The Latest: Trump uses government shutdown to dole out firings and punishment

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President Donald Trump has seized on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the federal workforce and punish detractors, by threatening mass firings of workers and suggesting “irreversible” cuts to programs important to Democrats.

Rather than simply furlough employees, as is usually done during any lapse of funds, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said layoffs were “imminent.” The Office of Management and Budget announced it was putting on hold roughly $18 billion of infrastructure funds for New York’s subway and Hudson Tunnel projects — in the hometown of the Democratic leaders of the U.S. House and Senate.

Thursday is day two of the shutdown, and already the dial is turned high. The aggressive approach coming from the Trump administration is what certain lawmakers and budget observers feared if Congress, which has the responsibility to pass legislation to fund government, failed to do its work and relinquished control to the White House.

Here's the latest:

“Donald Trump enacted massive tax breaks for their billionaire donors, for the wealthy, the well off and the well-connected. All to subsidize the lifestyles of the rich and shameless. And this was done permanently?,” Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, said to reporters on the steps of the Capitol.

“And now, they want the American people — not us Democrats — the American people to accept anything less than a permanent extension of tax credits that make their healthcare affordable?”

Jeffries said that a permanent extension of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance subsidies was House Democrats’ negotiating stance. Some Senate Democrats have floated a temporary annual extension of the subsidies in shutdown talks.

Jeffries said House Democrats were open to “common sense” and “bipartisan” negotiations to fund the government but questioned whether the president, vice president and congressional Republicans “are behaving like individuals who actually want to reopen the government.”

Federal health officials have approved another generic version of the abortion pill, prompting outrage from abortion opponents.

Anti-abortion groups quickly criticized the move on Thursday, calling it a “stain” on the administration of President Donald Trump. The groups have been pushing for a safety review of mifepristone.

The FDA first approved the drug as safe and effective in 2000.

The new version of the pill is from tiny drugmaker Evita Solutions. It’s not the first generic version. The FDA first approved a generic in 2019.

▶ Read more about generic abortion pill

The State Department says the flotilla of humanitarian aid and activists intercepted by Israel as it was heading to Gaza is a “deliberate and unnecessary provocation” that could distract from the Trump administration’s latest effort to secure a peace deal between Israel and Hamas.

In brief comments sent to reporters on Thursday, the department said it was committed to assisting any U.S. citizens who may have been participating in the flotilla and been detained by Israel but offered no details other than to say it was “monitoring the situation.”

However, it also cast aspersions on the concept of the flotilla, vessels of which were stormed by Israeli authorities Wednesday in the Mediterranean.

“The flotilla is a deliberate and unnecessary provocation,” it said. “We are currently focused on realizing President Trump’s plan to end the war, which has been universally welcomed as a historic opportunity for a lasting peace.”

The president said in an interview taped Wednesday with One America News that “there could be firings and that’s their fault,” but said there could be other impacts from the shutdown.

“We could cut projects that they wanted, favorite projects, and they’d be permanently cut,” Trump said in a clip from the interview, which was released ahead of the full interview set to air Thursday night.

Trump said he didn’t want the shutdown but people are suggesting he did because, he said, “I’m allowed to cut things that never should have been approved in the first place and I will probably do that.”

The State Department says it will increase staffing at certain U.S. embassies and consulates to accommodate an expected major jump in visa applications from soccer fans wanting to attend World Cup matches in the United States next year.

The department said Thursday that it will send hundreds of additional consular officers to “designated countries” to handle the demand for visa interviews. The number of additional staffers and the countries where they will be deployed have yet to be determined because the 48-team field for the 2026 World Cup hasn’t yet been finalized.

Tickets for the tournament hosted by U.S., Canada and Mexico next year went on sale Wednesday amid concerns over the Trump administration’s crackdown on both migration and temporary visas that offer permission to enter the United States.

“When you look at the number of individuals that have been laid off already, prior to the shutdown, the overwhelming majority of them are Black federal workers,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat.

Meeks, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus’s political arm, said the group is launching a campaign to counter Republican messages blaming Democrats for the shutdown. The campaign will include on the ground events in targeted districts, as well as engagement with local news, influencers and civic leaders across the country.

“Whether it’s churches or barbershops, we’re going to be looking to get the message out to and where the people are, in the streets,” said Meeks.

President Donald Trump has declared drug cartels operating in the Caribbean are unlawful combatants and says the United States is now in a “non-international armed conflict,” according to a Trump administration memo obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.

A U.S. official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly said the Congress was notified about the designation by Pentagon officials on Wednesday.

The move comes after the U.S. military last month carried out three deadly strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean. At least two of those operations were carried out on vessels that originated from Venezuela.

▶ Read more about drug cartels

— Aameer Madhani and Lisa Mascaro

Senate Majority Leader John Thune says that the Senate will come back on Friday to vote once again on reopening the government.

“If that fails, then we’ll give them the weekend to think about it. We’ll come back and we’ll go again on Monday,” the South Dakota Republican said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that he is “glad” that rank-and-file Democratic and Republican senators are talking about a potential compromise that could lead to the government reopening, but he sounded a note of skepticism about some of the ideas under discussion.

Some senators have been discussing legislation that would fund the government for a few weeks while they also negotiate extending Affordable Care Act tax credits.

“I’m hoping that perhaps that leads somewhere, but it all starts with what I’ve said before — reopening government,” the South Dakota Republican said.

He also expressed skepticism about any funding that would last shorter than the seven weeks put forward by Republicans and any extension to the ACA credits without significant reforms to address what he called “waste, fraud and abuse.”

The Trump administration made “apparent violations of the Hatch Act, and illegal use of government resources to promote a false, partisan Republican political agenda,” wrote Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, in a letter to the U.S. Office of the Special Counsel.

“Messages shared by multiple Trump Administration agencies in the last few days attempt to place blame for the current government shutdown on congressional Democrats and the Democratic Party,” Garcia’s letter reads, citing social media posts from department secretaries and messages on the websites of federal agencies.

Garcia requested that the Special Counsel’s office, which is headed by an acting official and Trump appointee, “immediately investigate these likely violations of federal law,” which prohibits government agencies and officials from engaging in partisan electoral politics.

Garcia said that any probe would inform future House Democratic investigations into “any and all cases in which federal power or resources are weaponized for political reasons.”

In a joint response, the Hispanic Federation, the Latino Victory Foundation, League of United American Citizens, Mi Familia Vota, UnidosUs and Voto Latino said the AI videos and memes are distracting the public from the issue at hand and perpetuating Latino stereotypes.

“Targeting the Latino community is not only irresponsible — it is reprehensible and beneath the office of the presidency,” the joint statement said. “The troubling use of AI to amplify hateful stereotypes is not only reckless, but it serves as an act of disinformation designed to further stigmatize Latinos when the tensions facing the community driven by policy and rhetoric are at an all-time high.”

The president was expected to host a gathering Thursday afternoon. However, it’s been postponed because of the government shutdown, according to a White House official who wasn't authorized to comment publicly on the matter.

— Chris Megerian

“The sombreros will continue until the government reopens,” White House Deputy Communications Kaelan Dorr said in a post on X sharing a video of House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries that was previously shared during a White House press briefing Wednesday.

What started with a video of Jeffries wearing a sombrero with mariachi music in the background as he delivers a fabricated rant has turned into a trolling campaign led by Republicans.

On Wednesday evening, the official GOP X account and Sen. Ted Cruz’s personal account shared various versions of the sombrero meme.

Cruz’s post depicts various images of Democrats in sombreros and mustaches while playing an altered version of the 1990’s Latino hit “Macarena.”

In his post, Cruz said, “The 44 senate Democrats who voted for Schumer’s Shutdown should know that the Sombrero posting will continue until they re-open our government. Hey Macarena.”

The Trump administration is cancelling $7.6 billion in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states — all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris for president.

The cuts were announced by Russell Vought, the White House budget director, who said in a social media post that “Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled.”

The cuts come as the Trump administration threatens major spending cuts and firings in its escalating fight with congressional Democrats over the government shutdown.

The energy cuts are likely to effect battery plants, major hydrogen technology projects, upgrades to the electric grid and carbon capture efforts, according to the environmental nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council.

The S&P 500 was mostly unchanged, coming off its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 81 points, or 0.2%, as of 10:38 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher and heading toward its own record.

Thursdays on Wall Street typically mean investors are reacting to the latest weekly tally of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits. But D.C.’s shutdown means this week’s report on jobless claims has been delayed. An even more consequential report, Friday’s monthly tally of jobs created and destroyed across the economy, will likely also not arrive on schedule.

That increases uncertainty when much on Wall Street is riding on investors’ hopes that the job market will slow by a precise amount: enough to convince the Federal Reserve to keep cutting interest rates, but not by so much that it leads to a recession.

▶ Read more about the financial markets

His case has become a proxy for the partisan power struggle over immigration policy.

The Salvadoran national has an American wife and children and has lived in Maryland for years, but he originally immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. An immigration judge in 2019 ruled he could not be deported to El Salvador because he faced danger from a gang that targeted his family.

When he was mistakenly deported there in March, his case became a rallying point for those who opposed President Trump’s immigration crackdown.

On Wednesday, an immigration judge denied an application to reopen his asylum case, however he has 30 days to appeal.

▶ Read more about Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s case

House Speaker Mike Johnson has a bit of advice for his Democratic counterpart when President Trump posts doctored videos of him in a sombrero. “Just ignore it.”

Trump’s decision to post the videos of House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has become a bit of a subplot in the government shutdown fight. Jeffries, a New York Democrat, has called the videos “racist” and challenged Trump to address him in person.

But Johnson’s advice shows how he’s balancing both his loyalty to Trump and the necessity of working with Jeffries to keep the House functioning. Johnson, a mild-mannered Louisiana Republican, has also consistently urged lawmakers to tone down their rhetoric when debates become heated.

House Speaker Mike Johnson says the government shutdown gives President Trump and his budget director vast power over the federal government.

The White House is preparing to unleash mass layoffs and funding cuts during the shutdown, and Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, agreed the president has the constitutional power to make those decisions. Blaming Democrats, he said “they have effectively turned off the legislative branch” and “handed it over to the president.”

