Johnson defends administration’s move to keep military paid during shutdown
The House speaker has said that the Trump administration has “every right” to move around the “duly appropriated dollars from Congress to the Department of Defense”.
The Pentagon and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has said that unspent funds from research and development accounts will be used to pay members of the military while the government is shutdown. That means that troops will still receive a paycheck on 15 October, and a separate funding bill to keep them paid won’t be needed for the time being. Democratic lawmakers, however, have questioned the legality of this move.
“If the Democrats want to go to court and challenge troops being paid, bring it,” Johnson snapped back today. “I’m grateful for a commander in chief who understands the priorities of the country.”
Over the weekend, Trump said that he would “not allow the Democrats to hold our military, and the entire security of our nation, HOSTAGE, with their dangerous government shutdown,” when he ordered defense secretary Pete Hegseth to release funds to ensure that service members still receive a salary.
Key events
Trump says phase two for Gaza ‘begins right now’ despite darkening outlook for fragile ceasefire
Phase two for Gaza “begins right now” Donald Trump has declared, even as the days-old truce appears increasingly fragile. The US president wrote on Truth Social just now:
ALL TWENTY HOSTAGES ARE BACK AND FEELING AS GOOD AS CAN BE EXPECTED. A big burden has been lifted, but the job IS NOT DONE. THE DEAD HAVE NOT BEEN RETURNED, AS PROMISED! Phase Two begins right NOW!!! President DJT
A crucial aspect of phase two of Trump’s peace plan is for a surge of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, as masses of Palestinian people face starvation and parts of the territory have had famine declared. But Israel has reportedly informed the United Nations it will only allow 300 aid trucks – half the agreed number – into Gaza on Wednesday and said the Rafah crossing will remain closed, because it claimed Hamas had violated the ceasefire agreement regarding the release of the bodies of the remaining 24 deceased hostages.
Hamas has told mediators that the remains of four hostages will be transferred to Israel tonight at 10pm local time. The group has previously indicated that recovering the bodies of some dead hostages may take longer, as not all burial sites amid the sea of rubble in Gaza are known.
Indeed on Sunday, US vice-president JD Vance acknowledged the challenges and said that locating some of the bodies would take longer, while some may never be found. He told Fox News:
The reality is that some of the hostages may never get back, but I do think, with some effort, we’ll be able to give them to their families so they at least have some closure.
We do want to give these people the ability to have a proper burial with their loved ones who were murdered by brutal terrorists, and that matters to us. It matters to the families, and it will remain a focus, but it’s going to take some time.
You can follow all the latest developments from Gaza here:
Powell says “there is no risk-free path for policy as we navigate the tension between our employment and inflation goals”.
“We’ll set policy based on the evolution of the economic outlook and the balance of risks, rather than following a predetermined path,” he adds, ending his remarks.
Available data continues to show that goods price increases primarily reflect tariffs rather than broader inflationary pressures, Powell says.
Consistent with these effects, near-term inflation expectations have generally increased this year while most longer term expectation measures remain aligned with our 2% goal, he says.
While the unemployment rate remained low through August, payroll gains have slowed sharply, Powell says, likely in part due to a decline in labor force growth due to lower immigration and lower labor force participation.
In this less dynamic and softer labor market, the downside risks to employment have somewhat risen, he says.
Powell says that based on the data available, “it’s fair to say that the outlook for employment and inflation does not appear to have changed much since [the Fed’s] September meeting four weeks ago”.
But according to data available prior to the government shutdown, growth and economic activity “may be on a somewhat firmer trajectory than expected”.
Jerome Powell delivers his last scheduled remarks before Fed’s next meeting
Fed’s Powell addresses economy pulled between risks to growth, jobs and prices
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell will shortly deliver his last scheduled remarks before the Fed’s next meeting, with the economy experiencing stronger-than-expected growth and a recent jump in productivity, but still adjusting to tariff and immigration policies that economists worry could lead to both higher inflation and higher unemployment.
Challenging for a central bank responsible for keeping inflation low and employment as high as possible, Powell and his colleagues are also facing a drought of official data amid the ongoing federal government shutdown that has delayed the September jobs report and other key statistics. An update on consumer prices is now scheduled for 24 October, before the Fed’s 28-29 October meeting.
I’ll bring you any key snippets from his remarks here.
US tariffs on China on 1 November depend on Beijing’s actions, says Greer
US trade representative Jamieson Greer has said it is up to China whether additional 100% tariffs on its exports to the United States kick in on 1 November or sooner, but said it might be difficult for Beijing to find an off ramp.
Greer told CNBC that US and Chinese officials met for staff-level talks in Washington on Monday, adding that he thought there was still a chance to work through a dispute over critical minerals restrictions.
