(NEW YORK) — A powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake killed at least 69 people in the Philippines, officials said on Wednesday.
The quake was recorded at 9:59 p.m. local time on Tuesday with the centre at 19 km east-northeast of Bogo City, Philippines, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said. After the offshore earthquake, the institute recorded several aftershocks, many more than 4-magnitude.
The institute issued a tsunami warning due to the disturbance, which was later canceled.
At least 69 people were reported dead on Wednesday, officials said. The office of Civil Defense Deputy Administrator Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV, said the number of fatalities would likely remain less than three digits.
He also added that they have evacuated almost 1,000 people from the city.
The earthquake nterrupted the Miss Asia Pacific International 2025 beauty pageant in Cebu City, Philippines. In one of the videos, candidates are seen on the catwalk when the earthquake hits. Everyone was safe after the incident, according to a statement released by the organizers.
Rescue and relief operations are underway, with doctors and nurses deployed from Manila to quake-hit Bogo with the Philippine Coast Guard. The Philippine Air Force was continuing its “rescue and relief operations,” as per the Office of Civil Defense’s Facebook account.
The emergency response is expected to continue as Tropical Depression Paolo slightly intensified while moving west over the Philippine Sea, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a brief issued at 5 p.m. local time.
That storm may make landfall over Isabela or northern Aurora on Friday, the brief said.
Last week, Typhoon Bualoi and before that Super Typhoon Ragasa hit the Philippines.
Philippine Area of Responsibility is hit by more tropical cyclones than anywhere in the world, with an average of 20 per year, according to the Philippines Atmospheric Geophysical And Astronomical Services Administration.
(LONDON) — Police in the southern German city of Munich said the famous Oktoberfest event would be closed until Wednesday afternoon, following a bomb threat linked to a deadly fire at a home in the north of the city.
“Due to a bomb threat in connection with the explosion in northern Munich, the Theresienwiese will remain closed until 5:00 p.m.,” Munich police said in a statement, referring to the open area west of the city center where the festival is located.
“A letter from the perpetrator has been sent to this effect,” police said. “A decision on further action will be made in the early afternoon.”
The bomb threat was linked to a fire at a residential building that killed one person in northern Munich on Wednesday morning, authorities said.
Police and fire department personnel were dispatched to the scene in the Lerchenau area. Police said there was a “burning residential building” and there they had received reports of “loud bangs.”
“According to current information, the residential building was deliberately set on fire during a family dispute,” police said. “The injured person found has since died. Another person is missing and poses no danger.”
Police later said they discovered “explosive devices” in the building. “Special forces have been called in to defuse the bombs,” the police said.
Munich police confirmed to ABC News that the person who was found dead in connection to the explosion at the residence was “probably the suspect.”
In a video statement posted to X, Munich police spokesman Thomas Schelshorn said the “major operation” in Lerchenau had been underway since 4:45 a.m.
“We’ve discovered a burning house, a single-family home, burning cars nearby and a dead man at Lerchenau Lake, which may also be related to this,” Schelshorn said.
“We also have an unspecified threat of explosives for the Theresienwiese,” he added. “That’s why cordoning off and searching measures are taking place here. And that’s also why the Oktoberfest isn’t opening on time today. And we assume it won’t open before 5 p.m.”
(NEW YORK) — Since the start of Breast Cancer Awareness initiatives in 1985, over 517,000 lives have been saved from better treatment and proactive screening, according to the American Cancer Society.
“Today is a day to celebrate forty years of incredible progress in ending cancer as we know it, for everyone,” Dr. Shanti Sivendran, senior vice president of cancer care support at the American Cancer Society and medical oncologist at Penn Medicine, told ABC News.
In the 1980s in the United States, only one in four women were getting screened for breast cancer, and access to screening technology was limited, Sivendran said.
That began to change in October 1985, when the American Cancer Society partnered with other groups to launch a week-long event devoted to raising awareness about breast cancer. The campaign quickly gained momentum as more organizations joined in, and by 1990 President George H. W. Bush issued a proclamation officially designating October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
What started as a small collaboration grew into a global movement, now marked each year by millions who wear pink ribbons, participate in walks, and push for advances in research and early detection.
“After 40 years of research, technology and policy advances, we are now seeing that two out of three women are getting life-saving mammograms that are covered by their insurance, and we’ve seen a 40% reduction in mortality from breast cancer, from diligent screening, [and] from treatment advances that allow for more tailored options for patients.” Sivendran noted.
