Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) decided to not bring the House of Representatives back next week as the government shutdown continues.
Politico: “The move came after the Senate voted a fourth time Friday to reject a House-passed continuing resolution that would break the ongoing government shutdown. Johnson and House GOP leaders have argued that measure, which would extend federal funding through Nov. 21, is the only viable path out of the standoff.”
“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired a top official with the National Institutes of Health who blew the whistle on internal clashes over vaccine research in the early months of the Trump administration,” CBS News reports.
“We’re not seeing the leadership on both sides really willing to sit down and negotiate. And I think that’s what it’s gonna take.”
— Sen. Jean Shaheen (D-NH), talking on CNN about the government shutdown.
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“President Trump ordered another lethal military strike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat in the Caribbean early Friday, signaling the administration is undeterred by mounting legal questions about the campaign,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in a social-media post that on Trump’s orders he had directed a ‘lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel.'”
“The Treasury Department is considering producing a one-dollar coin featuring President Donald Trump to commemorate the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence next year,” Politico reports.
“The draft design of the coin, which was overseen by the Office of the U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, features Trump’s profile on one side of the coin. The opposite side depicts Trump with a clenched fist in front of an American flag alongside the words ‘FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT.'”
“The Senate will not be holding votes this weekend on reopening the government as was initially expected, as some Republican senators will be attending a high-dollar fundraising retreat for the National Republican Senatorial Committee on Georgia’s Sea Island,” The Hill reports.
“Speaker Mike Johnson said he’s not inclined to bring the House back into session until the Senate passes the House’s continuing resolution,” NOTUS reports.
Said Johnson: “The House will come back into session and do its work as soon as Chuck Schumer allows us to re-open the government.”
Punchbowl News: “The idea is that if Republicans just give Democrats a commitment to take up and pass a bill to extend the enhanced Obamacare tax credits at some point this fall, then Democrats will help provide the 60 votes needed for the House-passed Nov. 21 CR.”
“But Republicans won’t do it. Why? Because renewing the tax credit divides Republicans. Neither Speaker Mike Johnson nor Senate Majority Leader John Thune can or will commit to moving any such measure.”
For members: A Shutdown With No Clear Exit Ramp
Virginia Attorney General candidate Jay Jones (D) sent disturbing text messages to a colleague fantasizing about killing then-Virginia Speaker Todd Gilbert (R), National Review reports.
Said Jones: “If those guys die before me, I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves to send them out awash in something.”
He then suggested that in a hypothetical situation in which he had only two bullets and was faced with the choice of murdering Hitler, Pol Pot or Gilbert, he’d shoot Gilbert “every time.”
The Atlantic: “Thirty-four days into the previous government shutdown, in 2019, reporters asked President Donald Trump if he had a message for the thousands of federal employees who were about to miss another paycheck.
Said Trump: “I love them. I respect them. I really appreciate the great job they’re doing.”
“The following day, caving after weeks of punishing cable-news coverage, he signed legislation to reopen the government, lauding furloughed employees as ‘incredible patriots,’ pledging to quickly restore their back pay, and calling the moment ‘an opportunity for all parties to work together for the benefit of our whole beautiful, wonderful nation.'”
“Doesn’t really sound like the same guy, does it? This time, it took Trump fewer than 24 hours to turn a shutdown into a weapon wielded against the civil servants he once praised and the opposing party he has long derided.”
Abigail Spanberger (D) leads Winsome Earle-Sears (R) by double digits in the contest for Virginia governor, 55% to 43% among likely voters, according to a new Washington Post-Schar School poll.
Jonathan Last: “So far as I can tell, the Democratic ask on the shutdown negotiations boils down to:
“This is political malpractice.”
“Democrats have Trump over a barrel. The government is shut down. Real-world impacts from the last piece of Republican legislation will start crushing voters, soon. And the Democrats’ proposal is to… save Trump from the political costs of the shutdown by saving him from the political costs of his Big Beautiful Bill?”
“Don’t do these things that will make you unpopular, Mr. President, and then we’ll give you the votes you need to end the shutdown, which is also making you unpopular.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told the New Republic that meaningful political opposition to President Trump could be seriously constrained.
Said Murphy: “My belief has never been that he’s going to cancel the election in 2026 or 2028—he’s not going to do that. Turkey still has elections, Hungary still has elections, Russia still has elections.”
He added: “The leaders in those countries just constrain that space the opposition can operate in, such that they never have enough room to win a national election. If we are not already there, we are really, really close. Which is why the only way out of that is to make them pay a political price every time they ratchet up pressure on the opposition.”
“Vice President Vance is getting a moment in the spotlight amid the ongoing government shutdown, putting the potential 2028 GOP nominee front-and-center as a top messenger and attack dog for the administration,” NewsNation reports.
Slate: “Jack Posobiec is very concerned about voter fraud. An influential MAGA voice and prominent conspiracy theorist, he’s perhaps best known for amplifying the 2016 ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy, which culminated in a man firing a gun in a D.C. pizza restaurant.”
“In the years since, Posobiec has loudly espoused a range of debunked conspiracy theories. That includes the GOP theory—once semi-fringe and now thoroughly MAGA mainstreamed—that Democrats have won elections via millions of fraudulent votes. The Republican National Committee last fall enlisted him to speak to poll watchers about election security. Posobiec is particularly focused on Pennsylvania, repeatedly accusing the state’s Democratic officials of fraud, even spreading conspiracy theories that were followed by an RNC lawsuit.”
“The focus on voter fraud in Pennsylvania is particularly ironic because it sure looks like, and a trail of documentation suggests, that Posobiec is living in Maryland but voting in Pennsylvania. If so, that would be a violation of voting laws, experts say.”
“Once a MAGA poster child, former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn is attempting a political comeback — this time in an open House seat in Florida — but he shouldn’t expect any help from those in President Donald Trump’s orbit,” NOTUS reports.
Said one Trump insider: “No way.”
“President Donald Trump’s victory last year was fueled in part by improvement among young voters,” NBC News reports.
“But new focus groups reveal why some young voters who backed Trump are beginning to sour on his administration’s approach to immigration and the economy.”
“The White House will restore $187 million in cuts to law enforcement funding that would have devastated New York’s intelligence and counterterrorism operations, following a bipartisan effort to reinstate the funds,” the New York Times reports.
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.
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