Lindsey McPherson

Speaker Johnson says no quick fix to Obamacare subsidy ‘boondoggle’

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday that a COVID-era expansion of Obamacare premium subsidies Democrats want to extend is a "boondoggle," and there is no quick fix Congress can enact.

October 13, 2025

Democrats see GOP divide on Obamacare subsidies as reason to keep shutdown leverage

Congressional Democrats said they won't end the shutdown in part because they don't trust Republicans to address health care once the government reopens.

October 10, 2025

Sen. Thune rules out nuking the legislative filibuster to end the government shutdown

Senate Majority Leader John Thune is refusing to use the so-called nuclear option to get rid of the legislative filibuster so Republicans can end the government shutdown without needing Democratic votes.

October 10, 2025

Senate stopgap bills fail again as GOP seizes on Schumer’s ‘every day gets better’ for Democrats

The Senate on Thursday rejected dueling stopgap bills to fund the government for the seventh time as Republicans slammed Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer for saying every day of the shutdown "gets better" for Democrats.

October 9, 2025

Partisan shutdown spin twists facts and ignores inconvenient truths

The partisan messaging campaigns about the government shutdown unleashed a whirlwind of political spin where obfuscation and twisting of facts are clouding several inconvenient truths about the partisan impasse.

October 9, 2025

Susan Collins hits milestone in unbroken Senate voting streak but still short of ultimate record

Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins has not missed a vote since she joined the Senate in 1997, and on Wednesday became the first senator to cast 9,750 roll call votes without missing any in her career.

October 8, 2025

Tempers flare in Capitol hallways with lawmakers sparring over shutdown

Eight days into the government shutdown with no end in sight, congressional sparring spilled outside the chamber floors and into the hallways.

October 8, 2025

Shutdown drags on as repetitive Senate votes to reopen government continue to fail

The Senate failed again on Day 8 to end a filibuster on dueling stopgap spending bills as most Democrats continue to demand a bipartisan negotiation on health care to reopen the government.

October 8, 2025

Johnson quashes hope of stand-alone bill to pay troops during shutdown

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he was "open" to a stand-alone bill to ensure active-duty military troops continue to receive pay during the government shutdown. On Wednesday, the Louisiana Republican reversed course and quashed that idea.

October 8, 2025

Senate confirms 107 more Trump nominees, clearing bulk of backlog

Senate Republicans on Tuesday confirmed 107 of President Trump's nominees to executive roles, taking advantage of their recent rules change to clear most of the backlog that built up amid Democrats' universal filibuster of the president's personnel.

October 7, 2025

Republicans eye layoffs, military pay deadline as pressure points for Democrats to end shutdown

Republicans are eying the end of the week as a pivotal pressure point in their campaign to get Democrats to end the government shutdown.

October 7, 2025

Speaker Johnson answers MTG: GOP leaders plugged into expiration of enhanced Obamacare subsidies

House Speaker Mike Johnson defended himself and fellow GOP leaders after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized them for lacking a plan to deal with the expiring COVID expansion of Obamacare subsidies.

October 7, 2025

Trump team argues that workers furloughed during shutdown aren’t entitled to back pay

A draft memo from the White House's Office of Management and Budget argues that furloughed federal workers should not be paid for the time they didn't work during the government shutdown.

October 7, 2025

Trump cleans up split with GOP leaders on shutdown talks, demands Democrats first reopen government

President Trump, on day six of the government shutdown, briefly broke with congressional GOP leaders and said he was negotiating with Democrats on health care.

October 6, 2025

Speaker Johnson accuses Schumer of causing shutdown to get ‘political cover’ from his left wing

House Speaker Mike Johnson spent the sixth day of the government shutdown laying out his case for blaming Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer for a funding impasse that has no end in sight.

October 6, 2025

House Democratic leader Jeffries challenges Speaker Johnson to debate on shutdown, health care

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is challenging House Speaker Mike Johnson to a prime-time debate on the government shutdown and what he calls "the Republican health care crisis."

October 6, 2025

Shutdown set to drag into sixth day with no signs of a breakthrough in Congress

The government shutdown enters its sixth day on Monday with lawmakers still stuck in their partisan corners and no prospect of a swift resolution.

October 5, 2025

House Republicans delay return to Washington for another week as shutdown continues

House Republicans announced Friday that the chamber will remain out of session next week as the government shutdown continues.

October 3, 2025

Government shutdown continues after another failed Senate bid to pass stopgap funding

The Senate on Friday again failed to get 60 votes needed to override a filibuster on a stopgap spending bill to reopen the government, effectively allowing the shutdown to drag into next week since the chamber has no plans to remain in session this weekend.

October 3, 2025

Speaker Johnson says Trump is ‘trolling’ Democrats but takes no pleasure in shutdown

House Speaker Mike Johnson said President Trump is "trolling" congressional Democrats for shutting down the government but doesn't like the pain the shutdown is inflicting.

October 3, 2025