The Latest: Senate Democrats are ready to reject government funding bill again over health care

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Senate Democrats are poised for the 10th time Thursday to reject a stopgap spending bill that would reopen the government, insisting they won’t back away from demands that Congress take up health care benefits.

The repetition of votes on the funding bill has become a daily drumbeat in Congress, underscoring how intractable the situation has become as it has been at times the only item on the agenda for the Senate floor. House Republicans have left Washington altogether. The standoff has lasted over two weeks, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed, even more without a guaranteed payday and Congress essentially paralyzed.

Democrats say they won’t budge until they get a guarantee on extending subsidies for health plans offered under Affordable Care Act marketplaces. They warned that millions of Americans who buy their own health insurance — such as small business owners, farmers and contractors — will see large increases when premium prices go out in the coming weeks. Looking ahead to a Nov. 1 deadline in most states, they think voters will demand that Republicans enter into serious negotiations.

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A new initiative launched Thursday seeks to provide immigrants with free legal representation in legal deserts, areas near U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detention centers, or communities with large immigrant populations.

The Defending Our Neighbors Fund, created by the American Civil Liberties Union and United We Dream, aims to raise $30 million. It already raised $10 million before its public launch.

Money will go to nonprofit legal service providers that have seen their budgets shrink, such as those providing representation for unaccompanied child immigrants.

“So one lawyer can mean one more family kept whole. One fund can mean one more future protected,” Greisa Martinez-Rosas, executive director of United We Dream, said.

The U.S. president wrote on his social media site that he is on the phone with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

“I am speaking to President Putin now. The conversation is ongoing, a lengthy one, and I will report the contents, as will President Putin, at its conclusion. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump said on Truth Social late Thursday morning.

The call comes ahead of Trump’s meeting on Friday at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian leader has been pressing Trump to sell Kyiv Tomahawk missiles, which would allow Ukrainian forces to strike deeper into Russian territory.

In response to a federal judge saying she will require immigration agents in the Chicago area to wear body cameras, an attorney for the federal government said they don’t have body cameras.

Sean Skedzielewski also said the Department of Homeland Security has limited resources to hand those out immediately.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis responded: “I understand that. I would not be expecting agents to wear body worn cameras they do not have.”

She said details could be worked out starting at an additional hearing on Monday.

The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Robert Garcia, is sending a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi that criticizes the Department of Justice’s handling of a congressional subpoena for the investigative files into the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

“Your response to our bipartisan subpoena has been completely insufficient,” Garcia writes. “The only production of documents by DOJ consisted almost entirely of documents that were either already public or in the Committee’s possession.”

Garcia said that the Justice Department has not turned over any documents since Aug. 22.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has repeatedly pointed to the House Oversight Committee’s inquiry as he tries to stave off an effort to hold a vote on a bill to force the Justice Department to publicly release the files.

A federal judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by two IRS agents against a lawyer for Hunter Biden.

Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler alleged in their complaint in federal court in Washington, D.C., that attorney Abbe Lowell had defamed them when he complained about leaks of grand jury information about the tax crimes investigation of Biden, who is the son of President Joe Biden.

But U.S. District Judge Richard Leon dismissed the lawsuit Thursday, saying among other things that the statements at issue are constitutionally protected opinions and that the plaintiffs failed to show that Lowell had acted with actual malic

House Speaker Mike Johnson ended his news conference Thursday on the federal government shutdown a bit riled up but quickly caught himself.

“I don’t like being mad Mike. I want to be happy Mike,” Johnson said, prompting laughter from colleagues and reporters in the room. “I want to be a happy warrior, but I’m so upset about this. God bless America. We’re done.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he’s at a loss on how to answer an often-asked question from reporters. How will the federal government shutdown end?

“We have no idea,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s comments came as he kicked off the daily news conference that congressional leaders of both parties have been holding as they attempt to shape public opinion on the shutdown, which began Oct. 1

The comments underscore the lack of progress that has been made in resolving the impasse. Johnson said Democrats have offered “no common-sense path forward for ending this situation.”

At Thursday’s federal court hearing, Judge Sara L. Ellis also raised concerns about a high-speed car chase Tuesday on the Chicago’s South Side as Border Patrol agents pursued a driver before using tear gas on protesters and residents who were gathering in the residential neighborhood.

She said that while some agents may be accustomed to working along the U.S.-Mexico border, Chicago is an “urban, densely populated area, where appropriate crowd control is important, where trying to apprehend people is very, very different.”

“I have to tell you there’s a reason the Chicago Police Department has policies about car chases and where they occur and when you need to stop,” she said.

A federal judge on Thursday said she will require that immigration officers in the Chicago area must wear body cameras. She also said they did not follow a previous order from her barring the use of tear gas and other weapons on peaceful protesters and journalists.

U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis in Chicago said she was “profoundly concerned” about reports of tear gas use since last her previous ruling last week. That decision also said federal agents must wear badges.

“I’m not happy,” Ellis said. “I’m really not happy.”

Ellis demanded that the operation’s field director appears in court Monday. She noted instances where news outlets have reported that tear gas was deployed without giving people warning and images of federal agents in plainclothes without their alphanumeric identifiers carrying out immigration operations.

“I live in Chicago, if folks haven’t noticed,” she said. “And I’m not blind.”

Sean Skedzielewski, an attorney for the federal government, laid blame with “one-sided and selectively edited media reports.”

Most see it as a significant problem as it stretches through its third week with no end in sight, a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows. And Americans are blaming all of the major players involved.

Roughly 6 in 10 Americans say Trump and Republicans in Congress have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of responsibility for the shutdown, while 54% say the same about Democrats in Congress, the poll shows.

“Trump’s blaming the Democrats, and the Democrats are blaming the Republicans,” said Jason Beck, a Republican from Utah. “We’re stuck because there’s no middle ground anymore.”

The poll also finds that more Americans favor than oppose extending health insurance subsidies, which Democrats are demanding to end the stalemate. A large share, 42%, have no opinion, suggesting many are not closely following the core dispute.

Miami-based Oceania Cruises, part of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, told the Associated Press on Thursday that they are now “revising select itineraries” in Asia and replacing port calls in mainland China, due to new port fees that China imposed on American-owned or -operated vessels, which came into effect this week.

China imposed the tit-for-tat fees in retaliation for similar port fees that the U.S. slapped on Chinese-owned or -operated ships docking in the U.S. American ships are subjected to a 400 yuan ($56) per net ton fee for each voyage if they berth at Chinese ports.

“Ships can no longer effectively visit mainland Chinese ports,” an Oceania Cruises spokesperson said in a statement Thursday.

“We share in the disappointment of these necessary changes and are committed to providing our guests with itineraries that deliver exceptional destination experiences,” the Oceania Cruises spokesperson added.