Washington Today

On day 28 of the federal government shutdown, Senate fails to advance a temporary government bill to reopen the government for the 13th time. It is supported by most Republicans but opposed by most Democrats because it does not address expiring Affordable Care Act health insurance premium tax credits; two dozen states led by Democrats sue over the federal Agriculture Department's plans not to release emergency funding for federal food assistance starting this weekend; air traffic controllers, who must work without pay during the shutdown, miss their first paycheck. We will hear from Transportation Secretary & the president of the Air Traffic Controllers Union; President Donald Trump meets with Japan's new Prime Minister in his latest stop on his weeklong trip to Southeast Asia, calling her a "winner" and signing rare earth minerals deal; U.S. House Oversight Committee Republicans release a report on former President Joe Biden's mental fitness and use of an autopen, concluding that certain executive actions, including pardons, are void, and the Justice Department should investigate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Senate returned to Washington today with no end to the government shutdown in sight. Meanwhile, the effects are piling up, and food assistance for more than 40 million low-income Americans is at risk. Major airports are seeing more flight delays because of the growing air traffic controller shortage, and the largest federal workers union is urging Congress to pass a “clean” funding bill. We'll hear the latest from Senators Thune and Schumer & Speaker Johnson, and Leader Jeffries about it coming up. President Trump is in Japan today. It's the second stop of his Asia tour…He started the day with a visit to Emperor Naruhito at Tokyo’s Imperial Palace. Meanwhile, US trade negotiators are reporting progress on a potential trade deal with China ahead of the president's expected meeting with President Xi Jinping later this week. The president spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this weekend's episode, three segments from this past week's Washington Journal. First, a discussion with Ryan Berg of the Center for Strategic & International Studies, about the recent U-S military strikes on suspect drug boats off the coast of Venezuela. Next – we turn our attention to the Trump administration's trade and tariffs agenda ahead of President Trump's high-stakes meeting next week with China's president Xi Jinping. That conversation with Wall Street Journal trade reporter Gavin Bade. Finally – we speak with documentary writer and producer Michael Wiser about his latest PBS Frontline film "The Rise of RFK Jr." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump gets ready to fly to Southeast Asia for meetings with leaders of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and one-on-one with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. We will talk about it with Politico trade reporter Ari Hawkins (3); President Trump ends trade negotiations with Canada after Ontario's government runs a TV ad with former President Ronald Reagan expressing opposition to tariffs; Inflation report from the Labor Department: Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose in September at an annual rate of 3 percent, highest since last January; U.S. government shutdown Day 24. House & Senate are not in session. Over 600,000 civilian federal workers miss their first full paychecks. We will talk with The Hill's Senior Staff Writer Mike Lillis about bipartisan warnings that SNAP food assistance that over 40 million Americans receive will soon be in jeopardy (31); New York Attorney General Letitia James pleads not guilty in federal court in Norfolk, Virginia to charges of mortgage fraud, saying outside the courthouse, she said, "There is no fear. This is not about me. This is about all of us and a weaponized justice system"; Pentagon says the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford is being deployed to the Caribbean Sea to support military operations against drug traffickers and there was another strike today on small boat, where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said "six male narco-terrorists" were killed; Secretary of State Marco Rubio visits the operations center in Israel that is the headquarters of the U.S.-led effort to maintain the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, and to plan for rebuilding and securing Gaza. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Day 23 of the federal government shutdown, Senate votes down a bill offered by Republicans to pay the military and federal workers who required to work without pay. Senate Democrats offer an alternative to pay all federal workers, even those on furlough, but that, too, is rejected; President Donald Trump pardons the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, who was convicted of violating federal anti-money-laundering laws; President Trump holds a roundtable discussion at the White House on efforts to stop human trafficking by criminal cartels; San Francisco's mayor says the President has canceled a federal law enforcement & possible National Guard surge into his city; Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives in Israel as VP JD Vance is leaving. Both criticize a vote in the Israeli Knesset related to Israel's annexing the West Bank; In DC, Republican and Democratic Senators question President Trump's nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait Amer Ghalib over past online posts some see as antisemitic; FBI Director Kash Patel announces arrests in an NBA multi-million dollar gambling scandal, including a player and a coach. Charges include sports bets rigging and operating illegal rigged poker games in cooperation with the mafia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) speaks all night and all day on the Senate floor about what he calls President Donald Trump's "growing authoritarianism"; He is closing in on the record for the longest Senate floor speech in history; Day 22 of the federal government shutdown, and it appears Republican and Democratic positions have not moved and remain at odds, and the government will stay closed for now; less than two weeks until the closely-watched Virginia gubernatorial election between Republican Winsome Earle-Sears and Democrat Abigail Spanberger; NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visits Washington for meetings with President Trump & Senators after the postponement of a summit between President Trump & Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary on Russia's war in Ukraine; Vice President JD Vance joins Israeli Prime Minister's Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Vice President says say he and other Trump Administration officials are not there to monitor the status of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza as one monitors a toddler but ensuring that "our people are doing what we need them to do.