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Republicans ‘Determined’ to Shut Down Government Warns Top Dem Amid GOP House Chaos

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In a strongly-worded warning House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is sounding the alarm eight days before the federal government is programmed to shut down unless Republican Speaker Mike Johnson can convince members of his caucus to agree on spending bills to keep the government operating. This week and in recent weeks, instead of focusing on passing bills that will keep the government open, House Republicans have been focused on bills attacking top Democrats.

The House is now in recess until Monday.

According to reporters and Democrats, if the goal is to avoid a shutdown, it’s not looking good. The federal government will shut down at 12:01 AM on Saturday, November 18, absent funding bills passed by the House and Senate and signed by President Joe Biden.

“The federal government is once again at risk of shutting down because extreme MAGA Republicans in the House are apparently determined to do just that, unless they manage to extract extreme ransom demands,” says Leader Jeffries, as Punchbowl News’ Max Cohen reports.

“THE HOUSE GOP LEADERSHIP,” Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman reports, with alarm emojis, “has abruptly pulled the financial services spending bill. They didn’t have the votes. Second spending bill this week that’s been pulled [because] of lack of GOP support.”

READ MORE: ‘Positively Stalinist’: Legal Expert Warns ‘If Trump Wins We Lose the Republic’

The Wall Street Journal’s Richard Rubin observes: “Oddity here is that House Republicans are unified on cutting the IRS budget and the IRS funding from the IRA [Inflation Reduction Act] but — for the moment and for reasons that may have nothing to do with the IRS — they can’t pass the spending bill that would cut the IRS budget.”

“So, to review [government] shuts down next week,” Sherman concludes. “You have a new speaker who hasn’t revealed a spending plan. And a house majority that’s yanked two spending bills this week.”

Despite being aware that it costs taxpayers billions of dollars when the federal government shuts down, House Republicans have spent their time recently not on working to gain consensus on spending bills to fund the government, but on legislation to attack Democrats.

Thursday morning, the only scheduled vote was on an amendment from New York Republican Congresswoman Claudia Tenney, to cut White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s salary to $1.

READ MORE: Fox News Host After GOP Losses: ‘What’s Most Important? Republicans Taking Over’

Rep. Tenney is a 2020 election denier who falsely claimed Americans “don’t know if it was stolen or not.” On the floor of the House earlier Thursday, she said Jean-Pierre “has repeatedly lied to the American people, and acted in a condescending manner toward reporters, and also violated the Hatch Act.”

Tenney’s attack on a top Democrat comes on the same day U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a bill to impeach U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. As C-SPAN’s Craig Caplan notes, the House has two legislative days to take up the resolution, despite the looming shutdown.

Jean-Pierre and Mayorkas are far from the only Democrats House Republicans have spent time targeting in recent days and weeks.

House Republicans on Wednesday voted on defunding the Office of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Also on Wednesday, House Republicans tried but failed “to slash all funding to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” Politico reported, and tried but failed to reduce to $1 “the salary of SEC Chair Gary Gensler.”

House Republicans on Tuesday successfully voted to reduce Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s salary to $1.

House Republicans last week unsuccessfully voted on reducing salaries to $1 “for top-level officials including Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, EPA Administrator Michael Regan and Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning,” Politico’s E&E News reported. Republicans tried but failed to pass amendments to reduce to $1 the salaries of two other EPA officials.

House Republicans in late September successfully voted to reduce Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s salary to $1.

READ MORE: ‘Positively Stalinist’: Legal Expert Warns ‘If Trump Wins We Lose the Republic’

Republicans this week also voted on defunding the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, reducing IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel’s salary to $1, and defunding two Offices of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility within the Biden administration, as NCRM reported earlier.

It’s been noted that much of this targeting is directed at minorities.

Vice President Harris is the first woman Vice President, the first African-American Vice President, and the first Asian-American Vice President.

Secretary Austin is the first Black Defense Secretary.

Jean-Pierre is the first Black LGBTQ Press Secretary.

Secretary Buttigieg is the first Senate-confirmed out gay Cabinet member.

Secretary Mayorkas is the first refugee and first Latin American Secretary of Homeland Security.

Just two days ago Speaker Johnson told reporters, “I think the American people are encouraged when they see the hard work that’s being done here.”

Watch the video above or at this link.

 

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Democrats Demand Noem Testify After Handcuffing of US Senator Padilla

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June 12, 2025

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Outraged and demanding accountability, House Democrats are calling on U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to testify before Congress after her protective detail tackled and handcuffed U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) during a press conference—despite video (below) showing Padilla clearly identifying himself by name, which the Department of Homeland Security now publicly denies.

Politico’s Nicholas Wu reported that California House Democrats are “standing together” on the Capitol steps “in protest” of Senator Padilla’s detention.

Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Wu reported, said: “we are going to demand is that Kristi Noem come before Congress and testify about what occurred today. Because if it can happen to Alex, it can happen to any of those senators.”

READ MORE: ‘Not Today Hegseth’: Dem Slams Defense Secretary as ‘Unfit to Lead’ in Fiery Exchange

U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said on the House steps that he didn’t expect Padilla to be the last lawmaker “accosted by federal law enforcement,” according to Courthouse News’ Benjamin S. Weiss.

“This is what aspiring dictators do,” Swalwell said, as he called on Secretary Noem to testify before Congress “as soon as possible.”

U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) called the takedown and detention of Senator Padilla “despicable.”

Senator Padilla “is the elected representative of 40 million Americans. This Administration is detaining citizens in broad daylight and terrifying our communities, all while refusing to answer questions. I will be calling on Secretary Noem to testify in the House Oversight Committee immediately to explain why she thinks this is acceptable.”

“We aren’t going to be intimidated,” the California Democratic delegation also said on the Capitol steps, NBC News’ Julie Tsirkin reported, adding that U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) called on Noem to “resign.”

Factual details about what transpired were reported by The Associated Press.

READ MORE: ‘Changes Are Coming!’: Trump Appears Stunned to Learn Farms Rely on Undocumented Workers

“Video shows a Secret Service agent on Noem’s security detail grabbing Padilla,” according to the AP, “by his jacket and shoving him from the room as he tried to interrupt Noem’s news conference in Los Angeles.”

“I’m Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” Senator Padilla shouted.

“The shocking scene of a U.S. senator being aggressively removed from a Cabinet secretary’s news conference prompted immediate outrage from his Democratic colleagues,” the AP also reported. “Images and video of the scuffle ricocheted through the halls of Congress, where stunned lawmakers demanded an immediate investigation and characterized the episode as another in a line of mounting threats to democracy by President Donald Trump’s administration.”

Politico also reported that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, ”every single person who was involved in manhandling Senator Padilla should be held accountable to the full extent of the law.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Mouthpiece for the Kremlin’: Rubio Scorched for ‘Russia Day’ Congratulations

 

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‘Not Today Hegseth’: Dem Slams Defense Secretary as ‘Unfit to Lead’ in Fiery Exchange

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6 hours ago

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June 12, 2025

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U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth faced sharp criticism during Thursday’s House Armed Services Committee hearing after he declined to clearly state that Pentagon service members and civilian employees are not required to be supporters of President Donald Trump.

“Do you think political allegiance to Trump is a requirement for serving our nation, either in uniform or a civilian in the Department?” asked U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA).

“I’m incredibly proud as are millions of Americans—” the Secretary began to say.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,” interjected Congressman Carbajal. “Not today, Hegseth.”

READ MORE: ‘Changes Are Coming!’: Trump Appears Stunned to Learn Farms Rely on Undocumented Workers

“Yes or no,” he demanded.

“Congressman,” the Secretary replied, “you know what a silly question that is.”

“But silly enough. A very straightforward answer, yes or no,” the California Democrat insisted.

“We all support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Hegseth declared.

“You know what? I’m not gonna waste my time anymore,” Carbajal announced. “You’re not worthy of my attention or my questions. You’re an embarrassment to this country, you’re unfit to lead, and there’s been bipartisan members of Congress that have called for your resignation.”

“You should just get the h— out and let somebody competently lead this department,” he continued.

Earlier, Congressman Carbajal chastised Hegseth for “refusing to take responsibility” for his actions.

READ MORE: ‘Mouthpiece for the Kremlin’: Rubio Scorched for ‘Russia Day’ Congratulations

“I didn’t think you were qualified before your confirmation, and you have done nothing to inspire confidence and your ability to lead competently,” Carbajal told Hegseth, who had been refusing to answer “yes” or “no” to several of his questions.

“You broke the law in sharing classified information,” he claimed, “and in doing so, endangered the lives of our service members that you are responsible for. Your inability to hold yourself accountable makes you incapable to lead, to lead,” he stressed. “This alone makes you unfit to be the Secretary of Defense.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘The Generals Stay Silent’: Experts Alarmed as Trump Politicizes Army at Fort Bragg Rally

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‘Changes Are Coming!’: Trump Appears Stunned to Learn Farms Rely on Undocumented Workers

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June 12, 2025

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President Donald Trump acknowledged on Thursday that his aggressive and controversial immigration policies are stripping undocumented immigrants from the farming and agriculture workforce. Now, he declares, “Changes are coming!”

Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, reportedly at the direction of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, have been specifically targeting farms to detain and deport undocumented workers.

“The border is no longer the focus,” Reason reported Wednesday. “Now, the administration seemingly believes that the [immigration] crisis extends to nail salons, hardware stores, farms, and restaurants across the country, where undocumented immigrants who are peacefully exchanging labor for dollars are being targeted.”

The Trump administration “is ramping up immigration raids across the country, and farm workers are no longer being spared. Almost half of the more than 850,000 crop workers in the US are undocumented, the Department of Agriculture estimates,” according to Bloomberg News.

READ MORE: ‘Mouthpiece for the Kremlin’: Rubio Scorched for ‘Russia Day’ Congratulations

One raid at an Omaha, Nebraska, meat plant reportedly netted 70 detentions this week, and now the facility is operating with just one-third of its staff, Bloomberg reported.

President Trump may be hearing some of the many stories.

In a cryptic message on Thursday, he wrote: “Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace. In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs. This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!”

He did not provide any details.

Critics mocked Trump.

“The president of the United States is seemingly unaware that his administration recently ordered ICE to round up and deport immigrants who haven’t committed crimes … like those who work in tourism and agriculture,” observed MSNBC columnist Michael A. Cohen, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic Studies.

“Breaking News,” snarked Spencer Hakimian, a hedge fund chief investment officer. “The guy that spent the first 70 years of his life in construction, hospitality, and entertainment, accidentally finds out that our entire labor force runs off of illegal immigration. Oops!”

READ MORE: ‘The Generals Stay Silent’: Experts Alarmed as Trump Politicizes Army at Fort Bragg Rally

“Turns out,” California Governor Gavin Newsom wrote, “chasing hard working people through ranches and farms and snatching women and children off the streets is not good policy.”

But The New Republic’s Greg Sargent took a wider view.

“Trump just admitted that his mass deportations are bad for farmers and the economy, and crucially, also admitted that workers who are getting deported are ‘almost impossible to replace.’ That’s a massive repudiation of MAGA ideology,” Sargent wrote.

“It’s an enormous admission, both that his deportation policies are terrible *and* that he knows they’re awful politics for him,” he added.

“Every prominent Democrat in the country should jump on this immediately,” Sargent urged. “Enough b——- cowering on this issue. Get on this! Trump just handed you a massive weapon. Use it!”

READ MORE: Pride Month Purge: Pentagon Chief Defends Renaming USNS Harvey Milk and Trans Ban

 

Image via Reuters

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