Still, Johnson said Trump and the White House budget director Russ Vought take “no pleasure in this.”

Earlier this morning, Trump said he would meet with his top budget adviser, Russ Vought, to discuss funding cuts that could be made during the shutdown.

Asked on Fox News whether this was just a negotiating tactic, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “it’s very real.”

“The Democrats should know that they put the White House and the president in this position, and if they don’t want further harm on their constituents back home, then they need to reopen the government,” she said.

Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance said that despite threatened layoffs because of the shutdown, federal agencies would not be targeted based on politics.

House Speaker Mike Johnson was speaking at the Capitol and urged Senate Democrats to reverse course and support a Republican bill to reopen government mostly at current spending levels.

Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, called a funding bill put forward by Democrats a “wild list of partisan priorities” and said it would reverse many of the actions Congress has taken since Republicans took majorities in the House and Senate this year.

While Democrats have put forward the alternative legislation, they are not seriously demanding that Congress pass it. Instead, they mostly want Republicans to negotiate a deal to extend tax credits for health plans offered under the Affordable Care Act.

President Trump and the congressional leaders aren’t expected to meet again soon. Congress has no action scheduled Thursday in observance of the Jewish holy day, with senators due back Friday. The House is set to resume session next week.

The Democrats are holding fast to their demands to preserve health care funding and refusing to back a bill that fails to do so, warning of price spikes for millions of Americans nationwide. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates insurance premiums will more than double for people who buy policies on the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

The Republicans have opened a door to negotiating the health care issue, but GOP leaders say it can wait, since the subsidies that help people purchase private insurance don’t expire until year’s end.

“We’re willing to have a conversation about ensuring that Americans continue to have access to health care,” Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday at the White House.

Bessent said “we could see a hit to the GDP, a hit to growth and a hit to working America” as a result of the government shutdown.

Bessent made the statements on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday morning.

Data from previous shutdowns have shown little impact on U.S. GDP unless they’re extended, according to Congressional Budget Office Director Phillip Swagel. “The impact is not immediate, but over time, there is a negative impact of a shutdown on the economy,” he recently told The Associated Press.

The government shutdown that began Wednesday will deprive policymakers and investors of economic data vital to their decision-making at a time of unusual uncertainty about the direction of the U.S. economy.

The absence will be felt almost immediately, as the government’s monthly jobs report scheduled for release Friday will likely be delayed. A weekly report on the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits — a proxy for layoffs that’s typically published on Thursdays — will also be postponed.

If the shutdown is short-lived, it won’t be very disruptive. But if the release of economic data is delayed for several weeks or longer, it could pose challenges, particularly for the Federal Reserve. The Fed is grappling with where to set a key interest rate at a time of conflicting signals, with inflation running above its 2% target and hiring nearly ground to a halt, driving the unemployment rate higher in August.

▶ Read more about the shutdown and economic data

The Trump administration is offering nine prominent U.S. universities preferential access to federal funds if they pledge to take a series of steps that align with the Republican administration’s goals of eliminating what it sees as liberal influence on academia.

The 10-point memo calls on colleges to agree to freeze tuition for five years, cap the enrollment of international students to 15% of undergraduate student body, commit to strict definitions of gender and other steps.

The memo was sent to officials at Vanderbilt University, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, University of Southern California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Texas, University of Arizona, Brown University, and the University of Virginia, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly about the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“To advance the national interest arising out of this unique relationship, this Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education represents the priorities of the U.S. government in its engagements with universities that benefit from the relationship,” the administration says in the lengthy memo, obtained by The Associated Press.

— Aamer Madhani

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent posted on the social media site X on Thursday morning that he’ll soon welcome an Argentinian delegation to Washington to “meaningfully advance our discussions in-person regarding options for delivering financial support” to Argentina.

Argentine President Javier Milei seeks a $20 billion credit swap line from the U.S., which has angered both Democrats and Republicans since Argentina has been able to sell billions of dollars in soy crops to China, undermining the U.S.

Bessent said on X that U.S. Treasury “is fully prepared to do what is necessary, and we will continue to watch developments closely.”

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said it’s adding North Carolina to the list of U.S. Senate races it’s targeting next year.

The anti-abortion group committed to spending $4.5 million in an effort to defeat Roy Cooper, a Democratic former governor who’s running next year to replace retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.

The announcement comes about a week after SBA said it would put the same amount into each of two other Senate races, in Michigan and Georgia.

If it follows through with the spending, it would be about the same amount it put into independent political expenditures across the country in 2022 and 2024 combined.

The group says it will also get involved in other 2026 races.

The president said on his social media site that he'll meet with White House budget director Russ Vought to discuss “temporary or permanent” spending cuts as part of the government shutdown.

Trump specifically highlighted in his Truth Social post that Vought played a role in putting together the Project 2025 initiative to reshape the federal government around right-wing policies. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump had denied having any involvement with the Project 2025 playbook released by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Trump said the point of the meeting is “to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies” Vought “recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.”

The president said Democratic lawmakers, by having the shutdown, are giving him “this unprecedented opportunity” to reorient the government to his liking.