‘It’s the opening of an opportunity,’ say Senate Democrats who broke ranks to end government shutdown
The eight Democratic and Independent senators who broke ranks with the party to advance a bill that would end the government shutdown – the longest in US history – have defended their decisions amid furor from their party and base.
“What happened tonight is not the closing of a chapter. It’s the opening of an opportunity. What the chapter does close is the damaging shutdown that is only getting worse, that is only going to impact more and more people,” said Angus King, the Independent lawmaker from Maine who caucuses with Democrats.
Maggie Hassan, the Democratic senator from New Hampshire, who was part of the bipartisan talks to strike a deal with Republicans, addressed the fact that the revised bill forgoes the Obamacare subsidies that Democrats made a central part of their negotiations.
“Congress has one month to engage in serious, bipartisan negotiations to extend the Affordable Care Act’s expiring tax cuts for health insurance,” Hassan wrote in a statement, referring to the vote that GOP lawmakers promised Democrats. “My Democratic colleagues and I have been ready to work on this for months. With the government reopening shortly, Senate Republicans must finally come to the table – or, make no mistake, Americans will remember who stood in the way.”
Meanwhile, senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who was part of the small faction of Democrats in the upper chamber who voted in favor of the original House-passed funding bill on several occasions, said that “it should’ve never come to this,” referring to the ongoing 40-day shutdown. ““I’m sorry to our military, SNAP recipients, gov workers, and Capitol Police who haven’t been paid in weeks,” he added.
An important note. None of the Democratic senators who voted yes on Sunday’s procedural motion are up for re-election in 2026. Two of them, Dick Durbin of Illinois, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, are retiring next year, while the earliest that any of the others would face a challenge would be in 2028.
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Updated at 10.25 EST
Key events
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Rachel Leingang
Activists are calling for people not to shop at major retailers Target, Amazon or Home Depot during the Thanksgiving week sales to send a message to the companies that they need to stand up for democracy.
Dubbed “We Ain’t Buying It”, the call to action announced today asks shoppers to not buy anything from those three stores from 27 November to 1 December, or Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, some of the biggest shopping days of the year.
A website for the campaign explains how these three retailers were chosen:
This action is taking direct aim at Target, for caving to this administration’s biased attacks on DEI; Home Depot, for allowing and colluding with ICE to kidnap our neighbors on their properties; and Amazon, for funding this administration to secure their own corporate tax cuts.
Instead of shopping at these retailers, participants should support “Black, Immigrant and POC-owned businesses, small and local shops, retailers that have stood firm for democracy and inclusion” and “use the time and money to connect with those you love, and rediscover what matters”.
The plans come as millions have marched in the streets against the Trump administration and after boycotts of Target for its abandonment of diversity initiatives and of Disney after it temporarily took Jimmy Kimmel off the air in response to government pressure. Economic pressure campaigns are likely to increase this year as those opposed to Trump find ways to exert their power without Democratic party control in Washington.
Some of the groups behind the boycott are 50501, Black Voters Matter, Indivisible, Until Freedom and the Working Families Party.
“All year, companies like Target, Amazon, and Home Depot have quietly collaborated with Trump to entrench his power and to do his bidding. We won’t stand for it,” said Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of Indivisible.
We’ll send a clear message: stop complying with this lawless, vicious, bigoted agenda. Stand up for American democracy, civil rights, and our communities. Our dollars will go to people who share our values.
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Christine Pelosi announces she’s not running for her mother Nancy Pelosi’s seat
Christine Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi’s daughter, has announced that she is running for a California state senate seat, ending speculation that she might run for the seat long held by her mother in the House.
“I’m running to represent you, San Francisco, in Sacramento,” she said in an announcement video posted on X. “Fighting for consumer rights, women’s rights, gun violence survivors, immigrants and our most vulnerable communities against the threat we face.”
Nancy Pelosi announced last week that she would not seek re-election. Her daughter is an attorney and Democratic party organizer, and is running for the seat currently held by state senator Scott Wiener, who is one of those running for Pelosi’s congressional seat.
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Updated at 13.05 EST
Johnson to finally swear in Adelita Grijalva, over a month after her election win
Chris Stein
In a development that is sure to breathe new life into the saga of the Epstein files, a spokesman for Republican House speaker Mike Johnson said he plans to swear in newly elected Democratic representative Adelita Grijalva as soon as the chamber returns to session, likely later this week.