We think we’ll be able to work through it, but again, we can’t have a situation where the Chinese keep this regime in place, where they want to have veto power over the world’s high-tech supply chains. I think they have realized that they’ve overstepped.
With the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies appeared to re-escalate, China’s commerce ministry said on Tuesday that the US was “threatening to intimidate” with the prospect of new tariffs on Chinese exports, “which is not the right way to get along with China”. Its spokesperson said that China would “fight to the end” in trade talks.
The comments came shortly after the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said China wanted to “to pull everybody else down with them” by damaging the world economy.
For more on that, here’s my colleague Amy Hawkins’ report:
Joseph Gedeon
Several major international US airports, including Phoenix Sky Harbor, Harry Reid international in Las Vegas, Seattle-Tacoma and Charlotte Douglas airport in North Carolina, are opting to block a video from the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, that blames Democrats for the ongoing federal government shutdown from airing at their checkpoints.
Airport authorities in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, Charlotte and Westchester county, New York, have refused to display the footage at security checkpoints, saying the overtly political messaging potentially violates state and federal law, including the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from partisan political activity.
In the video, obtained first by Fox News, Noem tells travelers: “Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted, and most of our TSA [Transportation Security Administration] employees are working without pay.”
The Port of Portland told the Guardian it “did not consent to playing the video in its current form, as we believe the Hatch Act clearly prohibits use of public assets for political purposes and messaging”. It added that Oregon law bars public employees from promoting or opposing any political party or affiliation – and that “consenting to playing this video on Port assets would violate Oregon law”.
Las Vegas’s Harry Reid international airport also declined to display the TSA video on similar grounds, saying in a statement “its content included political messaging that did not align with the neutral, informational nature of the public service announcements typically shown at the security checkpoints” and also pointed to the Hatch Act.
The Hatch Act is a 1939 federal law that prohibits political activities by federal employees to ensure government programs remain non-partisan.
Phoenix Sky Harbor international airport also told the Guardian that it “declined to post the video” to stay “consistent with airport policy”, which does not allow for political content.
Supreme court rejects Alex Jones appeal to order requiring him to pay $1.4bn to Sandy Hook families
The supreme court has declined to hear Alex Jones’s challenge to a $1.4bn judgment awarded to families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in 2012.
Jones, a noted conspiracy theorist and founder of Infowars, made several false statements that the shooting – which killed 20 children – was a hoax.
Justices today rejected Jones’s appeal of the Connecticut Appellate Court’s decision in a defamation lawsuit, issued in 2022. Jones argued that the judgment violated his rights under the US constitution to due process and free speech.
Senate Democrats say firings are part of Trump administrations ‘playbook’ to dismantle federal government
A group of Senate Democrats who represent Maryland and Virginia, two states with a high proportion of government workers, decried the firings of thousands of the government workers during the ongoing shutdown.
According to a court filing in the ongoing lawsuit challening recent firings, filed by the largest union representing federal workers, more than 4,000 employees have been laid off.
“This is all part of the Trump 2025 playbook,” said Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen. “Stop attacking employees, stop attacking the American people, and start negotiating to reopen the federal government and address the looming health care crisis is upon us.”
Bondi says Facebook has removed page targeting immigration agents, at justice department’s urging
Attorney general Pam Bondi has said that Facebook has removed a page that was being used to target and dox Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents in Chicago.
“The wave of violence against Ice has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put Ice officers at risk just for doing their jobs. The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement,” she added.
A reminder that the Department of Homeland Security launched a large scale federal law enforcement effort in Chicago last month called ‘Operation Midway Blitz’. DHS has said that more than 1,000 undocumented immigrants have been arrested since the operation began.
Johnson defends administration’s move to keep military paid during shutdown
The House speaker has said that the Trump administration has “every right” to move around the “duly appropriated dollars from Congress to the Department of Defense”.
The Pentagon and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has said that unspent funds from research and development accounts will be used to pay members of the military while the government is shutdown. That means that troops will still receive a paycheck on 15 October, and a separate funding bill to keep them paid won’t be needed for the time being. Democratic lawmakers, however, have questioned the legality of this move.
“If the Democrats want to go to court and challenge troops being paid, bring it,” Johnson snapped back today. “I’m grateful for a commander in chief who understands the priorities of the country.”
Over the weekend, Trump said that he would “not allow the Democrats to hold our military, and the entire security of our nation, HOSTAGE, with their dangerous government shutdown,” when he ordered defense secretary Pete Hegseth to release funds to ensure that service members still receive a salary.
House Republicans continue to blame Schumer and Democrats ahead of eighth attempt to pass funding bill
The House speaker repeated many of the same points he’s made throughout this government shutdown, now entering its 14th day.
He continued to criticize the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, who he accuses of holding out on the House-passed funding bill to appease the left-wing base of his party.