The five-year survival rate for a woman diagnosed with breast cancer has jumped up from around 75% in the early 1980s, to over 90% in the past few years. Researchers estimate that advances in screening account for about one-quarter of the drop in breast cancer deaths, while improved treatments are responsible for the other three-quarters.
“There have been great strides in breast cancer treatments from less extensive breast surgery to more targeted radiation, and the explosion of new drugs that are more specific for the different subtypes of breast cancer.” Dr. Katherine Crew, breast medical oncologist and director of the clinical breast cancer prevention program at Columbia University, Irving Medical Center, told ABC News.
Between 2000 and 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved more than two dozen drugs to treat breast cancer, many designed to target a specific biomarker in the tumor. Experts liken these markers to fingerprints that can help doctors match each patient with the treatment most likely to work for them, making care more precise and personalized than ever before.
But not everyone has benefited from these strides equally.
As Crew noted, “While we have made great progress in improving breast cancer screening and treatment leading to improved survival, there have also been widening disparities in breast cancer outcomes, with Black women having higher breast cancer mortality compared to their White counterparts.”
White women with breast cancer have the highest five-survival rate at around 93%. But this dropped to 84% for black women. While black women were more likely to die from any kind of breast cancer, for certain types of breast cancer black women had up to a 50% higher risk of dying than their white counterparts. While there are multiple factors behind these differences, Crew stressed the need to better address these health disparities.
Sivendran said the past 40 years of Breast Cancer Awareness show how a movement can save lives, but she stressed that the work is far from over and urged people to carry forward the progress made over the last four decades.
“Go out there and take action. Get your screening mammogram, understand your risk, invest in cancer research,” she said. “And together, we’re going to continue to make advances over the next 40 years.”
(WASHINGTON) — The federal government shut down at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday after the Senate was unable to pass Democratic and Republican proposals on Tuesday.
Both proposals fell short of the 60 votes needed to pass. The Democratic plan which would have restored $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts passed into law this summer on top of a permanent extension of the Obamacare subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, went down along party lines, 47-53.
Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and John Fetterman and independent Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, voted for the Republican plan that would have extended funding for seven weeks, but it failed on a 55-45 vote. Sen. Rand Paul was the only Republican to vote against it.
Congressional leaders pointed fingers at one another over the course of the day leading up to the votes.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in a news conference Tuesday afternoon that Democrats had voted for continuing resolutions to keep the government funded 13 times when they were in the majority.
“It begs the question as to what’s changed. And I think what’s changed is President Trump is in the White House. That’s what this is about. This is politics and there isn’t any substantive reason why there ought to be a government shutdown.”
The Republicans’ “clean” continuing resolution would have kept the government funded through mid-November after passing one in March that carried the government through the end of the fiscal year.
But Democrats are holding out for a deal that would restore Medicaid cuts that were part of President Donald Trump’s tax and policy bill passed into law this summer on top of a permanent extension of the Obamacare subsidies that were set to expire at the end of the year, saving health insurance for 3.8 million people at a cost of $350 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer held firm to his belief that Republicans will own this shutdown for refusing to negotiate with Democrats on health care priorities.
“They call it clean, we call it extremely partisan. Not one discussion, House or Senate, between the two leaders. That is not how you negotiate and that is not how you pass appropriation bills,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Tuesday morning.
House Republicans passed their stopgap measure to keep the government open through Nov. 21, but that measure stalled in the Senate earlier this month.
Republicans crafted a clean seven-week funding bill in order to create more time for congressional appropriators to work through regular order: 12 separate full-year funding bills. Congress has not passed all 12 appropriations bills through regular order since 1997, and the task has been completed only four times since 1977 when current budget rules took effect.
Ahead of the votes, Senate Democrats appeared unlikely to vote with Republicans to pass the continuing resolution as several did in March.
“I have never seen Democratic senators more unified and resolute,” Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said. “We are absolutely determined that this ticking clock will not deter us from saving American health care. Literally, it’s about real lives, sickness that can’t wait for a so-called CR, continuing resolution extension of funding. They can filibuster a lot of things, but not people getting sick, and particularly children needing care.”
Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said Monday’s meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump and congressional leaders from both parties was a missed opportunity to avert a shutdown.
“I think yesterday was an opportunity that was missed. The gathering of the White House was a chance for the legislative leaders with the president to avoid a government shutdown, and there wasn’t any follow-up whatsoever,” Durbin said. “We haven’t had one meeting at the table of the leadership to talk about ending this. It happened yesterday in the White House, but apparently no follow-up.”
Meanwhile, Trump appeared to waver Tuesday on whether there would be a shutdown while continuing to push false claims about what Democrats want in the funding bill.
“Nothing is inevitable, but I would say it’s probably likely, because they want to give health care to illegal immigrants, which will destroy health care for everybody else in our country. And I didn’t see them bend even a little bit when I said, we can’t do that,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
But he later said, “We’re not shutting it down. We don’t want it to shut down because we have the greatest period of time ever. I told you, we have $17 trillion being invested. So the last person that wants to shut down is us.”
Trump said Democrats were “taking a risk” in not supporting the Republicans’ clean continuing resolution, “because of the shutdown, we can do things medically and other ways, including benefits. We can cut large numbers of people. We don’t want to do that, but we don’t want fraud, waste and abuse.”
ABC News confirmed last week that the White House had alerted agencies to prepare for furloughs ahead of a possible government shutdown and also threatening mass firings that could become permanent if a shutdown is not averted.
Asked if he thought it was appropriate to fire federal workers during a shutdown, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said, “I think you could reduce the federal work force and probably not hurt outcomes.”
Trump appeared open to more discussions earlier Tuesday as he returned from a speech to generals and admirals with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth. Asked if he would talk to Democrats before the deadline, Trump replied, “Yes.”
Earlier Tuesday, 150 House Democrats rallied on the House steps, presenting unity as each party attempts to place blame for a lapse in funding.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries fired up Democrats, addressing a deepfake video generated by artificial intelligence shared Monday night by President Donald Trump, which disparaged Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“Mr. President, allow me to reintroduce myself,” Jeffries said, quoting the opening lyrics from Jay-Z’s “Public Service Announcement” and receiving a loud round of applause from the caucus. “I’m the House Democratic Leader. Our caucus is 217 members strong. We serve in a separate and coequal branch of government. We don’t work for you. We work for the American people.”
In the post on his social media platform, Trump shared the video that presented Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Jeffries during their remarks at the White House after meeting with Trump and Republican leaders, but dubbed Schumer saying disparaging things about his party.
The video also showed Jeffries wearing a sombrero, prompting Jeffries to call it “bigoted.”
“Mr. President, the next time you have something to say about me, don’t cop out through a racist and fake AI video. When I’m back in the Oval Office, say it to my face!” Jeffries boomed.
Jeffries sharply criticized House Republicans for canceling votes this week.
“Shame on them for being on vacation all across the country and across the world on the eve of a government shutdown,” he said. “They’re on vacation because they’d rather shut the government down than protect the health care of the American people. That’s unfathomable, that’s unacceptable, that’s unconscionable, and that’s un-American. Do your job.”
Johnson posted Tuesday morning that Schumer and Democrats are “planning to SHUT DOWN the government — simply to oppose President Trump and appease their far-left base.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in newly designed vehicles arrive ahead of a scheduled speech by U.S. President Donald Trump at the Park Police Anacostia Operating Facility on August 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. The Trump administration has deployed federal officers and the National Guard to the District in order to place the DC Metropolitan Police Department under federal control and assist in crime prevention in the nation’s capital. (Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)
(DES MOINES, Iowa) — An Iowa superintendent who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last week will resign, his attorney said Tuesday.
Ian Roberts, 54, announced his immediate resignation as superintendent of the Des Moines Public Schools in a letter released through his attorney on Tuesday.
“Out of concern for his 30,000 students, Dr. Roberts does not want to distract the Board, educators, and staff from focusing on educating DMPS’s students,” the letter to the Des Moines School Board stated.
The letter will be sent to the board on Tuesday, according to Roberts’ attorney, Alfredo Parrish.
Roberts was detained on Friday, with ICE saying he is in the country illegally from Guyana and was working as a superintendent despite having “a final order of removal and no work authorization.”
On Monday, the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners said it revoked Roberts’ administrator license. The Des Moines School Board voted unanimously Monday evening to put him on unpaid administrative leave and gave his attorney until noon Tuesday to provide proof that he is authorized to work in the U.S. or face termination.
Parrish said his office on Monday filed a motion in immigration court in Omaha, Nebraska, to stay the educator’s order of removal.
