Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, at a press conference on Tuesday, decried Senate Democrats’ refusal to vote to end the government shutdown.

“We only have 53 Republicans, and so we have to have a handful of Democrats who will wake up and do the right thing and stop inflicting pain on the American people so that they can score political points,” Johnson, R-La., said.

The federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1 after Senate Democrats blocked the passage of a continuing resolution that passed the Republican-controlled House and is supported by most Senate Republicans and the president.

As a result, thousands of federal employees have been furloughed and essential federal personnel such as members of the military have been forced to work without pay until a continuing resolution is passed. 

Johnson pointed out what he regards as the hypocrisy of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who had previously voted in March to fund the government with a continuing resolution.

“While the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse,” Johnson said, quoting the Senate Democrat leader’s remarks in March in favor of a funding bill that kept the government open.

Johnson attributed Schumer’s change of heart to the need to appease his liberal political base.

“[Schumer] is recognizing the reality of the political winds changing in the state of New York. As I mentioned yesterday, they are likely to elect a Marxist to be the mayor of New York City, and Chuck Schumer is terrified by that,” the Louisiana Republican said.

“He’s not far enough left for the Marxists, and he knows he’s going to get a challenge from his left wing, so he has to show a fight against President Trump. No matter how ridiculous it is, no matter how distracting it may be to the actual issues of the day,” he added. 

Johnson noted that Democrats have struggled to win the approval of the public since their defeat in last year’s election. He affirmed support for giving federal workers currently furloughed their back pay once the shutdown is over.

“I hope that the furloughed workers receive back pay. Of course, we have some extraordinary Americans who serve the federal government. They serve valiantly, and they work hard. And they serve in these various agencies doing really important work,” Johnson said, adding that President Donald Trump agreed with him.

“[The president] doesn’t want people to go without pay, and that’s why he pleaded with Chuck Schumer to do the right thing and vote to keep the government open. We don’t want this to happen,” the speaker said. 

When pressed about why he had voted against continuing resolutions in the past, but supported one this time, Johnson cited the changing political environment. He emphasized that Republicans had, in his view, avoided including political nonstarters for Democrats in the current proposed CR. 

“I could have put some of our priorities, or ‘poison pills,’ or things that Democrats have done in the past to us. We didn’t, and that’s why there’s nothing to negotiate right now,” he explained.

The post Johnson Calls on Democrats to ‘Do the Right Thing’ on Shutdown appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Gold futures surged above $4,000 a troy ounce for the first time Tuesday, extending a yearlong rally that has seen gold prices up 50 percent.

The post Gold Tops $4,000 for First Time as Investors Seek Safety Amid Political and Economic Strains appeared first on Breitbart.

Source

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Monday shared a chart showcasing what Democrats are demanding in order to reopen the government.

The post Speaker Johnson Shows What Democrats Are Demanding in Order to Reopen Government: Taxpayer-Funded Illegal Alien Health Care, $1.5 Trillion in Partisan Spending appeared first on Breitbart.

CHICAGO, IL — As the city seeks to push back against President Donald Trump's efforts to enforce immigration law, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told his aides that he hoped their "ICE-Free Zones" would work a lot better than their "Gun-Free Zones."

The Trump-era U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is embracing "individual-based decision-making" for coronavirus shots, it announced in an update on Monday.

The post CDC Embraces ‘Individual-Based Decision-Making’ for Coronavirus Shots: ‘Informed Consent Is Back’ appeared first on Breitbart.

President Donald Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House on Tuesday, October 7.

The post Watch Live: Donald Trump Meets with Canadian PM Mark Carney appeared first on Breitbart.

Nearly a week into the federal government shutdown, Senate Democrats are still withholding their support for a short-term funding extension, but pressure to reopen government could soon intensify as the government runs out of money to fund certain programs and paychecks.

On Monday, Republicans gained no ground in their latest attempt to reopen the government, with a vote to end debate failing 52-42. Republicans need at eight Democrat caucus votes in order to pass the bill, assuming Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., continues to vote against it.

Given that three Republicans did not vote, it appears nobody expected the bill to pass, anyway.

Some Senate Democrats are concerned enough to support Republican efforts to reopen government, most notably Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. The Daily Signal asked Fetterman if there were specific programs that he was worried about lapsing during the shutdown, and he replied, “the whole government.”

Fetterman added that Democrats can “disagree on all these policies,” but that it is “a core responsibility to keep our government open.”

For now, however, most Senate Democrats are continuing to vote down the short-term funding measure in a game of political chicken set to intensify in short order.

If the government shutdown continues through Oct. 15, military troops and many government employees will miss their first paycheck. 

According to a number of major news outlets, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., identified that mid-October cutoff on a House Republican conference call as a major pressure point for Democrats that could hasten their acquiescence.

If Oct. 15 comes and goes, Oct. 29 would be the next paycheck that personnel could miss if the government remains shut down. If the shutdown made it to Oct. 29, it would be nearing the longest shutdown in American history, which lasted 35 days, during President Donald Trump’s first administration.

Additionally, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), a nutrition and health care program for pregnant women, mothers, and children, could run out of funds in the coming days.

The program has been running on $150 million in contingency funding during the shutdown, but an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) spokesperson said in a statement that it “will run out of money in October, and women and children could no longer receive benefits.”

Some Republican senators say that they are not worried about interruptions in services just yet.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., for example, says that the closing of Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices likely will not lead to farmers missing services and payments in his state, given the fact that there is always a lag in those operations.

“Whether the government was open or closed right now, it would take months to get the money there,” he told reporters Monday. “So, I think that [if] we get the government open in a week or three, it won’t impact the timing of getting that out the door.”

He added: “The good news is, I talked to all the FSA offices the day we closed, or the day before we closed, and they were all caught up” on distributing payments to farmers.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., also appears altogether unconcerned about interruptions in government services.

“Haven’t heard any complaints yet,” he told The Daily Signal Monday, when asked whether he worried about any cutoffs in programs. “No complaints.”

What sets this government shutdown apart from previous ones is how the White House has attempted to pressure the Democrats by threatening a Department of Government Efficiency-style reshaping of the government.

OMB Director Russell Vought has repeatedly publicized his shutdown cuts to disfavored programs, and Trump has amplified Vought’s work with memes posted on social media.

But Democrats deny that these tactics will work on them, given that cutting federal programs is business as usual under Trump.

“The way to look at it is, sort of, [to] look at it as the reverse of what Russell Vought said,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told reporters. “‘If this shutdown goes on, I’m going to fire a lot of people,’ [Vought says]. So, if it doesn’t go on, you’re not going to fire a lot of people?”

Kaine continued, “I mean, I believe that he’ll fire people, because he was firing people … before the end of last month. So, I believe that. But how about giving us a commitment that if we do a deal, you won’t? And you won’t claw back money, and you won’t cancel economic development projects in Virginia or take $400 million of public health funding away? So, I’d like to know that if there’s a deal, they’ll honor it.”

There have been three members of the Senate Democrat caucus who have supported the GOP funding extension, fearing the consequences of a shutdown—Fetterman, along with Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.

The post Funding Cutoffs Could Make Dems’ Shutdown Strategy More Difficult appeared first on The Daily Signal.