“We’re certainly not going to allow the American people to be taken hostage for his political gain,” Johnson said today.
He also repeated many of the misleading claims that congressional Republicans have made in recent weeks, namely that the Democratic-written stopgap funding bill provides federal healthcare for undocumented aliens. Their continuing resolution actually would actually keep in place many of the Medicaid provisions that were scrapped by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
This includes allowing lawfully present noncitizens – which includes several groups, such as refugees and asylum seekers, those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and survivors of domestic abuse and human trafficking who are awaiting visas or documentation – to still enroll in certain federal health care programs. All of these immigrants have entered the country legally and are accounted for by the federal government.
A reminder that undocumented immigrants remain ineligible for federally funded health insurance.
Johnson praises Trump for ‘pursuing peace with such determination and success‘
House speaker Mike Johnson has spent the first part of his press conference praising Donald Trump for “pursuing peace with such determination and success”, with regard to the hostage and prisoner exchange, along with the ceasefire in Gaza.
Per my earlier post, regarding the timing of the Senate votes today, it’s worth noting that the upper chamber will only vote on the House-passed funding bill that was written by Republicans, as Politico first reported.
Lawmakers do not plan to hold a vote on the dueling Democratic version, which includes several health care provisions – including the extension of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of this year.
We’re due to hear from the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, shortly.
Democratic lawmakers praise Trump for brokering Gaza ceasefire deal
Top Democratic leaders in Congress have praised Donald Trump for brokering a ceasefire deal in Gaza, which saw the release and exchange of the living Israeli hostages and almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners on Monday.
“Congratulations to President Trump for the historic Gaza agreement,” wrote senator Dick Durbin, of Illinois, who serves as the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “We know there are still critical elements to be negotiated and settled but the release of the Israeli hostages and the Palestinian prisoners is a good faith start. Now let’s negotiate a political ceasefire on Capitol Hill.”
The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, also piled praise on the White House. “I commend the enormous advocacy of the tireless hostage families, President Trump, his administration, and all who helped make this moment happen,” he said in a statement.
The chorus continued as former Democratic presidents Joe Biden and Bill Clinton gave credit to Trump and his team’s foreign diplomacy skills.
“The road to this deal was not easy. My Administration worked relentlessly to bring hostages home, get relief to Palestinian civilians, and end the war,” Biden said. “I commend President Trump and his team for their work to get a renewed ceasefire deal over the finish line.”
Former top CDC official says reversal of mass firings is causing ‘instability and confusion’
Melody Schreiber
More than a thousand employees at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) received notice that they were losing their jobs on Friday in a move that erased entire offices and was partially reversed over the weekend.
It caused “instability and whiplash”, said Debra Houry, former chief medical officer at the CDC.
About 700 reduction in force (RIF) notifications were sent to employees in error, the Trump administration reportedly says, though there does not seem to be public evidence of an error. Another 600 terminated employees have not been reinstated.
“It seems like they just took a sledgehammer to the agency versus a scalpel,” Houry said. “The fact they brought half back already just shows they didn’t think through what they were doing.”
The entire staff of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), a highly respected epidemiology journal, were terminated and then reinstated. So were employees working on global health and suicide prevention, as well as “disease detectives” and staff at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
But the entire human resources department is still gone, which will affect operations of the entire agency.
The Washington office is still cut, which “makes it difficult to communicate with Congress”, since they were the main channel for congressional inquiries, Houry said.
Staff with the CDC’s institutional review board, which reviews the design of studies, and the ethics office and oversees all conflicts and interests for CDC leaders and advisory committee members, were also let go.
In the next 30 days, some science protocols will be up for renewal by the institutional review board.
“They’ll have to be shut down,” Houry said.
Read more of Melody’s report below.
Government shutdown enters day 14, as House speaker says it’s ‘barreling toward one of the longest on record’
The government shutdown enters its 14th day, with little end in sight. On Monday, the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, said it was “barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history”.
The longest government shutdown on record lasted 35 days, during Trump’s first administration.
Johnson will host a press conference at 10am ET today, where we’ll bring you the latest. Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers will also speak to the media at 11am ET on Capitol Hill.
The Senate is poised to take up the dueling funding bills – that have failed to clear the upper chamber repeatedly – later today. Votes are currently scheduled for 5.30pm ET.
Donald Trump touched back down at the White House in the early hours of Tuesday morning (local time).
Later he’ll welcome Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, to Washington for a bilateral lunch meeting. Milei is a close ally of Trump’s, and will benefit from an extraordinary $20bn cash bailout from the administration, as Argentina’s economy continues to suffer.
That meeting will be closed to the press as of now, but we’ll let you know if that changes.
We’ll also hear from Trump at 4pm ET, when he holds a ceremony to honor the late conservative activist, Charlie Kirk, with a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom.
