House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Tuesday that he no longer supports a continuing resolution that would fund the government through the end of December, The Hill reported. Time is ticking after the stopgap measure that was first passed in the House in September languishes in the Senate.
The continuing resolution they were first pushing would have only funded the government through November 21 anyway. Now, Johnson is trying to avoid the familiar problem of a large spending bill being voted on just in time for Christmas and instead is asking for temporary funding that brings the budget issue into January.
"A lot of people around here have PTSD about Christmas omnibus spending bills. We don’t want to do that," Johnson said during a news briefing. "It gets too close, and we don’t want to have that risk," he added.
Johnson believes a short-term funding bill that brings the issue into the new year "makes sense," but that it's by no means an easy feat at this point. "There’s some discussion about it. We’ll see where it lands," Johnson said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is on board with Johnson's timeline and confirmed this to reporters on Monday. "The longer runway is better," the South Dakota Republican said.
Johnson said that the House would come back to session if a deal could be struck for a continuing resolution. However, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, is not convinced and would instead like to see the government funded through Dec. 19.
Meanwhile, Democrats have dug into their position that they won't budge on reopening until Republicans roll over on extending their healthcare subsidies from the Affordable Care Act. Still, Thune said he was "optimistic" the government could reopen by Friday if both parties struck a deal, but that was before Tuesday's elections, which were favorable for Democrats.
Now it seems that their strategy of holding out was the right one politically, or at least it didn't hurt them the Democrats in elections around the country. As Fox News reported, this could make the shutdown go on even longer, as they think they have the upper hand against President Donald Trump and the GOP.
New Jersey elected Mikie Sherrill for governor in a decisive defeat against the Republican Jack Ciattarelli, and Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) believes this points to the president's failing. "This was a resounding defeat for Donald Trump. He should have woke up this morning and just immediately said, ‘I — we need to negotiate. We need to find an end to this shutdown,'" Kim claimed.
While Democrats remain steadfast in their opposition to striking a deal, Republicans are similarly obstinate, though Trump appears to recognize that perhaps it played a role in getting so many Democrats elected on Tuesday. During a White House breakfast on Wednesday, Trump conceded that the "shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans."
Others, like Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), believe that it was a temporary setback, but that the blame will ultimately fall on the Democrats. "I think the Democrats, you know, may feel emboldened by it, but I think that people are going to get past election results fairly quickly and start remembering that they've just unilaterally decided to shut down the government," Tillis told Fox News Digital.
"So I think it could be maybe a weak bump, but at the end of the day, we're going to get back to the reality that we've got to fund the government," Tillis added. As Politico reported, Tuesday's elections were not necessarily a referendum on Republicans, especially considering that they were held in an off-year, but there's no denying that they favored Democrats.
The losses were significant, as Democrats flipped 13 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates, as well as three statewide races. Californians voted to redraw the congressional maps in favor of Democrats, and New Jersey, which had looked like it might turn red after Trump's showing in the 2024 election, voted Sherrill in by 13 points.
Tuesday's results were not great for Republicans, but it doesn't necessarily mean any particular issue was the reason. The government shutdown is bad for both parties and looks more like a political stunt than real governance, even to Republicans.
Senate Republicans blocked Democrats' attempt to ram through funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits that have run out due to the government shutdown, The Hill reported. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced a non-binding resolution forcing the Department of Agriculture to fund it, but Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) blocked the move and instead asked for the government to reopen.
Democrats have repeatedly refused to continue to fund the government as a shutdown drags on for more than a month. Meanwhile, SNAP benefits for hungry Americans ran out on Monday, causing panic on both sides.
The Democrats requested funding for the 42 million people who will go without benefits without the $8 billion required to keep the program afloat for the month of November. However, they believe that the overall shutdown is to their advantage and therefore have refused to address the core issue.
"This isn’t lawmaking. It’s a political stunt by the Democrats. The resolution they’re offering is empty," Barrasso charged. "It is meaningless. Democrats knew their actions threatened food assistance. They were fully aware of it,” he added, noting multiple times that Democrats have voted against the spending bill 13 times. “If Democrats really wanted to help struggling families, they’d stop blocking a clean continuing resolution."
As the Democrats wring their hands over SNAP, they simultaneously have shot down every attempt to resolve the shutdown. In fact, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has voted down a continuing resolution, which would fund the government through the end of the year, 14 separate times, Fox News reported.
This shutdown has been going on for so long that it's approaching the record of 35 days, which was set in 2019 during Trump's first administration. Meanwhile, Democrats have been holding out for entitlements, including increased healthcare spending for illegal immigrants.
Republicans refuse to sign on to this, and Democrats think this makes them look good in the eyes of the voting pubic. Schumer has indicated this by repeatedly blaming President Donald Trump and Republicans as healthcare costs increased for all Americans.
"The only plan Republicans have for healthcare seems to be to eliminate it, and then to tell working people to go figure it out on their own. That's not a healthcare plan. That's cruel," Schumer said.
Still, it seems Democrats might be ready to buckle sooner rather than later. As of Monday, several Senate Democrats convened a closed-door meeting to craft an exit strategy. This comes as Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) noted that Republicans offered Democrats a range of choices, including voting on their healthcare spending bills after the government reopens.
The issue is coming to a head, not only for the people who have gone without their government-funded groceries, but also for other industries and facets of American life. Because the Democrats are unwilling to budge, there's a chance that America's airways could be shut down and commercial travel grounded, the New York Post reported.
The problem is that the government shutdown has deprived 13,000 air traffic controllers of their pay, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, causing staffing shortages in half of their facilities. It's even worse in New York, where 80% of air traffic controllers have called in sick due to understaffing, which has caused burnout.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy addressed these concerns last week during a news conference with Vice President JD Vance. They warned of problems that could arise if the shutdown drags into the busy Thanksgiving holiday travel season, which is only weeks away.
"The House of Representatives has voted affirmatively to reopen the United States government. Fifty-two Republicans and three Democrats consistently vote to reopen the United States government. But we need 60 votes. We need to end the craziness," Vance said.
Democrats continue to play political games while real lives are impacted. The Republicans are concerned about getting the government reopened, but they won't give in to the Democrats' demands to do it, and that is admirable.
A Virginia jury last week decided that a man who had encouraged violence against President Donald Trump and openly fantasized about his death was not guilty under the law, arguing that his free speech rights allowed him to do so.
Former Coast Guard Officer Peter Stinson wrote on social media that someone should "take the shot" at Trump and added, "Realistically the only solution is violence."
He also said he "would twist the knife after sliding it into [Trump’s] fatty flesh" and that he "would be willing to pitch in" to contract a hitman to kill him.
"He wants us dead. I can say the same thing about him," Stinson wrote during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite these comments, the jury said he was not guilty of soliciting a crime of violence, but the case has raised questions about how far it is permissible to go when making public statements about violence against someone.
Defense witness Professor Jen Golbeck of the University of Maryland said people "rooting for Trump to die online" is common.
"On one hand, I would not encourage anyone to post those thoughts on social media," Golbeck said, according to the Washington Post. "On the other hand, I can’t count the number of people who I saw post similar things. . . . It’s a very common sentiment. There’s social media accounts dedicated to tracking whether Trump has died."
Program counsel with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression Brennen VanderVeen thought the acquittal might have had more to do with the fact that Stinson didn't actually solicit any one individual to carry out his wishes on Trump.
"Solicitation is when it’s directly tied to the crime. So, if he contacts an actual hit man and tries to arrange some sort of hit contract, that’s solicitation," VanderVeen told Fox News Digital. "Without more . . . that probably does not meet the elements of actual solicitation."
Stinson's attorneys characterized his comments as "political advocacy that the First Amendment was squarely designed to protect."
"They lack the ‘specificity, imminence, and likelihood of producing lawless action’ required to fall outside constitutional protection," the attorneys said.
Given Stinson's comments, there is some gray area about whether he was actually threatening Trump with violence.
The solicitation charge might have been a stretch, but surely a charge of making terroristic threats would have had a better chance.
The problem is, the left has dehumanized Trump, which makes it all too easy to engage in violence against him, whether real or in a fantasy. Until they realize this, nothing will change.
A lightning rod for controversy since entering the public eye, South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace has made headlines again, this time because of a bizarre airport meltdown.
As the Daily Caller reports, security cameras captured the events that led to Mace’s outraged reaction, apparently prompted by what she said was a failure by police to swiftly spot her vehicle and escort her to her flight
The kerfuffle began when Mace arrived at Charleston International Airport on Wednesday morning, showing up in a vehicle different from the one for which local officers customarily watch.
Pulling up in gray or silver BMW, instead of the white model officers anticipated, the lawmaker was not recognized immediately at the curb, sparking the profanity-laden confrontation.
A subsequent incident report from the Charleston County Aviation Authority Police Department stated that officers were waiting for Mace before 6:30 a.m. at the ticketing area in order to escort the congresswoman to her flight, but did not see the white vehicle for which they had been instructed to watch.
By 7:00 a.m., Mace had reportedly made her way to the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) checkpoint, but was in a “very irate” state of mind.
The report quoted Officer A. Reed as recalling, “She immediately began loudly cursing and making derogatory comments to us and about the department. She repeatedly stated we were ‘fuc*ing incompetent’ and ‘this is no way to treat a fuc*ing U.S. Representative.’”
Though Mace was reported as having said that “[Sen.] Tim Scott would not be fuc*king treated this way,” authorities at the airport later suggested that if she had been any ordinary citizen, she would likely have been dealt with rather more harshly.
A gate agent working for American Airlines said he was in “disbelief” over the lawmaker’s conduct, with TSA Supervisor Johnny Lynch decrying the manner in which she spoke to agents and declaring plans to report her behavior up the chain of authority.
Also weighing in was current South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who is challenging Mace in the Republican gubernatorial primary, and he took to X to express his disdain for the congresswoman’s actions.
Wilson wrote, “Law enforcement and TSA agents show up every day to protect the public, and right now they’re not even getting paid. They deserve respect and appreciation. Not profanity. Not threats. Not tantrums.”
Not hearing a word of it, Mace also ventured to X to defiantly declare, “I wish Alan Wilson spent as much time prosecuting pedophiles as he does spying on me at the airport.”
Despite the controversy surrounding her airport dust-up, the news for Mace has not been all bad in recent months, as she notched a key court win in late August, according to The Hill.
A federal judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought against Mace after she used a speech made on the House floor to accuse a former romantic partner of being a sexual predator, noting, “Congress has weighed the risks and benefits…and concluded that libel and related claims against federal officials acting within the scope of their employment are barred under federal law. It is this Court’s duty to uphold the rule of law.”
Vice President J.D. Vance activated the outrage mob by saying that he hopes his wife, Usha, will convert to Catholicism, the New York Times reported. The vice president was asked about the possibility during a Turning Point USA appearance at the University of Mississippi on Wednesday, and his answer sent people across the political spectrum into a tizzy.
Wednesday's event was held in honor of the memory of Turning Point USA's late founder, Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated nearly two months ago. During a question-and-answer portion of the event, Vance was asked about his interfaith marriage and whether he hoped his wife would join him.
The vice president is himself a convert, having been raised in a culturally evangelical household. Vance is outspoken about his deep faith, and it seems he wishes for his wife, who is a Hindu of Indian descent, to have the same experience.
Vance was forthcoming that he hopes "that she is somehow moved by the same thing I was moved by in the church," the vice president reframed the questioner's point before agreeing. "Yeah, I honestly do wish that because I believe in the Christian Gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way," Vance told the audience.
Because the left is overly scrupulous about such things, many are apoplectic about his instinct to want to impose his will on his wife. As the Times noted, "some Indians and Indian Americans across the political spectrum who said that Mr. Vance was not respecting his wife’s religious decisions" by wishing for her to come to the faith he loves.
"Some also said his remarks suggested that Hinduism was inferior at a time when aggressive immigration enforcement has left many South Asian Americans and people of non-Christian faiths feeling uncertain and afraid of their place in American society. The backlash reflected worries by some in the South Asian community over the Trump administration’s immigration policies and its embrace of conservative Christian groups," the Times went on.
While outsiders worry about their marriage and Usha Vance's autonomy, the vice president's wife is unfazed by such sentiment from her husband. "The kids know that I’m not Catholic, and they have plenty of access to the Hindu tradition from books that we give them, to things that we show them, to the visit recently to India and some of the religious elements of that visit," Usha Vance said in an interview with Meghan McCain in June.
"So it is a part of their lives and they know many practicing Hindus as a part of their lives in their own family," the second lady added. The Vances' children attend Catholic school, and Usha Vance often attends Mass with her family. Still, this isn't good enough for the left because there is allegedly a rise in anti-Asian sentiments with the success of Zohran Mamdani's mayoral candidacy in New York City and the controversy of H-1B visas.
Regardless of how this remark is being spun, the truth is that Catholics in particular believe that a person must be baptized to get to heaven, and it makes sense for J.D. Vance to want what is best for his wife. J.D. Vance said as much in a social media post Friday.
Amidst the controversy, J.D. Vance took to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday to dispel rumors and rebut accusations against him, including one that has since been deleted. "What a disgusting comment, and it's hardly been the only one along these lines. First off, the question was from a person seemingly to my left, about my interfaith marriage. I'm a public figure, and people are curious, and I wasn't going to avoid the question," the vice president wrote.
"Second, my Christian faith tells me the Gospel is true and is good for human beings. My wife--as I said at the TPUSA--is the most amazing blessing I have in my life," J.D. Vance explained. "She herself encouraged me to reengage with my faith many years ago. She is not a Christian and has no plans to convert, but like many people in an interfaith marriage--or any interfaith relationship--I hope she may one day see things as I do. Regardless, I'll continue to love and support her and talk to her about faith and life and everything else, because she's my wife," J.D. Vance went on.
"Third, posts like this wreak of anti-Christian bigotry. Yes, Christians have beliefs. And yes, those beliefs have many consequences, one of which is that we want to share them with other people. That is a completely normal thing, and anyone who's telling you otherwise has an agenda," the vice president charged.
What a disgusting comment, and it's hardly been the only one along these lines.
First off, the question was from a person seemingly to my left, about my interfaith marriage. I'm a public figure, and people are curious, and I wasn't going to avoid the question.
Second, my… https://t.co/JOzN7WAg3A
— JD Vance (@JDVance) October 31, 2025
Christians are called to evangelize, and often the most pressing need comes from the people closest to them. Usha Vance is an intelligent woman and surely can handle a discussion about faith. Unfortunately, leftists don't give her enough credit.
President Donald Trump agreed to cut tariffs on China after the nation agreed to accept agricultural trade from the U.S., Breitbart reported. The deal was struck during a meeting on Thursday with the communist nation's dictator, Xi Jinping, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in South Korea.
Trump has been excoriated for trying to work with his Chinese counterpart. He has also received heat for imposing tariffs, which his enemies said would make goods more expensive and create an economic downturn in America.
All along, Trump has insisted that the tariffs would put money in America's coffers, while many speculated he was using them as a bargaining chip. Now it appears the world's best negotiator has come away from the table with another win for America its farmers, and the energy sector.
Trump shared his triumph in a lengthy post to his Truth Social on Thursday. "There is enormous respect between our two Countries, and that will only be enhanced with what just took place," Trump's post began.
"I had a truly great meeting with President Xi of China. There is enormous respect between our two Countries, and that will only be enhanced with what just took place. We agreed on many things, with others, even of high importance, being very close to being resolved," Trump went on.
"I was extremely honored by the fact that President Xi authorized China to begin the purchase of massive amounts of Soybeans, Sorghum, and other Farm products. Our Farmers will be very happy! In fact, as I said once before during my first Administration, Farmers should immediately go out and buy more land and larger tractors," Trump advised.
"I would like to thank President Xi for this! Additionally, China has agreed to continue the flow of Rare Earth, Critical Minerals, Magnets, etc., openly and freely. Very significantly, China has strongly stated that they will work diligently with us to stop the flow of Fentanyl into our Country," Trump continued.
"They will help us end the Fentanyl Crisis," he added. Trump has been adamant about getting the dangerous drug off the streets in America, and turning off the illicit drug pipeline from China goes a long way to getting it done.
Besides helping with the drug crisis and purchasing agricultural products, China has also struck a deal that is good news for the energy sector. "China also agreed that they will begin the process of purchasing American Energy," Trump announced.
"In fact, a very large scale transaction may take place concerning the purchase of Oil and Gas from the Great State of Alaska. Chris Wright, Doug Burgum, and our respective Energy teams will be meeting to see if such an Energy Deal can be worked out," Trump added.
"The agreements reached today will deliver Prosperity and Security to millions of Americans. After this Historic trip to Asia, I am now heading back to Washington, D.C.," Trump said, underscoring the message that his work there is now done.
"I want to thank the Great Countries of Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea for being so generous, gracious, and hospitable. Also, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, who were at the Dinner last night hosted by His Excellency Lee Jae Myung. Hundreds of Billions of Dollars are being brought into our Country because of them. Our Nation is Strong, Respected, and Admired Again and, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!" he concluded.
Trump has made America safer and more prosperous while also getting the nation's adversaries under control. This represents a significant triumph for the president and his administration, achieved in the first year of his second term.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer agrees that some of then-President Joe Biden's autopen pardons could be "null and void" given his cognitive decline and lack of involvement toward the end of his term, Breitbart reported. The Kentucky Republican made this bombshell admission while appearing on Fox News Channel's The Ingraham Angle on Tuesday.
Biden's cognitive decline was apparent even to outsiders, but those closest to him allowed him to continue on with his presidency and even run for reelection. The persistent questions about his possible impairment that they tried to sweep under the rug have come full circle with pardons he granted with the use of the autopen.
Other presidents have used the device, which signs documents in the president's handwriting, but there is a fair amount of evidence that these important documents were signed off on, perhaps without Biden's full knowledge or consent. Comer believes this is enough to undermine some of his most high-profile pardons.
Earlier in the interview, Comer had said that many factors, including the use of the autopen and the lack of evidence that Biden was fully aware it was happening, made his pardons "null and void." The host and former attorney, Laura Ingraham, pressed Comer on whether he truly thought that would be the outcome.
"Are you of the view that, for instance, Biden’s pardon of his brother Jim or, let’s say, Anthony Fauci, are you of the view that those pardons are null and void, given what you know?" Ingraham asked him of the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "I am — absolutely 100%," Comer insisted.
"If anyone doubts whether or not there was a cover-up, they need to watch every minute of the testimony that we got, all of the hours and hours of depositions from these staffers, where you had people like Ian Sams, who was his spokesperson, who would come out every day and give press conferences, blasting me or blasting Robert Hur, or Jim Jordan or someone under oath when we asked him, 'How many times did you meet directly with Joe Biden?'" Comer recalled. Ian Sams had said it was just twice in two years, as did his executive secretary.
"That position is one of the closest to the president, whether it’s Obama, Trump, George Bush, Obama, she admitted that she would go weeks without having any interaction with Joe Biden. They clearly shielded him, not only from the American people, but from their inner staff. If he was an active participant, there would be notes," Comer said.
"There would be notes. The National Archives has no record of notes. There are no emails. It almost looks like they went back and changed their story from he approved it verbally and orally to we had memos and things like that. There were so many inconsistencies," Comer charged.
If what Comer says is true, he believes this will be enough for an investigation and perhaps for the pardons to be vacated. "And I think that the Department of Justice can bring all these people in, especially the three staffers and the doctor who pled the Fifth Amendment, and pressed them for more information, because at the end of the day, the American people know that Joe Biden was in a mental state of decline," Comer said.
"He hasn’t given a TV interview since he left office. The statement blasting my report today wasn’t from him. It was from an unnamed staffer," Comer went on.
The Kentucky Republican went on to say that the matter has been referred to Attorney General Pam Bondi. "We have handed her this investigation on a platter. We have done the heavy lifting: all the hours of depositions, traced the emails. We have proven no evidence Joe Biden was involved in the decision-making process," Comer said.
"She needs to bring people in, threaten accountability, threaten prosecution, get the truth from these people, and hold them accountable. We had a president of the United States who wasn't fit to serve, like tried to run him for a second term, and then they abused the autopen during the lame duck period," Comer said of the Democratic Party.
This issue is not going away regardless of how the left tries to ignore it. Many on their side have finally admitted that he was deteriorating, but none have gone as far as to say that they must scrutinize every action taken, including the times an autopen signed anything.
The Pentagon has moved to allow swift terminations for civilian employees, allowing managers to fire workers with "speed and conviction" if they're underperforming, The Hill reported. The directive came from a Sept. 30 memo issued by Under Secretary of Defense Anthony Tata, which was made public on Tuesday.
"Supervisors and human resources professionals are directed to act with speed and conviction to facilitate the separation from Federal service of employees performing unsuccessfully," the top personnel policy officer wrote. Tata further informed the managing supervisors that they would be held accountable if they failed to take appropriate action on employees who weren't up to snuff.
This memo has stripped civilian personnel of previously held protections against such action, and some worry that this will become an excuse to dispense with those seen as disloyal to President Donald Trump. However, this was something Trump warned about before Democrats decided to allow funding to run out and the government to shut down.
So far, 334,900 civilian employees, which represents about half of that category of military workers, have been furloughed due to the shutdown. The longer it goes on, the greater the chance these cuts will become permanent, as Trump promised.
The left is attempting to frame these cuts as something nefarious, but cleaning house and saving on payroll budgets is exactly in line with Trump's priorities that he laid out during the campaign. Similarly, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been tightening up the ranks to rid the military of those who oppose the president's agenda for a stronger military.
"The sooner we have the right people, the sooner we can advance the right policies. Personnel is policy," Hegseth said last month to an audience of generals and admirals during a meeting he called of top military brass to the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia.
Earlier this year, Hegseth cut the Pentagon's payroll by 60,000 people, or about 8% of the workforce, through attrition or buyouts. Now, the memo has streamlined the process for managers, giving them the "flexibility to address performance issues swiftly and effectively," Tata wrote.
Managers use the Douglas Factors, the criteria for evaluating federal workers, to decide whom to cut. "This approach empowers supervisors to act decisively when performance undermines [Defense Department] objectives, reinforcing a culture of excellence," the memo touted.
This will ensure that all civilian employees who fill military roles unsatisfactorily will be weeded out, "so deficiencies in any role can warrant strong action." The employees fired under this change can challenge the decision and unfavorable review within seven days.
This action is part of Trump's promises, including his pledge to use a government shutdown to eliminate jobs. On October 8, just a week into the shutdown, Trump said he had a "substantial" number of government jobs that could be eliminated permanently, Fox News reported.
"We have a lot of things that we're going to eliminate and permanently eliminate," Trump told the press at a White House meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. "I'll be able to tell you that in four or five days if this keeps going on… If this keeps going on, it'll be substantial. And a lot of those jobs will never come back. But you're going to have a lot closer to a balanced budget, actually," Trump said at the time.
Meanwhile, Trump blamed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democrats for their failure to act to avoid the shutdown which is now nearly a month long. "I look at your leadership. I don't know who to speak to," Trump said of the Democrats.
"I'll tell you what, I'm getting calls from Democrats wanting to meet. I never even heard their names before... the Democrats have no leader," he added.
The American people voted for Trump to clean up the problems in Washington, D.C., including the dead wood in the military and those opposed to its mission. What's happening now is simply the fulfillment of that, and it's all being facilitated by the spineless Democrats who refuse to agree to funding to reopen the government.
A group of pilot unions is urging lawmakers to pass a continuing resolution that would end the government shutdown, Breitbart reported. Republicans have put forth a so-called clean continuing resolution that would fund priorities such as air traffic controllers through the end of the year, but Democrats stubbornly refuse to support it.
Nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers continue to go without pay as the Democrats drag their feet. Due to this crisis, statements this week came from unions such as the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA), the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots, and the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations (CAPA), calling on lawmakers to act.
"We have seen the stress and tension this year on the National Airspace System due to short-staffed air traffic controllers. This shutdown only compounds the pressures they face as they now report to work without a paycheck," a statement from CAPA said.
The Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations went on to say that they were urging "Congress to end the government shutdown by passing a clean Continuing Resolution." However, Democrats simply won't budge.
Other unions also made impassioned pleas for the Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, to end the shutdown. SWAPA president, Captain Jody Even, said in a statement that the union "strongly urges Congress to pass a clean Continuing Resolution to fund the government."
First Officer Nick Silva of the APA shared similar sentiments in a statement. "Congress should reconvene and work in a bipartisan manner to pass a clean Continuing Resolution to fund and reopen the government,"
“We stand with our brothers and sisters in air traffic control and TSA who continue to show up to work every day without a paycheck. These men and women take their oath seriously to guarantee a safe National Airspace System so we, the pilots, can ensure the flying public reaches their destinations in a timely manner and without harm," Silva added.
Airlines for America, which bills itself as a "trade association for the leading U.S. airlines," said in a news release that paychecks being withheld from air traffic controllers and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) cause unnecessary risk. "Missed paychecks for the federal employees charged with the safe and efficient facilitation of our national airspace unnecessarily increases stress for the thousands of air traffic controllers, TSA officers and CBP employees who work every day to keep aviation safe and secure," the news release said.