Grijalva was elected in a September special election to a seat representing southern Arizona that her late father, Raúl Grijalva, held for more than two decades.
At the time, Johnson was keeping the House recessed in an effort to pressure Democrats to pass a government funding bill through the Senate, and said he would swear her in once he called the chamber back into session – which he would only do once Democrats renewed government funding.
They have now done so, and Johnson said he will call the House back as soon as the Senate votes on final passage of the bill.
Grijalva is expected to be the 218th signature on a petition that will force a vote in the House on a bill to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died six years ago while facing sex trafficking charges.
Epstein was a one-time associate of Donald Trump, and while campaigning last year, the president and his allies flirted with conspiracies that Epstein was at the center of a conspiracy to procure minors for abuse by global elites.
An uproar began in July when the justice department announced that it would not reveal further details about the Epstein case, leading to a push by congressional Democrats to release files related to his prosecution, which they believe will shed more light on his ties. While Trump has sought to release some documents related to the case, he opposes release of the files, calling them a “Democrat hoax”.
The expected House vote on the matter is expected to once again shine a light on the issue, which had faded into the background amid the larger struggle in Congress over funding the government.
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Updated at 12.55 EST
Per an earlier post, House speaker Mike Johnson this morning urged representatives to begin traveling back to Washington to vote on legislation to reopen the government.
He told reporters on Capitol Hill that once the Senate passed its version of the bill to end the shutdown, he would issue a formal 36-hour notice for House members to return to Washington “so that we can vote as soon as possible” to pass the amended bill and get it to Trump’s desk.
“There’ll be long days and long nights here for the foreseeable future to make up for all this lost time that was imposed upon us,” Johnson said. (A reminder that Johnson could have kept the House in session during the shutdown, but he chose not to since 19 September to pressure Democrats into reopening the government).
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Updated at 12.40 EST
Trump threatens BBC with legal action over edit of speech in documentary
Oliver Holmes
Donald Trump has threatened legal action against the BBC and welcomed the resignations of two of its most senior figures after a campaign against the broadcaster that reached fever pitch over criticism that its flagship documentary programme in 2024 used a misleading edit of a Trump speech.
Lawyers for Trump said that the BBC must retract the Panorama documentary by Friday or face a lawsuit for “no less” than $1bn (£760m), according to US media outlets who cited the letter. The BBC has confirmed it had received a letter and said it will respond in due course.
The resignations of the BBC director general, Tim Davie, and its News CEO, Deborah Turness, came after the rightwing Telegraph newspaper published a leaked internal report by a former BBC standards adviser alleging failings in the broadcaster’s coverage. The report criticised BBC coverage on transgender issues, Israel’s war in Gaza and an edit of a Trump speech from January 6 during the Capitol Hill insurrection.
“Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt ‘Journalists.’ These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election. On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
The leaked BBC report said the current affairs Panorama documentary had “completely misled” viewers by splicing two parts of Trump’s speech together. The Panorama edit cut together quotes from sections of the speech delivered up to an hour apart, combining a line about walking to the Capitol with the instruction to “fight like hell”.
The BBC chair, Samir Shah, later on Monday apologised for the editing of the Trump speech, calling it an “error of judgment”.
Trump in fact gave conflicting advice that day to supporters, who he had called on to gather in the capital as part of his efforts to discredit his election loss based on false claims of widespread fraud. The US president was later impeached for “incitement of insurrection” related to the storming of the Capitol by rioters, but he was acquitted by the Senate after Republicans rallied around him.
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Updated at 12.29 EST
Chris Stein
In a speech on the Senate floor, majority leader John Thune called for the quick passage of legislation to reopen the government, which cleared a key hurdle in the chamber yesterday evening. He said:
I’m grateful that the end is in sight, but I would encourage every member of this body, Democrat or Republican, pro bill or anti bill, not to stand in the way of our being able to deliver the coming relief quickly.
The American people have suffered for long enough. Let’s not pointlessly drag this bill out.
The compromise bill that emerged yesterday funds the government through January, but does not include an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that Democrats had demanded. It was able to proceed thanks to the support of eight members of the Democratic caucus, all of whom are moderates or set to soon retire.
The rest of the Democratic caucus opposes the measure, and any one lawmaker could stop Thune from moving to vote on final passage of the bill as soon as today.
Over in the House, speaker Mike Johnson has said that as soon as the bill passes, he will give the chamber’s lawmakers 36 hours’ notice to return to Washington DC. He has kept the chamber out of session since 19 September to pressure Democrats into reopening the government.
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Updated at 12.39 EST
As Democratic senators who broke ranks from their party continue to face heat from most of their colleagues, senator Jeanne Shaheen, of New Hampshire, defended her decision in an interview with CNN today. “We need to get the government open because we have millions of Americans who are suffering, whether it’s because they’re not getting their food benefits or because travelers can’t get their flights,” she said.
The lawmaker, who is retiring in 2026, said she was confident that Republicans were “willing to come to the table” when it comes to a vote on the extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that are notably missing from the bill Shaheen, and others, agreed to advance.
“We’ve heard the same thing from the White House. So, now we’ll see. We’ll see if they are really going to work with us to make sure that Americans can afford their health insurance,” she added.
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Updated at 12.36 EST
Syrian president al-Sharaa arrives at White House to meet with Trump
Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has arrived at the White House according to the press pool, who noted that he was due to enter through the West Wing, but ended up not getting eyes on his motorcade.
The Syrian leader’s meeting with Donald Trump has also started, per the pool reporters. A reminder, that the administration has began undoing US sanctions on Syria in May, ahead of Trump’s first meeting with al-Sharaa in Riyadh. They’re expected to discuss this further today.
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Health secretary announces removal of ‘black box’ of warnings on hormone replacement therapy
Today, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, announced the removal of a “black box” of warnings across hormone replacement therapy (HRT) – often estrogen and progesterone products that are prescribed to those contending with low levels of these hormones while experiencing menopause.
“Millions of women were told to fear the very therapy that could have given them strength, peace and dignity through one of life’s most difficult transitions,” Kennedy said. “We’re challenging outdated thinking and recommitting to evidence based medicine that empowers rather than restricts when prescribed response started early, hormone replacement therapy transforms the lives of women.”
The HHS noted ahead of today’s announcement that the use of HRT “plummeted in the early 2000s” when the Food and Drug Administration applied “boxed warnings following a Women’s Health Initiative study that found a statistically non-significant increase in the risk of breast cancer diagnosis”.
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Updated at 11.44 EST
Trump says leftover $2,000 payments will be used to pay down national debt
Per our earlier post about the $2,000 payments that Donald Trump said he would dole out to Americans as the country collects tariff revenue, he’s added that “all money left over” will be “used to SUBSTANTIALLY PAY DOWN NATIONAL DEBT” in a post on Truth Social.
This, along with the payments themselves, defies Congress’s control of government spending. While Trump can suggest how this money is spent, urging lawmakers to pass legislation that confers money to various groups and programs, federal law prohibits him from unilaterally deciding where funds go.
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Updated at 11.40 EST
Supreme court to hear pivotal case on whether mail-in ballots must arrive by election day
Sam Levine
The US supreme court announced on Monday it will hear a high stakes case about whether states can accept mail-in ballots that arrive after election day, even if they are filled out and mailed before then.
The case, Watson v Republican National Committee, involves a challenge to a Mississippi law that allows ballots to count if they are received within 5 business days of election day. Sixteen states, as well as Washington DC, Guam, and Puerto Rico, allow a mail-in ballot from a domestic voter to count if it arrives in a certain timeframe after election day but is postmarked by the election. The policy is designed to ensure that voters who put their ballot in the mail ahead of election day are not punished if the mail is slow.
A federal judge in Mississippi upheld the state’s law, but it was reversed by the US court of appeals for the 5th circuit, one of the most conservative courts in the US. The majority in that court said that federal law sets one day as the day for federal elections and allowing ballots to arrive after that undermines the law.
Donald Trump and Republicans have railed against the practice of allowing ballots to arrive after election day. At least three states this year have ended the practice of allowing late-arriving ballots, and a March executive order by the president sought to punish states that allowed the practice. Lawsuits against portion of the executive order are still ongoing.
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Johnson says he will call House members back to Washington as soon as Senate holds final vote
At his daily press conference, the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, said that he welcomed the news that “some senate democrats finally have stepped forward to end the pain” of the government shutdown.
Johnson added that he would call all House members to return to Washington as soon as the Senate has its final vote. As of now, it’s not clear how long that might take and if the lawmakers will be able to expedite the process using unanimous consent.
“We have to do this as quickly as possible. We look forward to the government reopening this week so Congress can get back, can get back to our regular legislative session,” he said.
Despite the seismic shift on Capitol Hill over the, Johnson took no questions from reporter.
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