| | | |  | | By Bethany Irvine | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Rachel Umansky-Castro
|  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
The Senate reconvened today to reject both parties’ dueling spending bills for the second time in nearly 12 hours. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo | THE LIGHTS ARE OFF: We’re halfway through Day One of the shutdown, and the partisan finger-pointing is continuing apace. The view from the White House: VP JD Vance took to the airwaves this morning to urge Democrats to join on to Republicans’ funding patch, telling “Fox and Friends” hosts that he would head to the Capitol “right now” to work with the party on extending health care subsidies, “but only after they’ve reopened the government.” At the Capitol: The Senate reconvened today to reject both parties’ dueling spending bills for the second time in nearly 12 hours, leaving GOP leaders and the White House at an impasse with Democrats over extending expiring Obamacare subsidies, per POLITICO’s Jordain Carney. Though the Democratic spending measure that included health conditions was quickly tanked by a 53-47 vote, lawmakers huddled a little longer before voting 55-45 on the GOP-led funding bill. Although rank-and-file members “are continuing to have bipartisan conversations about possible paths out” of the impasse, so far “those discussions have not reached an agreement,” Jordain writes. And leadership isn’t blinking. Ahead of today’s votes, House and Senate GOP leadership continued to slam Democrats’ position as they dig in on defense, POLITICO’s Lisa Kashinsky and Liz Crampton write. “As we speak here this morning, there are hundreds of thousands of federal workers who are getting their furlough notices, nearly half of our civilian workforce is being sent home,” Speaker Mike Johnson said. “The longer this goes on, the more pain will be inflicted.” More from POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill Senate Majority Leader John Thune doubled down as well, arguing that Democrats' demands on the health subsidies have forced the current situation. “Unfortunately, we are here this morning in a government shutdown that Democrats wanted. [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer, at the behest of a bunch of liberal, far-left activist groups, has walked his Democrat colleagues into a boxed canyon. There is no way out,” Thune said. And behind closed doors: Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) hosted conservative think tank head Tarren Bragdon at his weekly lunch in the first GOP conference gathering post-shutdown, per Jordain. “As the president and CEO of the Foundation for Government Accountability, Bragdon has in recent days dismissed the idea that Republicans will face political consequences if they let the Obamacare credits lapse,” Jordain writes. Democrats’ defense: Schumer deflected blame onto Republicans in comments on the Senate floor today, arguing Trump and Republicans “have barreled us into a shutdown because they refuse to protect Americans' health care,” adding “Republicans tried to bully us, but they can't. They don't have the votes.” Schumer also described Trump’s mass firing threats as an extortion tactic. “He is using the American people as pawns, threatening pain on the country as blackmail,” Schumer said. What’s affected: The Congressional Budget Office has said as many as 750,000 federal employees could be furloughed during the shutdown, though Trump and administration officials have threatened a more permanent solution: mass firings and funding cuts. Expect more details on who’s impacted to emerge following House Republicans’ afternoon call with OMB Director Russ Vought, per Meredith. As a reminder: The administration has put in guardrails to ensure Trump’s trade and immigration enforcement arms remain staffed, and members of Congress will continue to be paid for however long the government’s lights are off. And Fox News’ Pat Ward reports that construction of Trump’s new White House ballroom will not be affected. Eyes on the Empire State: Vought already announced today that the administration is freezing $18 billion in New York City infrastructure funding in what some consider a thinly veiled jab at the home of Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, as POLITICO’s Ry Rivard and colleagues write. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — How it’s playing: The shutdown fight is already rippling out of the Capitol and onto the campaign trail. Virginia state Del. Michael Feggans, a Democrat representing Virginia Beach, released a new ad today, part of a six-figure ad buy pushing back on the damage that he says Trump’s shutdown will cause for Virginians. In the 30-second spot, Feggans highlights legislation supported to help protect federal workers and contractors from losing their homes or being evicted during a shutdown. “Leadership isn’t a game, it’s about people. And I’ll never back down,” Feggans said. Watch the ad Beyond the beltway: The bipartisan scramble to keep the country's national parks open with limited staffing through the shutdown has offered “an early glimpse of the disconnect between Washington’s shutdown brinksmanship and the politics surrounding the economic fallout in rural towns,” POLITICO’s Natalie Fertig and colleagues report. Good Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Are you a federal employee who’s facing a furlough with the shutdown? Drop me a line at birvine@politico.com.
| | A message from PhRMA: The biopharmaceutical industry is answering President Trump's call to put America first. PhRMA member companies are investing $500B in new U.S.-based manufacturing and infrastructure, providing financial assistance to 10 million patients annually, and announcing AmericasMedicines.com to connect patients with manufacturer direct purchase programs. Learn more about our investments and commitment to American patients and workers. | | | | | | 7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | | 
The Supreme Court decided Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook is allowed to remain on the job before the bench formally takes up the case. | Bill Clark/Pool via AP | 1. COOK IN THE KITCHEN: The Supreme Court has weighed in, at least temporarily, in Trump’s effort to oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from her job over allegations of mortgage fraud. The court said it will hear arguments over her firing in January, but Cook is allowed to remain on the job before the bench formally takes up the case, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein reports. Still, the justices did not set a timeline for a ruling in the case and Cook “is likely to continue to have influence over sensitive interest-rate-setting decisions for months as the legal battle continues.” 2. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Hamas officials say they are open to accepting the Trump administration’s peace plan to end the war in Gaza, but Arab mediators say the group is pushing for more time to weigh the conditions, WSJ’s Summer Said reports. Hamas has raised specific concerns over the key condition it “disarm and destroy its weapons,” and claim that releasing all 48 remaining hostages within 72 hours would be difficult “because it has lost contact in recent weeks with some other militant groups holding a number of them.” Trump had given the group a “three or four day” deadline to make a decision earlier this week. Today marks day three. The current thinking: “Accepting the plan is a disaster, rejecting it is another, there are only bitter choices here, but the plan is a Netanyahu plan articulated by Trump,” a Palestinian official familiar with Hamas' deliberations told Reuters. Meanwhile, Israel has carried on its intense military campaign in Gaza City, “with at least 51 people killed in attacks since dawn,” per Al Jazeera’s Rory Sullivan. The 30,000-foot view: The outgoing head of a United Nations commission opens up to POLITICO’s Nahal Toosi on the broader responsibility the U.S. holds for the war in Gaza in an exit interview for POLITICO Mag. Navi Pillay stressed that other nations, including the U.S., have an obligation to stop the fighting. “Typically, people are able to flee to neighboring countries, and they get refuge. Here we have a very cruel system, where it’s called the prison of Gaza, where they cannot leave,” Pillay said. 3. PLAYING DEFENSE: Just three weeks after Israel launched airstrikes targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, Trump issued a sweeping executive order today pledging to guarantee Qatar’s security if the country were to come under attack, POLITICO’s Eli Stokol’s reports. The order states an attack on Qatar would be considered “a threat to the peace and security of the United States,” adding that the U.S. would take all measures, “including diplomatic, economic, and, if necessary, military.” The order also calls on U.S. defense officials to “maintain joint contingency planning with the State of Qatar to ensure a rapid and coordinated response to any foreign aggression.”
| | | | Introducing Global Security: POLITICO’s weekly briefing on the policies, regulatory battles and industrial shifts shaping defense and security across continents. We connect what happens in Washington, Brussels and beyond to what gets funded, what gets built and who benefits. Subscribe now to access the free preview edition. | | | | | 4. ON THE JOBS: A new report estimated the economy lost a whopping 32,000 private-sector jobs in September, WSJ’s Konrad Putzier reports. The new figure from payroll-processing company ADP is down from a revised loss of just 3,000 in August and is well below economists predictions of a 45,000 increase. The leisure and hospitality sectors were hit the worst by the losses, while education and health services saw an uptick in jobs, meanwhile “the gap between small and big establishments in the labor market continued to widen last month.” It all adds up to a complicated snapshot of the U.S. labor market. The government shutdown is officially delaying Friday’s key jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which includes the official government figures on payrolls and employment rates, per NBC’s Rob Wile. And although ADP’s monthly report can sometimes diverge widely from the government’s monthly numbers, in recent months it has “registered weakness in the job market before it showed up in revised, official figures,” Putzier writes. 5. YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH: As the Trump administration works to tamp down alleged leaks from DOD, Pentagon officials are planning to “impose strict nondisclosure agreements and random polygraph testing for scores of people in its headquarters, including many top officials,” WaPo’s Alex Horton and colleagues scoop. A draft memo from Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg notes that all “military service members, civilian employees and contract workers within the office of the defense secretary and the Joint Staff” would be required to sign NDAs, while a “separate document also from Feinberg would establish a program to randomly polygraph those officials.” 6. TRAIL MIX: Former Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) is attempting a comeback, joining the crowded race for Rep. Byron Donalds’ (R-Fla.) open seat, per POLITICO’s Jacob Wendler. Cawthorn’s bid in Florida comes after he was ousted in 2022 after serving a single term in North Carolina’s 11th District. “Over his short time in Congress, he was accused of insider trading, tried to bring a gun on a plane twice and angered GOP leaders by alleging his colleagues used cocaine and hosted orgies” and triggered a House Ethics investigation, as WaPo’s Patrick Svitek summarizes. In Minnesota: Democratic state Rep. Kaela Berg announced her bid for the open seat in Minnesota’s 2nd District today. Berg, a single mom, flight attendant and longtime union leader, said in a statement that she’s running in the competitive seat because “I’ve lived the struggles families here face and I’ve spent my career delivering results for them. That’s exactly what I’ll do in Congress.” Berg enters the race with the backing of several labor allies and community leaders, and Emily’s List announced its endorsement today. 7. JAGGED LITTLE PILL: “Drugmakers Buoyed as Trump Deal Eases Worst Fears on Pricing,” by Bloomberg’s Damian Garde: “Wall Street had long feared US President Donald Trump would follow through with threats to impose aggressive drug-pricing policies, eroding the pharmaceutical industry’s profitability and depressing share prices. Those fears were largely laid to rest this week after Pfizer Inc. cut a deal with the White House. … The vast majority of Americans shouldn’t expect to see any material changes to their pharmacy bill on account of Pfizer’s White House agreement.”
| | | | Don’t just keep up with policy shifts — set the pace. POLITICO Pro’s Policy Intelligence Assistant combines unmatched reporting with advanced AI to deliver sharper insights, faster answers, and two powerful report builders that turn intelligence into impact. Try it free for 30 days. | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | OUT AND ABOUT — The White House Historical Association honored golfer Gary Player last night at a private dinner at The People’s House, where guests gathered for cocktails, a private museum tour and dinner highlighting the Gary Player Foundation and its work with the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School in South Africa. SPOTTED: Teresa Carlson, André Pienaar, Susan Waterfall, Reon Barnard, Norah O'Donnell, Stewart McLaurin, Bartholomew Connolly, Mark Ein, Gloria Dittus, Jeffrey Dressler, Matt Lauer, Samantha Sault, Ed Newberry, Hemant Taneja, John Akridge, John Aycoth, Jean-Raymond Boulle, Dan Dunham, Benjamin LeRoy, Paul Michael Levesque, Marc Tudhope, Judee Ann Williams and Catherine Granito. — SPOTTED at last night's Alliance for Aging Research Heroes in Health Awards Gala at the Waldorf Astoria: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Richard Standifer, Alec Aramanda, Grace Graham, Sue Peschin, Janet Woodcock, Thomas Spulak, Chris Leibman, Steve Herschel, Alexis Resin Miller, Bea Duque Long, Laurie O’Brien, Catherine Brady, Drew Holzapfel, Michele Markus, Foluso Fakorede, Ben Tiede, Melissa Mitchell, Lindsay Singleton, Dan Pawson and Katy Riddick. TRANSITIONS — Daniel Jativa is now director of government affairs for the Brunswick Corporation. He previously worked for Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.). … Adam Rose is now deputy director of the advocacy team at Freedom of the Press Foundation. He previously worked at Starling Lab for Data Integrity. … Emily Balon is now media relations manager at Pacific Legal Foundation. She previously worked at the Cato Institute. … … Paul Haut will be president of the Children’s Hospital Association. He previously has worked at PRHaut Leadership. … Consumer Brands has added Laura Rich as VP of regulatory affairs, Ayani Momin as director of state regulatory affairs, Elizabeth (Liz) Grier as director of meetings and events and Holly Riley as manager of member programs. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. | | | | A message from PhRMA:  
Investing $500B in U.S. biopharma manufacturing and infrastructure, thousands of new jobs, and improved access to affordable medicines, see how we're putting America first. | | | | | | | | Follow us on X | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment