and requested to view communications with Maxwell or Markus related to a pardon.
DOJ did not immediately return a request for comment.
Congress
Georgia Democratic Rep. David Scott, 80, has died
Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) has died at the age of 80, according to Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), who disclosed his death at a committee hearing on Wednesday.
First elected to the state Assembly in Georgia in 1974, Scott’s career in politics spanned decades. The 12-term lawmaker became the first Black chair of the House’s powerful Agriculture Committee when he was tapped to lead the panel in 2020.
Scott faced criticism for seeking reelection in 2024 even as declining health imperiled his ability to negotiate a $1.5 trillion farm bill. Scott was also seeking reelection to his Atlanta-area district later this year.
Congress
Senate Democrats to hammer affordability concerns in budget fight
Senate Democrats want to use a marathon voting session this week to hammer Republicans on cost-of-living issues.
As part of the amendment free-for-all known as “vote-a-rama,” Democrats can force a vote on any proposal they want before the Senate votes on the GOP’s budget blueprint for an immigration enforcement bill. They are vowing to try to show a “contrast” that hits at the heart of their midterms message.
“Republicans want to shell out billions of dollars to Donald Trump’s private army without any common sense restraints or reforms. Democrats want to put money in people’s pockets by lowering their costs,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Wednesday.
“We’re going to keep at it, and keep at it, and keep at it,” Schumer added.
The Senate could move as soon as Wednesday to kick off the hourslong voting marathon. Republicans have to adopt the budget resolution before they can take up a subsequent bill they expect will provide roughly $70 billion for immigration enforcement.
Republicans decided to go it alone on funding for ICE, Border Patrol and other agencies after they were unable to get a deal with Democrats to impose new restrictions on the funding in the wake of federal agents fatally shooting two people in Minneapolis in January.
Few, if any, of the Democratic amendments are likely to be adopted. But they could provide fuel for campaign season attacks as Republicans unite to keep their party-line funding plan intact.
Schumer declined to offer specifics on his caucus’ amendments, but he said they will relate to reducing costs on issues like housing, health care, food costs and child care. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the No. 3 Senate Democrat, indicated that Democrats will force amendment votes related to local law enforcement funding, lapsed Obamacare subsidies and housing costs.
“Those are the choices we are going to present to them over these next few days,” she added.
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