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A New York man who was convicted and sentenced to prison on charges related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, then pardoned by President Donald Trump, is arrested on charges he threatened to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (R-NY). We get reaction from Jeffries & Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA); President Donald Trump hosts Senate Republicans for a lunch at the White House on the patio near the West Wing that he calls the Rose Garden Club to tout the Republican agenda and what he sees as successes. This comes on Day 21 of the federal government shutdown, with little apparent movement towards a resolution of the standoff between the parties; House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) says his panel wants to hear from former President Bill Clinton in the investigation of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and accuses Democrats of falsely linking Epstein to President Trump; Vice President JD Vance visits Israel and expresses optimism that ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza will hold, despite sporadic violence; Former U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns talks about on the expected meeting between President Trump & Chinese leader Xi Jinping; Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) on government safety net programs for children; White House celebration of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is Day 20 of the government shutdown…and there are few signs that lawmakers are close to a deal to end it….The House continues to hold only brief sessions…The Senate is in today….and they have an 11th vote scheduled on the Republicans short term funding bill…But it does not include the extension of federal health care tax credits…Meanwhile, federal workers continue to feel the shutdown's effects…As the federal agency overseeing the US nuclear stockpile began furloughing most of its workforce today….We'll hear what House and Senate leaders had to say about the shutdown coming up… President Trump welcomed Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to the White House today…The two signed an agreement on rare earth materials…The President also said he could meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month during a summit in South Korea…and he took questions on the cease fire in the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine war…You'll hear what he had to say coming up… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this weekend's episode, three segments from this past week's Washington Journal. First: A preview of this week's "No Kings" rallies taking place across the country this weekend with Joel Payne of the group "MoveOn" – one of the progressive groups organizing the events. Then: A conversation with Mike Brest - defense reporter for the Washington Examiner. We talk about how the shutdown impacted payday for active-duty military members this week – and the new Pentagon press policies which many news organizations are pushing back on. And finally: From long-lines at TSA to canceled or delayed flights - we check in with Reuters Correspondent David Shepardson about the impact the government shutdown is having on air travel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump tells Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a White House meeting that if the U.S. gives Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles, it would escalate the war between Ukraine & Russia; President Trump expresses confidence his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary will go a long way to ending the war in Ukraine; President Trump also talks about Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and recent military tensions; John Bolton, former Trump WH National Security Adviser, turned critic, pleads not guilty today in federal court in Maryland to felony charges of mishandling classified materials; Day 17 of the federal government shutdown, and with House & Senate not in for business, the shutdown will extend into the weekend; Saturday there will be mass protests around the country against the Trump Administration, what organizers call "No Kings" rallies; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gives an update on U.S.-China trade negotiations; former Secretaries of State Mike Pompeo & Anthony Blinken tell jokes at the annual Alfred E. Smith Foundation charity dinner in New York City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump speaks by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and announces they will meet in Budapest, Hungary in the coming weeks to discuss how to end the war in Ukraine. President Trump will be meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday to discuss possibly sending Tomahawk long-range missiles to Ukraine; President Trump also asked about this online post, "If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"; Venezuela brings the matter of what it calls President Trump's “bellicose” language to the United Nations Security Council, after President Trump confirmed Wednesday that he secretly authorized the CIA to conduct covert action in Venezuela was considering military strikes on Venezuelan territory to combat illegal drug smuggling; U.S. government shutdown is on Day 16 and will go through the weekend, after the Senate rejected for the 10th time a Republican proposal to temporarily fund the government and did not advance a standalone Defense spending bill; Former Trump White House National Security Adviser John Bolton is indicted on federal charges of illegally keeping and transmitting classified material; Democrats push back on Republicans calling the 'No Kings' protests planned for Saturday around the country 'Hate America Rallies'; President Trump announces new steps designed to expand access to IVF; Border Czar Tom Homan flatly denies he took a $50,000 bribe from FBI undercover agents; President Trump presents models of a proposed Independence Arch he wants to build near the Lincoln Memorial as part of the America's 50th Anniversary in 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

White House Budget Director Russell Vought suggests at least 10,000 federal workers could be fired during the government shutdown, now in Day 15, but a federal judge in California temporarily blocks the layoffs as a violation of the law; Senate again votes down the Republican-drafted temporary government funding bill for a ninth time, with Senate Democrats insisting health care provisions be included; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accuses China of going back on a trade deal on rare earth minerals, saying, 'China is a command and control economy, and the United States and our allies will neither be commanded nor controlled'; President Donald Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel give an update on anti-crime efforts across the country they call 'Summer Heat'; Supreme Court hears a case on involving a Black-majority Congressional district in Louisiana & the Voting Rights Act whose decision could limit the use of race in drawing legislative maps. We will hear some of the oral argument and talk with The Hill's courts & legal reporter Zach Schonfeld (34); Arizona's Democratic Congressional delegation makes another push to get Congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva sworn-in, accusing Speaker Johnson of not doing so to prevent release of federal files on the investigation of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal government shutdown reaches Day 14, and Republicans and Democrats seem to be digging in for the long haul; Air traffic controllers union president talks about the first missed full-paycheck for his members; Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says despite no official economic data due to the government shutdown, the outlook for employment and inflation has not changed much since the September interest rate cuts, suggesting there could be more cuts this year; President Donald Trump welcomes the President of Argentina to the White House and is asked about the $20 billion the U.S. is using to support Argentina's economy; Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) reacts to the guilty plea and sentence of the man who broke into the governor's residence earlier this year and set it on fire; assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presents the annual Hillary Rodham Clinton Awards for Advancing Women in Peace & Security; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defends new Pentagon media policies prohibiting reporters from publishing information not authorized for release, even if it is unclassified. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump proclaims, "dawn of a new Middle East" in a speech to the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem; world leaders sign the Gaza peace deal; Hamas frees the 20 living Israeli hostages, while Israel released nearly 2000 Palestinian prisoners; U.S. government shutdown is entering its third week with no end in sight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this weekend's episode, three segments from this past week's Washington Journal. First, House Speaker Mike Johnson talks about the government shutdown and answers questions from our viewers. Then, a closer look at how the shutdown is impacting federal workers with Randy Erwin -- National President of the National Federation of Federal Employees. And finally, a preview of the new Supreme Court term that began this week. That conversation with SCOTUSblog Co-Founder and Reporter Amy Howe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

White House Budget Office Director Russell Vought announces on X that federal worker layoffs have begun, with the federal government shutdown now 10 days old and expected to continue through the weekend; Conservative commentator Benny Johnson says the Democratic Party is 'mainstreaming violence as a political tool', as he appears with Attorney General Pam Bondi to announce federal charges again a man who mailed a death threat to him and his family; Senate defeats an amendment from Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) to limit President Donald Trump's power to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago and other cities in the name of supporting law enforcement to fight crime and ICE agents carrying out immigration raids; Venezuela's opposition leader wins the Nobel Peace Prize, and the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee is asked about President Trump's visible campaign for the award; First Lady Melania Trump says she has a regular communication channel with Russian President Putin, and it has helped reunite children separated from their families in the war in Ukraine; former Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-MI), former Congressional Black Caucus Chair, has died. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump & Secretary of State Marco Rubio talk about Israel & Hamas agreeing to a pause in their two-year-old war and the release of hostages held by Hama in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, what President Trump calls Phase One of his Gaza ceasefire plan; Federal court hearings today challenging President Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon and Chicago, the president says, to protect federal immigration authorities from threats by protesters; New York Attorney General Letitia James is reportedly indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of bank fraud. She writes on X, "This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system." Day 9 of the federal government shutdown and Senate votes down for a seventh time Republican and Democratic proposals for short-term funding extensions; Federal Reserve Board Member Michael Barr urges caution on any further interest rate cuts, citing the risks of inflation from President Trump's tariffs; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she believes the Trump administration is preparing for 'some kind of military action' against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former FBI Director James Comey pleads not guilty in federal court in Alexandria to two felony charges related to previous testimony before Congress. We will talk with The Hill's courts reporter Ella Lee, who was in the courtroom, about the arraignment and what is next in this case (1); President Donald Trump holds a roundtable at the White House with journalists he says were attacked by anti-ICE Antifa protesters in Portland, Oregon; Federal government shutdown now at Day 8 and the situation remains the same: Senate again votes down competing Republican and Democratic temporary government funding bills; Arizona's two Democratic U.S. Senators confront Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson over the delayed swearing-in of a newly elected Democratic Congresswoman from Arizona, who would provide the crucial 218 signature on a discharge petition to force release of the federal files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; IMF Managing Director gives an update on the world economy ahead of next week's IMF/World Bank meetings; Supreme Court hears oral argument in a case brought by Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL), who seeks standing to sue over Illinois' mail-in voting law that allows ballots postmarked by election day but which arrive later to be counted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal government shutdown at Day Seven shows no sign of ending soon; White House memo says the 750,000 federal government employees furloughed are not entitled to backpay when the government reopens; President Donald Trump meets Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House to discuss trade and tariffs; Attorney General Pam Bondi testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee, pointing to a report this week that the FBI as part of its investigation of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol tracked Republican lawmakers' private phone records; Attorney General Bondi also has tense exchanges with Democratic Senators over everything from the Epstein files to a dropped ethics case against Border Czar Tom Homan and the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey; Supreme Court hears a case challenging a Colorado law that bans 'conversion therapy' for LGBTQ minors; today is the two year anniversary of Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Senate is back without a deal to end the government shutdown that's now in its sixth day. Meanwhile, the legal showdown over White House efforts to deploy National Guard troops into US cities continues. The State of Illinois and the City of Chicago sued the Trump administration today to stop the deployment of National Guard troops, while Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order declaring city property "ICE-free zones". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices