As the federal government shutdown enters its 38th day with no end in sight, the Speaker of the House and the House Democratic Minority Leader appear united — on one aspect only: blaming the Senate.

Amid reports that a few Senate Democrats might agree to vote to reopen the government if Republicans guarantee a date-certain vote on restoring the Affordable Care Act subsidies, Speaker Mike Johnson appeared to attempt to scuttle that potential bargain on Thursday.

Asked if he would assure that the House would vote on restoring the Obamacare subsidy funding, which would be the basis of a Senate deal, Johnson refused.

READ MORE: ‘Really Hurting’: U.S. Job Cuts Surge to Decades-Level High Amid Trump Recession Fears

“No, because we did our job, and I’m not part of the negotiation,” the Speaker told reporters on Thursday. “The House did its job on September 19th” when it passed a continuing resolution to fund the government through November 21. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has effectively declared that legislation is dead, unless he can change the end date.

“I’m not promising anybody anything,” Johnson continued. “I’m gonna let this process play out.”

Over on the Democratic side of the aisle, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted the Senate Majority Leader.

“Not a partisan thing, a patriotic thing: We have to decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis,” Jeffries declared.

“And John Thune is divorced from reality,” he charged.

“I mean, it’s a clown show over in the Senate,” Jeffries continued.

READ MORE: Democratic Rep. Interrupts Speaker Johnson — Accuses Him of ‘Lies’ 

“Fourteen, fifteen times, you bring the same partisan Republican spending bill?” he said, referring to the House-passed continuing resolution that Leader Thune has been putting before the Senate several times a week.

“Expecting a different result? That’s the classic definition of legislative insanity. Doing the same thing, over and over and over again,” he said while blasting Thune, saying he “has no ability to actually negotiate in good faith.”

Weeks ago, Jeffries told MSNBC, “what I’m saying is that we need an ironclad path forward that decisively addresses the Republican healthcare crisis.”

“In terms of the Affordable Care Act, you know, this is a group of people, Republicans, who have tried to repeal the Affordable Care more than 70 different times since 2010. They can’t be trusted on a wing and a prayer. We need a real path forward to address the crisis that Republicans have visited upon the American people in terms of healthcare, the cost of living, and affordability.”

Jeffries: “John Thune is divorced from reality. It’s a clown show over in the Senate. 14, 15 times you bring the same partisan Republican spending bill to the Senate floor expecting a different result? That’s the classic definition of legislative insanity. Has no ability to… pic.twitter.com/MqPUA1sIMJ

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 6, 2025

READ MORE: Trump to Talk About Cost of Living Next Year White House Says

Image via Reuters 

Employers have cut over one million jobs so far this year, with announced layoffs surging in October to levels not seen in decades. Some experts have been warning about a possible recession.

“U.S. employers have announced 1.1 million layoffs so far this year — the largest reading since the pandemic recession and on par with 2008 and 2009 job cuts during the Great Recession,” The Washington Post reported on Thursday, pointing to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which tracks workplace reductions.

Major corporations have cut or are reportedly planning to cut thousands of positions this year:

UPS: 48,000 employees
Amazon: Up to 30,000 employees
Intel: 24,000 employees
Microsoft: 15,000 employees
Target: 1,800 employees

READ MORE: Democratic Rep. Interrupts Speaker Johnson — Accuses Him of ‘Lies’ 

“Employers announced more than 153,000 job cuts last month, a 183 percent increase from the month before, marking the worst October for layoffs since 2003,” the Post reported, citing data from the Challenger report.

“The worst October in 22 years” is how CNN reported the news.

“We’re entering new territory with these layoffs in October,” Challenger CEO John Challenger told the Post. “We haven’t seen mega-layoffs of the size that are being discussed now — 48,000 from UPS, potentially 30,000 from Amazon — since 2020 and before that, since the recession of 2009. When you see companies making cuts of this size, it does signal a real shift in direction.”

Amid the job cuts, the “AI bubble,” President Donald Trump’s massive deportations and tariffs, record-high household debt, climbing automobile payment and consumer loan delinquencies, some believe a recession may be in America’s future.

“Employment has stalled, companies are announcing massive layoffs to appease Wall Street, and car repossessions just reached 2009 (recession) levels,” wrote economics professor and managing director of an economic consulting firm, Hal Singer, just last week. “The GDP numbers mask real suffering in the economy. And the only fiscal tool in the Trump policy kit are tax cuts for the wealthy. This could get ugly.”

Late last month Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi said 22 U.S. states are already in a recession, Moneywise reported.

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“While Zandi did emphasize that the U.S. is not in a recession just yet, he told MarketWatch that ‘we’re on the precipice,’ blaming much of the problem on President Trump’s tariffs and federal job cuts.”

“A growing number of states are struggling, some already in recession, others right on the edge,” Zandi wrote. “Together, they account for nearly a third of U.S. GDP. The national economy isn’t there yet, but it’s clearly losing steam.”

Pointing to a list of ten major corporations’ jobs cuts, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) last week  declared, “This is Donald Trump’s economy.”

CNN Thursday morning reported that a “brand new report is out … and it shows layoff announcements hit their highest level for October in over 20 years.”

“It’s painting a picture of a job market that is really hurting,” CNN’s Matt Egan noted.

CNN: “A brand new report is out showing layoff announcements hit their highest level for October in over 20 years. It’s painting a picture of a job market that is really hurting. US-based employers announced 150,074 job cuts in October, more than any October since 2003.” pic.twitter.com/m231B0a5wi

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 6, 2025

RELATED: Trump to Talk About Cost of Living Next Year White House Says

Image via Reuters

President Donald Trump, who did not appear interested in changing his messaging when he spoke to Republican senators Wednesday morning after a big night at the polls for Democrats, is now expected to respond to the message voters sent Tuesday night, next year.

The president, a White House advisor told Politico, will talk about the cost of living — one of the top issues he ran on last year — “as we turn … into the new year.”

One of the White House’s “main takeaways from last night’s miserable performance for the Republican Party,” Politico reported, “is that President Donald Trump isn’t focused enough on the issues that matter most to the voters the party needs.”

RELATED: ‘Kamikaze Pilots’: Trump Says Democrats Will ‘Take Down the Country’ After Big Wins

“People don’t think he’s lived up to his promises,” a White House ally told Politico. “You won on lowering costs, putting more money back into people’s pockets. And people don’t feel that right now.”

“The President hasn’t talked about the cost of living in months,” another person close to the White House told Politico. “People are still hurting financially and they want to know the White House is paying attention and trying to fix the problem as quickly as possible.”

White House deputy chief of staff James Blair, who served as Trump’s political director for the 2024 election, also weighed in.

“You’ll see the president talk a lot about cost of living as we turn … into the new year,” Blair told Politico. “The president is very keyed into what’s going on, and he recognizes, like anybody, that it takes time to do an economic turnaround, but all the fundamentals are there, and I think we’ll see him be very, very focused on prices and cost of life.”

READ MORE: ‘Sedated and Seduced’: Fox Host Erupts Over ‘Chameleon’ Mamdani and His One Million Voters

In a speech Wednesday afternoon at the America Business Forum in Miami, Trump told attendees, “After last night’s results the decision facing all Americans could not be more clear. We have a choice between communism and common sense. Does that make sense to you? Common sense. It’s common sense or communism. Look back 1,000 years. It hasn’t worked.”

“Our opponents are offering an economic nightmare, we are delivering an economic miracle,” Trump declared. “The biggest investment of funds in a country in history by many times.”

READ MORE: Democratic Rep. Interrupts Speaker Johnson — Accuses Him of ‘Lies’ 

Image via Reuters