“This is a very complex case,” Parrish said during a press briefing on Tuesday. “It’s complex, it’s difficult and there are a lot of what I would call a myriad of issues that are involved.”
“What I would do is encourage people, as they review this case, to be patient, to take it a step at a time,” he added.
Parrish also shared a letter with reporters purportedly sent from Roberts’ previous attorney in Texas in March, stating that his immigration case “has reached a successful resolution” and was closed. The letter did not contain any further details on the resolution.
Parrish said his office plans to file a motion to reopen Roberts’ immigration case on Tuesday.
Roberts entered the U.S. on a student visa in 1999 and a judge gave him a “final order of removal” in May 2024, ICE said in a statement.
Roberts joined the Des Moines district in July 2023 and had previously held leadership positions in school districts across the U.S. for 20 years, according to school board chair Jackie Norris.
Norris said during Monday’s school board meeting that the board received documentation from the Department of Homeland Security that day indicating Roberts is an unauthorized worker in the U.S. It also received documentation of Roberts’ final order of removal issued by an immigration judge, she said.
The board was not aware of Roberts’ immigration issues at the time of his hiring, according to Norris, who said the board is taking ICE’s allegations “very seriously.”
“I want to be clear, at no point was any DMPS employee or board member notified that Dr. Roberts was not eligible to work by a federal agency or Dr. Roberts,” Norris said.
Norris said when Roberts applied for the superintendent position, he stated that he was a citizen and provided a driver’s license and a Social Security card as documentation. A law firm reviewed the information presented by Roberts and did not raise any concerns about his eligibility to work, she said.
Asked how Roberts had a social security number, Parrish said he didn’t want to respond, though went on to say, “As you may or may not know, certain people coming into this country are entitled to get a Social Security number.”
“That’s not our concern at the moment,” he added.
When Roberts was taken into custody on Friday, he was in possession of a loaded handgun and $3,000 in cash, ICE said.
Asked about the allegation of the loaded firearm, Parrish said he also could not comment on the facts of that, though he went on to say Roberts was in the military in Guyana and “led some of the most difficult raids on the biggest criminals.”
“In doing that type of work, he was a target, on some occasions, to be taken out by the cartel,” Parrish said.
According to the ICE detainee locator, Roberts is currently being held at the Woodbury County Jail in Sioux City, Iowa. He is in “good spirits,” Parrish said.
“We want you to know that Dr. Roberts’ greatest concern is about his students who he actually loves, and the students who love him back,” Parrish said.
Meanwhile, Iowa Rep. Zach Nunn said Tuesday a “state-level investigation” into Roberts’ hiring is underway.
“Local leaders owe parents an explanation, and we need stronger safeguards to ensure that positions of public trust are filled by individuals who are properly vetted and legally authorized to serve,” he said in a statement.
The firm that performed the background check on Roberts prior to his hiring by Des Moines Public Schools told ABC News it was “not contracted to perform I-9 or work eligibility verification.”
“By standard practice, the employer is solely responsible for completing I-9 verification and determining employment eligibility,” Baker-Eubanks CEO Kim Cockerham said in a statement.
“We identified and disclosed all publicly available criminal records at that time, and those findings were provided to J.G. Consulting, the executive search firm, which then shared the information with its client, the Des Moines School District. The District ultimately chose to proceed with the hire despite having received the disclosed criminal record information,” Cockerham said.
Roberts has weapon possession charges from February 2020, according to ICE.
Prior to serving as superintendent in Des Moines, Roberts was superintendent of the Millcreek Township School District in Pennsylvania from August 2020 through June 2023.
The Millcreek Township School District said in a statement Monday that Roberts went through an FBI background check, completed I-9 eligibility forms and supplied documentation to support his eligibility to work. The district said it “never received any information or notification regarding the expiration of Dr. Roberts’ work authorization” and called reports of his detention “deeply concerning.”
President Donald Trump speaks to senior military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico, September 30, 2025 in Quantico, Virginia. Alex Wong/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday told the military’s top generals about his controversial plans to send troops to “dangerous” Democratic cities, arguing, “We’re under invasion from within.”
Trump made clear that the military’s job is not only to protect the United States from threats abroad but also what he repeatedly referred to as a domestic enemy in American cities.
“It’s a war from within,” the president said to the room of high-ranking military generals who flew from across the globe to Quantico, Virginia. “We’re under invasion from within.”
Trump talked about his efforts to increase the use of U.S. military in American cities. Trump specifically said that Democratic-run cities, such as New York, Chicago and San Francisco, are in “bad shape,” and that he threatened to “straighten them out, one-by-one.”
“I told Pete [Hegseth] we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military National Guard,” he said.
Over the weekend, Trump announced that he ordered federal troops to Portland, Oregon, because of what he alleged were threats from domestic terrorists. The city’s Democratic Mayor Keith Wilson and the state’s Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek both stressed that they did not request the troops and objected to the action.
Trump mentioned his call with Kotek on Tuesday, claiming that Portland “is burning down.”
“I said ‘You don’t have it under control, governor, but I’ll check it and I’ll call you back.’ I called [her] back. I said ‘you, this place is a nightmare,'” Trump said.
Throughout Trump’s speech — which came after Hegseth called for an end to what he called “woke” culture in the military — the president’s words were met generally with silence and subdued reaction from generals, who did not seem to respond to the president’s often highly-partisan talking points. Reaction in the room among the military’s top leaders was even more limited when Trump talked about sending troops into American cities such as Chicago and Portland.
It was an unusual reception for Trump, who is used to delivering blockbuster speeches to friendly audiences.
The president took note of the mood in the room soon after he began talking, and appeared to be surprised.
“I’ve never walked into a room so silent before,” he said before making jokes.
“Just have a good time. And if you want to applaud, you applaud. And if you want to do anything you want, you can do anything you want. And if you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future, but you just feel nice and loose, OK, because we’re all on the same team,” Trump added.
There were a few chuckles from the crowd, including when Trump joked that he liked his own signature.
By the end of the speech, some members of the crowd stood and some lightly applauded.
Pro-Palestinian protesters march out of Tufts University’s Class of 2024 commencement. Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge has found federal officials unconstitutionally violated the free speech rights of pro-Palestinian protesters in its effort to deport international students and scholars expressing pro-Palestinian views, including Columbia University’s Mahmoud Khalil and Tuft’s University’s Rumeysa Ozturk.
“This Court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with the subordinate officials and, agents of each of them, deliberately and with purposeful aforethought, did so concert their actions and those of their two departments intentionally to chill the rights to freedom of speech and peacefully to assemble of the non-citizen plaintiff members of the plaintiff associations,” U.S. District Court Judge William Young wrote in a decision Tuesday.
The decision came as part of a lawsuit filed by the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association, which represents hundreds of professors and students across the country.
A bench trial was held in the case in July. In the course of the trial, it was revealed the government looked into more than 5,000 people named on the doxxing website Canary mission in its effort to revoke the visas of student protesters.
Young, a Ronald Reagan appointee, said Rubio and Noem used the attempted deportation of some pro-Palestinian protesters to create a chilling effect that would discourage others from participating in protests.
“It was never the Secretaries’ immediate intention to deport all pro-Palestinian non-citizens for that obvious First Amendment violation, that could have raised a major outcry,” Young wrote in the order. “Rather, the intent of the Secretaries was more invidious — to target a few for speaking out and then use the full rigor of the Immigration and Nationality Act (in ways it had never been used before) to have them publicly deported with the goal of tamping down pro-Palestinian student protests and terrorizing similarly situated non-citizen (and other) pro-Palestinians into silence because their views were unwelcome.”
Young said President Donald Trump’s support of this effort violates his oath to “preserve, protect and defend the constitution,” though he is immune from any consequences for this conduct per the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The Secretaries have succeeded, apparently well beyond their immediate intentions. One may speculate that they acted under instructions from the White House, but speculation is not evidence and this Court does not so find,” Young wrote.
“What is clear, however, is that the President may not have authorized this operation (or even known about it), but once it was in play the President wholeheartedly supported it, making many individual case specific comments (some quite cruel) that demonstrate he has been fully briefed,” Young said.
While Young wrote that he found clear and convincing evidence of constitutional violations, he does not expect a correction from authorities or public outcry.
“The President in recent months has strikingly unapologetically increased his attack on First Amendment values, balked here and there by District Court orders,” Young said.
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (C), accompanied by House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) and Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) walk down the House Steps as they arrive for a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on September 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — As the clock ticks down towards a government shutdown, 150 House Democrats rallied on the House steps Tuesday morning ahead of a midnight government funding deadline, presenting unity as each political party attempts to shift and place blame for a lapse in government funding.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries fired up Democrats, addressing a deepfake video generated by artificial intelligence shared Monday night by President Donald Trump, which disparaged Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“Mr. President, allow me to reintroduce myself,” Jeffries said, quoting the opening lyrics from Jay-Z’s “Public Service Announcement” and receiving a loud round of applause from the caucus. “I’m the House Democratic Leader. Our caucus is 217 members strong. We serve in a separate and coequal branch of government. We don’t work for you. We work for the American people.”
In the post on his social media platform, Trump shared the video that presented Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Jeffries during their remarks at the White House after meeting with Trump and Republican leaders, but dubbed Schumer saying disparaging things about his party.
The video also showed Jeffries wearing a sombrero, prompting Jeffries to call it “bigoted.”
“Mr. President, the next time you have something to say about me, don’t cop out through a racist and fake AI video. When I’m back in the Oval Office, say it to my face!” Jeffries boomed.
Jeffries reiterated that Democrats are “ready” to find a bipartisan path to avert a shutdown and he sharply criticized House Republicans for canceling votes this week.
“Shame on them for being on vacation all across the country and across the world on the eve of a government shutdown,” he said. “They’re on vacation because they’d rather shut the government down than protect the health care of the American people. That’s unfathomable, that’s unacceptable, that’s unconscionable, and that’s un-American. Do your job.”
Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar blamed Republicans if the government shuts down.
“This is a shutdown they will own, and the American people are paying attention,” he said.
Trump appeared open to more discussions Tuesday. Asked while returning from a speech to generals and admirals with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth if he would talk to Democrats before the deadline, Trump replied, “Yes.”
Democrats insist that any deal includes restoring $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts passed into law this summer on top of a permanent extension of the Obamacare subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, saving health insurance for 3.8 million people at a cost of $350 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
While House Republicans passed a stopgap measure to keep the government open through Nov. 21, the measure stalled in the Senate, where Thune will need at least seven Democrats to vote for it to pass.
Republicans crafted a “clean” seven-week funding bill in order to create more time for congressional appropriators to work through regular order: 12 separate full-year funding bills. Congress has not passed all 12 appropriations bills through regular order since 1997, and the task has been completed only four times since 1977 when current budget rules took effect.
Thune is expected to force the Senate to vote repeatedly on the House’s clean seven-week funding bill. His goal is to force Democrats to cast repeated votes against funding the government.
Jeffries and Schumer met Monday afternoon at the White House with Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Vice President JD Vance and others but left without a deal.
Johnson posted Tuesday morning that Schumer and Democrats are “planning to SHUT DOWN the government — simply to oppose President Trump and appease their far-left base.”
On the White House driveway after the meeting, the Democrats and Republicans blamed each other for not reaching an agreement to keep the government funded.
Schumer told reporters in the White House driveway that “large differences” remain — particularly on health care.
A few minutes later, Vice President JD Vance joined Republicans in saying a shutdown was increasingly likely.
“I think we’re headed to a shutdown because Democrats won’t do the right thing,” Vance said.
Monday’s meeting was the first bicameral, bipartisan congressional leadership face-to-face meeting of Trump’s second term — and came after a meeting scheduled for last week was nixed by the president after he said he reviewed the Democratic proposal and judged that a meeting would not be productive.
(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the military to review and revise the ways it investigates complaints of hazing and harassment, according to policy memos obtained by ABC News.
The memos, which came after Hegseth ordered top military generals and admirals to come to Virginia to hear a speech about the importance of the “warrior ethos,” call for a 30-day review of the definition of hazing, bullying and harassment within the military. Hegseth claims in the memos that the current policy preventing those behaviors is “overly broad” and puts combat readiness in jeopardy.
“While the Department of War remains firmly committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and exemplary conduct, the current adverse information policy has too often resulted in unproven allegations being considered adverse information, cumulative penalties for a single event, procedural redundancies, and unnecessary administrative burdens,” Hegseth wrote.
“By embracing these changes, the Department will not only honor its commitment to fairness and integrity but also reinforce the core principles of the warrior ethos — courage, selflessness, and unwavering commitment to the mission,” he added.
Another policy calls for reforms to the Defense Department’s independent watchdog office, the Inspector General, which is currently investigating Hegseth’s handling of classified material.
Among the changes called for is that “non-credible complaints” must be closed no later than seven business days after receipt. Command-directed investigations must be closed within 30 days, according to Hegseth.
