Congress

White House shutdown summit fails to produce a deal

Published

1 year ago

September 29, 2025

Congressional leaders left a high-stakes Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump without a breakthrough Monday, greatly raising the likelihood of a government shutdown starting early Wednesday morning.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters at the White House that “there are still large differences between us.”

“Their bill has not one iota of Democratic input,” he added, referring to a House-passed seven-week stopgap funding bill that Senate Democrats rejected earlier this month. “That is never how we’ve done this before.”

Another person granted anonymity to describe the closed-door meeting said it was a “frank discussion” but that the two sides were “too far apart” at this point.

“There’s no way right now,” the person added.

Ahead of the meeting, Trump himself cast doubt on the prospects for a deal.

“They’re going to have to do some things because their ideas are not very good ones,” he said about Democrats. “They’re very bad for our country, so we’ll see how that works out.”

The meeting, held just ahead of the Tuesday midnight shutdown deadline, was the first time Trump has held a formal meeting with the top Democratic leaders since he was sworn in for a second term in January. It’s also the first time they have spoken at all about government funding in that time

Leading up to the meeting, Schumer and Jeffries struck different tones about what would be an acceptable solution to the shutdown standoff. Jeffries staked out a hard line on health care, saying any agreement needed to “ironclad and in legislation” and suggesting any kind of handshake agreement to continue negotiating would not be enough. Schumer was more circumspect, telling reporters on Monday “we’re ready to get to work. It’s about time.”

Democrats have insisted health care be part of government funding negotiations, with the extension of Obamacare insurance subsidies forming the core of their demands. While Republicans have opened the door to negotiating on the tax credits, which are available to people receiving health care through Affordable Care Act marketplaces and expire at the end of the year, they have insisted they be dealt with separately from the pending shutdown fight.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democratic leader, said a commitment from GOP leaders to work on extending the tax credits would be a “real mark of progress.”

“Whether it’s enough, I can’t say,” he added.

GOP leaders so far are ruling out any idea that they’d agree to ACA talks as part of an agreement to avert a shutdown.

“Most of our guys would lose their minds,” said a senior House GOP aide involved in the talks.

Republican leaders are navigating competing schools of thought within their own ranks about how to handle the subsidies and are looking for a clear sign from Trump to guide their efforts to reach a potential agreement later this year. They are also under fierce pressure from their right-flanks not to cut an 11th-hour deal with Democrats, believing they have the political upper hand heading into a potential shutdown.

Thune confirmed before leaving for the White House that the Senate will vote on Tuesday on the House-passed continuing resolution that would fund the government until Nov. 21, buying lawmakers more time to negotiate full-year appropriations bills and reach a potential deal on the insurance subsidies.

Democrats rejected that bill earlier this month, and if they reject it a second time, Thune is expected to tee it back up for another vote. Republicans are also looking at other procedural steps they could take to squeeze Democrats during a shutdown.

Senate Democrats are privately discussing multiple options for how to get out of a shutdown and keep pressure on Republicans to come to the table on the Obamacare subsidies, according to two people granted anonymity to disclose internal discussions.

Senate Democrats can also force a re-vote on their proposal that would extend funding through Oct. 31 and would reverse $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid from the GOP’s recent domestic policy megabill, along with a permanent extension of the health insurance subsidies.

It would also restrict the president’s authority to claw back congressionally approved funding, addressing Democratic frustrations over the Trump administration’s recent moves to reverse bipartisan spending bills. Further vexing Democrats was White House budget chief Russ Vought’s threat last week to engage in mass firings of federal workers in case of a shutdown.

House Democrats have publicly and privately fretted that Senate Democrats could reverse course and vote to advance GOP-backed funding legislation after most House Democrats opposed it. Helping fuel that concern, several Senate Democrats have sidestepped questions over the past week about what they might do if Republicans moved toward formal negotiations on the Obamacare subsidies.

Asked if an agreement to keep talking Is that the best Democrats can reasonably expect, Durbin said, “I’m not going to go into that. I’m just going to say if we’re not sitting down talking about ending this responsibly and helping people deal with health care, it’s going to be a rocky road.”

Congress

Trump apparently shares Tom Cotton’s phone number in push to make Daylight Saving Time permanent

Published

1 hour ago

October 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump appeared to share Sen. Tom Cotton’s phone number in a Saturday morning social media post imploring the Arkansas Republican to get behind a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent.

“Almost everybody wants “The Sunshine Protection Act” to pass, except for Tom Cotton,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.”

The president has spent months personally pushing Senate Republicans to end the practice that sees Americans change their clocks twice a year, cementing more sunlight hours in the evening for all twelve months of the calendar. Cotton, whom Trump called “a friend of mine” in the Saturday post, has long argued that making daylight saving time permanent would leave children, farmers and other early risers in the dark for hours on winter mornings.

One of Trump’s key selling points on Saturday: the PGA tour.

“The PGA TOUR, as an example, needs more Daylight in the afternoon in order to finish their Tournaments,” he said, attaching a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp endorsing the bill. ”Likewise, regular Golfers, Tennis Players, Hunters and, perhaps most importantly, Farmers who want more Daylight to play or work.

A Blue Light News call to the cellphone number went to voicemail. A spokesperson for Cotton did not respond to a request for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The current version of the bill was introduced in the House in January 2025 by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) leading the Senate version. The legislation would make daylight saving time permanent across most of the country, ending the twice-yearly clock changes. The legislation has been stalled in the Senate since July.

The president encouraged supporters of the bill, dubbed the “The Sunshine Protection Act,” to call Cotton to “let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.”

During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, he publicly gave out the personal cellphone number of then-rival Sen. Lindsey Graham after the South Carolina Republican criticized him. Trump, who came to count on Graham as a reliable Senate ally after he won the presidency, revisited the moment during Graham’s funeral in July, acknowledging that sharing the number was something he “shouldn’t have done.”

Kelsey Brugger contributed to this report.

Congress

Sanders to rally for Troy Jackson in Maine

Published

21 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bernie Sanders will hit the road for Troy Jackson in Maine starting Oct. 10, the first time the progressive leader will stump for the candidate this cycle.

The Vermont independent plans to hold three rallies with Jackson, according to an itinerary shared first with Blue Light News: first in Bangor on Oct. 10th followed by Lewiston and Biddeford on Oct. 11.

The Maine swing will kick off Sanders’ travel for the final stretch of the midterms, covering ground throughout October for House and Senate candidates, POLITICO reported.

“Bernie and Troy know that working people built this country and deserve a government that fights for them,” Jackson spokesperson Dan Gottlieb told Blue Light News. “Susan Collins has had nearly 30 years to deliver, and working Mainers are still getting squeezed while she serves the billionaires and corporate interests who bankroll her campaigns. Mainers don’t need another six years of excuses.”

Sanders campaigned ahead of major wins for progressives in the primary season, speaking at more than 60 rallies since last year’s Fight the Oligarchy tour and endorsing more than 90 candidates up and down the ballot.

He’s also opening his substantial $23 million campaign war chest, POLITICO reported, and contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars toMinnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s Senate campaign and others including Angie Nixon in Florida and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,

Sanders will return to Maine after initially backing Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate. Allegations reported by POLITICO ultimately led him to call on the Democratic nominee to drop out of the race.

Sanders had not formally endorsed Jackson since he clinched the nomination from Platner, though he previously backed Jackson’s initial run for governor.

Congress

Hill: Trump’s ‘lack of favorability’ creating challenging politics

Published

22 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he has “no concerns” about winning back his Arkansas seat in the upcoming midterm elections, but the six-term House member acknowledged the political headwinds for his party.

“I consider the atmosphere a very tough political environment right now because of President [Donald] Trump’s lack of favorability at the top, and you know people are concerned about, as I say, what it’s like to live under an inflated economy the last four years,” Hill said in an interview.

Hill is in a solidly red district, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and said he is up against a “weaker candidate this time than I’ve had in past races.” Polling in the district, however, has shown a tighter race. The two polls done this year placed Democratic challenger Chris Jones ahead of Hill by a few percentage points. Any perceived polling victory for Jones is still well within the margin of error, and one of the polls had a Democratic sponsor.

Stephannie Lane Baker, a spokesperson for Jones, said that “of all the Republicans in Congress, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee doesn’t get to dodge responsibility for this economy. He’s in trouble, and he knows it.”

Additionally, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s PAC, Ready for the Fight, committed more than $1 million in television ads through the next five weeks for Jones’ race in Arkansas’s 2nd District, Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the PAC confirmed. Overall Democratic spending on advertising for the race was just over $1 million, primarily made up by contributions from the Ready for the Fight PAC, with Republicans spending almost $2.7 million on ad buys, according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking service.

Hill said he has addressed affordability concerns “head on” this Congress.

“My work on housing, my work on the Price Stability Act, my work to try to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and drop the federal budget deficit as a percentage of GDP,” Hill said. “All these things can contribute to a more affordable environment for people. So I’ve tried to make that a forefront of my campaign this year.”

Hill was a key architect of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing affordability bill that became law in July. The Price Stability Act, which is unlikely to become law this year, would narrow the Federal Reserve’s current dual mandate of pursuing maximum employment and price stability to focus exclusively on containing inflation.