The association added that it would "urge elected leaders to act with an appropriate sense of urgency to solve this problem and immediately reopen the federal government." They said the "quickest and simplest way to ensure those critical employees are paid is by passing a clean CR."
According to Fox News, Schumer and the Senate Democrats once again shot down the 13th Republican attempt to pass the clean resolution on Tuesday. The shutdown is in its 28th day, and Tuesday marked the first day that the air traffic controllers went without pay.
The U.S. military passed that milestone on Friday, and the federal nutrition program was unable to fund benefits on Saturday, which also marked the first day of open enrollment for Obamacare. Following the Democrats' downvote, GOP Rep. Tom Keane of New Jersey slammed Democratic lawmakers for holding out.
"Today, Senate Democrats voted for the 13th time against funding our government — after already rejecting a bill last week to pay air traffic controllers and other essential workers. This is outrageous. 13,000 air traffic controllers won't receive their paychecks today because of these political games," Keane posted to X, formerly Twitter, before concluding, "It's time to reopen the government."
Today, Senate Democrats voted for the 13th time against funding our government — after already rejecting a bill last week to pay air traffic controllers and other essential workers.
This is outrageous. 13,000 air traffic controllers won't receive their paychecks today because… pic.twitter.com/v1r4qK5kof
— Congressman Tom Kean (@CongressmanKean) October 28, 2025
The Democrats are digging themselves into a hole from which they have little chance of emerging any time soon. Hardworking Americans are going without pay because Schumer and his ilk are playing politics with the government shutdown, and that's not something voters are going to forget.
From the earliest days of his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump made clear his intention to reverse the Biden administration’s border failures and to get control of the criminal operations that thrived during his predecessor’s tenure.
Amid news that a well-known Mexican cartel boss was arrested earlier this month, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard has stepped forward to praise the president and the “seriousness” with which he is taking the thorny challenge organizations such as the Sinaloa group represent, as the Daily Caller reports.
The DNI’s comments came during a Saturday interview on Fox News, when she left little doubt about her position on Trump’s commitment to curtailing cartel influence once and for all.
Gabbard referenced the Oct. 15 arrest of Leonardo Daniel “El Pato” Martinez Vera, a Sinaloa Cartel Plaza chief whose underlings had reportedly been involved in everything from kidnapping to murder.
The DNI was asked whether the apprehension of El Pato – an operation aided by her agency’s Counterterrorism Center -- is likely to send a strong warning shot to cartel leaders who were able to run rampant at the nation’s southern border during Biden’s time in office.
Gabbard declared in response, “Yes, it’s very significant,” adding that she wished she could reveal details of the operation itself, one which was orchestrated by agents currently working without pay “because of the Democrats’ government shutdown.”
She underscored the importance of Trump’s no-nonsense approach to battling the cartels, stating that “people are seeing President Trump is not messing around with this. If they try to resort to their own games of bribery and all of this other stuff, then they will be putting themselves in the target.”
From the first days of his second term in office, Trump made no secret of his plans to tackle the cartels, issuing an executive order on Jan. 20 designating cartels and other organizations as “foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists.”
In doing so, the president declared that the “cartels functionally control, through a campaign of assassination, terror, rape, and brute force, nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border of the United States.”
The order went on to state that the activities of the cartels “threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.”
In furtherance of the presidential order, on Feb. 20, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the designation of a host of groups, including Tren de Aragua, MS-13, Cartel de Sinaloa, and more as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” and “Specially Designated Global Terrorists.”
The designations, Rubio explained, “expose and isolate entities and individuals, denying them access to the U.S. financial system and the resources they need to carry out attacks,” and they also “can assist law enforcement actions of other U.S. agencies and governments.”
In the wake of El Pato’s arrest, Gabbard’s ODNI took a victory lap, stating in a press release, “We will not allow cartel gangs who target Americans to roam freely, whether in the U.S. or across the border in Mexico.”
The agency added, “Now, thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are surging resources against cartels and gang leadership, disrupting their networks, and working alongside our Mexican partners to make communities safer and protect American lives,” not to mention undoing the damage Biden’s open-borders philosophy wrought for four straight years.