Other directives call for new tougher department-wide fitness standards and calls for a 60-day review of what is taught at the military service academies and training schools.
(WASHINGTON) — As the government teeters on the brink of a shutdown, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday addressed an auditorium packed with several hundred of the nation’s most seasoned military commanders summoned last-minute from around the world.
The event occurred at a Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, a secure site an hour south of the nation’s capital. Hegseth kicked off the event with an extraordinarily blunt speech on the importance of the “warrior ethos,” a term he uses to describe the spirit that makes combat units effective.
“We must be prepared,” he said. “Either we’re ready to win or we are not.”
“This speech today is about people and it’s about culture,” he said, calling for “the right culture at the War Department.”
He acknowledged why he fired Gen. CQ Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti and other senior leaders.
Hegseth said his rationale “has been straightforward,” contending it’s hard to change a culture with people who benefited from that previous culture.
He demanded no more “fat generals,” saying all service members would need to meet fitness tests and grooming standards.
“No more beardos,” he said. “The era of unacceptable appearance is over.”
Brown never pushed “quotas” for promotions within the military, which relies on a merit-based system that Hegseth claimed wrongfully punished too many people for “toxic leadership.” Brown and others pushed the idea of recruiting from a broader section of America so that the military would look more like the nation it serves.
The secretary added that the department is “clearing the way for leaders to be leaders.”
“You might say we are ending the war on warriors,” Hegseth said.
He told his audience that if all the new standards he has unveiled makes their “hearts sink,” then they should resign.
As expected, Hegseth, who now goes by the title “secretary of war,” pressed hard, as part of the broader rebranding ordered by Trump, the importance of enforcing combat standards that keep troops lethal.
Trump followed Hegseth with his own speech, echoing Hegseth’s statements. He said as president, he would have their backs and that he is committed to making the military stronger, faster and fiercer “than ever before.”
The president went on a long-winded speech talking about several topics, including his claims that he has ended more foreign conflicts than previous presidents.
Trump also took shots at his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, and his handling of the United States troops’ from Afghanistan, calling it “was the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country.”
The president also took credit for the rise in military enlistments.
Last week, general and flag officers at the one-star level and above were told to fly to Quantico from their duty stations with just several days’ notice and no hint as to what the meeting might be about. The Pentagon declined to comment on the meeting, and speculation quickly spread that the meeting might have to do with urgent cuts to the military force or the national defense strategy, which would set new priorities for the second Trump administration and could change how troops train and equip themselves.
In the end, though, sources said the meeting appeared — at least as of now — to be more of a “rally the troops” speech similar to what Hegseth frequently gives in public venues and in Fox News interviews. But his remarks, which will be livestreamed to the public, will also provide a prime photo opportunity with Hegseth addressing hundreds of top military generals as their boss.
On Sunday, the program was given an unexpected jolt when the White House announced Trump would join Hegseth at Quantico. The White House has not said when or how the president learned of Hegseth’s meeting or why he wanted to participate. Aides also haven’t said what Trump’s remarks will focus on.
The Defense Department, which now coined by Trump and Hegseth as the “Department of War,” has not said how much it will cost to fly in so many people last minute, although it is widely expected to cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It’s also not clear exactly how many people were invited. Overall, there are 838 total general officers and admirals on active duty — 446 of them are from the higher two-star, three-star and four-star ranks — according to the Pentagon’s latest statistics from June.
The event comes as the government is careening toward a potential shutdown that could force some 2 million troops to work without pay if a spending bill doesn’t pass Congress by midnight Wednesday.
Most military personnel are on track to be paid Oct. 1, officials said Monday. But after that, troops would be at the mercy of negotiations on Capitol Hill, which remain at a stalemate.
According to a contingency plan posted by the Pentagon this weekend, all active-duty troops would be required to keep working. The plan says contracts can move forward, too, but under increased scrutiny with priority given to efforts to secure the U.S. southern border and build Trump’s U.S. missile shield known as “Golden Dome,” as well as operations in the Middle East and shipbuilding.
There had been speculation that the commanders traveling from around the world to hear Trump and Hegseth speak on Tuesday could get stuck away from their assigned work locations if the government shuts down that night. But according to government guidance, personnel must return home as soon as possible if a shutdown occurs while on work travel. Any travel costs incurred after the shutdown are reimbursable once spending resumes.
