“Senate Majority Leader John Thune isn’t endorsing the slash-and-burn campaign White House budget director Russ Vought has planned for the federal government during the pending shutdown,” Politico reports.
“But he says Democrats have no one to blame for it but themselves.”
Said Thune: “This is the risk of shutting down the government and handing the keys to Russ Vought… we don’t control what he’s going to do.”
CNN: Russ Vought’s plan to deconstruct the government was years in the making.
Speaker Mike Johnson moved to shut down any attempts to negotiate a way out of the shutdown Thursday as some senators look for off-ramps, Politico reports.
“Johnson said in a news conference outside his Capitol office that Democrats should stop pressing Republicans to come to any agreement to reopen the government, saying Senate Democrats instead need to pass the seven-week stopgap bill that had already cleared the House.”
Said Johnson: “I quite literally have nothing to negotiate.”
“As Senate Republicans explore options to swiftly end a government shutdown, there is one procedural maneuver leadership is already firmly dismissing: changing the filibuster rules,” NOTUS reports.
Said Senate Majority Whip John Barraso (R-WY): “That’s not in the cards. We’re going to continue to bring this continuing resolution to the floor. Three Democrats voted with us yesterday. I know there’s some more that are considering it. We’re going to reopen the government.”
“Multiple Senate Republicans told NOTUS they anticipate a drip-drip of Democrats will eventually support the GOP-led continuing resolution as a shutdown becomes politically and logistically painful in their home states.”
“Senior federal officials have quietly counseled several agencies against firing employees while the government is shut down — as President Donald Trump has suggested he will — warning the strategy may violate appropriations law,” the Washington Post reports.
“The officials cautioned that firings — known as RIFs, or reductions in force — could be vulnerable to legal challenges under statutes labor unions cited this week in a lawsuit seeking to block threatened mass layoffs.”
“Nonprofit groups with disparate missions are banding together in an alliance aimed at protecting one another if they become targets of President Donald Trump’s ire,” NBC News reports.
“Referring to the effort colloquially as a kind of ‘NATO for nonprofits,’ the groups plan to rally behind an embattled nonprofit by offering strategic and legal support, issuing supportive statements and loaning staff who would help keep it afloat until the crisis passes.”
“Just as the NATO military alliance views an attack on one member state as an attack on all, the network of nonprofits would serve as a bulwark against Trump administration actions that disrupt the work of groups that are providing lawful services and exercising free speech.”
“The government shutdown is already hurting a key GOP constituency: farmers,” Politico reports.
“Thousands of USDA’s Farm Service Agency offices that help producers across the country access loans and other services are completely shuttered and only available for ’emergency scenarios.’ Even top Republicans lawmakers acknowledge the pain hitting their own constituents, despite assurances from President Donald Trump that Democrats will bear the brunt of the shutdown.”
“Taiwan has sought to ease public fears that its prized chip industry could be hollowed out following US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s call for semiconductor manufacturing to be evenly divided between the island and the United States,” the South China Morning Post reports.
“Taiwanese Vice-Premier Cheng Li-chun said on Thursday that Taiwan’s negotiating team had never promised Washington to evenly split chip production.”
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) took note in an NPR interview of President Trump’s threat to permanently fire federal employees as a way to pressure Democrats to end the government shutdown.
Said Beshear: “If he fires a bunch of people, it’s not because Democrats wouldn’t reach a deal. It’s because the president decides and actually fires people.”
He added: “People aren’t a negotiating tool. They are not a prop. And that’s how he’s treating these families.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted a “pretty big breakthrough” in the next round of trade talks with China, even as the Trump administration takes steps to marshal support for American farmers hurt by a decline in Chinese purchases, Bloomberg reports.
107 Days by Kamala Harris has debuted at the top of the New York Times best seller list.
“Evidently, ‘The Late Show’ has outlasted the United States federal government, because we’re still open, and they done shut down.”
— Stephen Colbert, on his show last night.
“Actor and activist Jane Fonda has relaunched the Committee for the First Amendment first backed by her father Henry Fonda in 1947, to fight against what the group calls a ‘coordinated campaign’ from the Trump administration to curb freedom of expression,” the Washington Post reports.
Derek Thompson: “Some people think artificial intelligence will be the most important technology of the 21st century. Others insist that it is an obvious economic bubble. I believe both sides are right. Like the 19th century railroads and the 20th century broadband Internet build-out, AI will rise first, crash second, and eventually change the world.”
“The numbers just don’t make sense. Tech companies are projected to spend about $400 billion this year on infrastructure to train and operate AI models. By nominal dollar sums, that is more than any group of firms has ever spent to do just about anything.”
“The Apollo program allocated about $300 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars to get America to the moon between the early 1960s and the early 1970s. The AI buildout requires companies to collectively fund a new Apollo program, not every 10 years, but every 10 months.“
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that U.S. economic growth could be hurt by the government shutdown.
Said Bessent: “This isn’t the way to have a discussion, shutting down the government and lowering the GDP. We could see a hit to the GDP, a hit to growth and a hit to working America.”
President Trump said on Truth Social that he would meet today with budget director Russell Vought — “he of Project 2025 fame” — “to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut.”
He added: “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity.”
Bloomberg: “The president’s comments escalate a threat from Republicans to use the shutdown to slash the federal bureaucracy. The White House had threatened to announce job cuts as soon as Thursday.”
Wall Street Journal: “Russell Vought has been planning for this moment for years.”
A new Washington Post poll found significantly more Americans blame President Trump and congressional Republicans for the shutdown than Democrats, though many say they are not sure.
Important takeaway: A large majority support Democrats’ call to extend federal health insurance subsidies in general — though just under half support the party demanding this if it extends the government shutdown.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
