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Johnson accuses Schumer of blocking ‘real discussion’ to keep government open

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EXCLUSIVE: Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is accusing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., of refusing to vote to end the government shutdown to kowtow to his left-wing base.
Johnson told Fox News Digital in a sit-down interview that Democrats’ refusal to budge on their current position came up in an hour-long call with President Donald Trump Wednesday afternoon.
«[Trump is] very bothered by that, that Chuck Schumer would do this, Democrats would do this, because we haven’t,» the top House Republican said.
He noted that Democrats had voted on a similar measure to what Republicans are offering on 13 different occasions under former President Joe Biden.
SOCIAL SECURITY, AIRPORTS, FOOD STAMPS: HOW ARE YOU AFFECTED DURING A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN?
House Speaker Mike Johnson, right, is criticizing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s, left, for refusing to agree to a GOP-led plan to avert a government shutdown. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
«And even when the Republicans were in the minority, we did the right thing to keep the government open. And we fully expected that Schumer would do that again, as he always has, but not this time,» Johnson said.
«This is a selfish political calculation he’s made, that he’s got to prove to the far left that he’s going to fight Trump or something. So, we talked about our frustration with that.»
He said Trump appeared «happy» that Republicans remain unified in their federal funding stance but was concerned about the effects of a prolonged shutdown on everyday Americans.
REPUBLICANS ERUPT OVER SHUTDOWN CHAOS, ACCUSE DEMS OF HOLDING GOVERNMENT ‘HOSTAGE’
«But the reason we’re happy about that is because we know we’re doing the right thing for the American people,» Johnson said. «And Chuck Schumer and the Democrats are demonstrating that they are willing to inflict this pain upon the people for their own political purposes. And I think that is a tough thing for them to get over.»
He said of a meeting between congressional leaders and Trump that occurred Monday: «I tried my best in the White House, and he just is in no mood to have a real discussion about these issues. So, we are where we are.»

President Donald Trump, right, salutes Air Force Col. Christopher M. Robinson, commander, 89th Airlift Wing, before boarding Marine One upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
Senate Democrats have now rejected a GOP-led plan to fund federal agencies through Nov. 21 three times.
The measure is called a continuing resolution (CR) and is aimed at buying House and Senate negotiators more time to reach a deal on fiscal year 2026 federal funding priorities.
The CR would keep current federal funding levels roughly flat while adding an extra $88 million in security spending for lawmakers, the White House and the judicial branch.
Democrats, furious at being largely sidelined in funding discussions, have signaled they would not accept any bill that does not also extend Obamacare tax subsidies that were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those enhanced subsidies are due to expire at the end of this year.
But Johnson, who called the Obamacare subsidies an «end-of-year issue,» argued that the bill was a simple extension of federal funding, leaving Republicans with no realistic path for concessions.

Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks with reporters near his office on Capitol Hill Sept. 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
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«If it was not clean and simple, if I had loaded it up with a bunch of Republican partisan priorities, then there would be something for us to negotiate. I could take those things off and offer it again. I sent it over with nothing attached at all,» he said.
«It quite literally is just buying us time to finish the appropriations process, which was being done in a bipartisan manner. So, I don’t have anything to give, there’s nothing I can give. And Chuck Schumer has made such outrageous counter-demands and proposals that he’s the one that has to come to his senses.»
He was referring to Democrats’ counter-proposal for a CR, which would have repealed the Medicaid reforms made in Republicans’ One Big, Beautiful Bill, while restoring funding for NPR and PBS that was cut by the Trump administration earlier this year.
Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer’s office for a response but did not hear back by press time.
house of representatives politics,politics,senate,government shutdown
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Democrats at a big disadvantage in shutdown as Trump starts slashing their programs

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The Democrats are taking a big gamble by going along with a government shutdown, one that they will probably lose.
The most important reason is that President Trump has a giant megaphone. Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer simply can’t compete in drawing media attention.
What’s more, while some Americans may blame both sides – can’t they act like adults and work out these budget fights? – the Republicans are blaming the «Democrat Party» for triggering the shutdown.
At yesterday’s White House briefing, itself a key advantage, JD Vance and Karoline Leavitt kept repeating, like a mantra, that the Democrats support «healthcare for illegal aliens.» That is bunk. They aren’t eligible. It’s already against the law, except in emergency situations. But Trump is pounding that message home through sheer repetition.
VANCE BLAMES SCHUMER’S FEAR OF AOC PRIMARY CHALLENGE AS SHUTDOWN CAUSE
Democratic leadership sits at a sizable disadvantage when it comes to government shutdown-related messaging. (J. Scott Applewhite, file/AP Photo)
A Washington Post editorial yesterday says «Democrats just marched into a shutdown trap … Progressives embraced the same disastrous mentality that led the House Freedom Caucus to believe it could come out ahead in previous government funding standoffs: They wrongly assumed their political leverage would withstand the ensuing fallout.»
A few minutes after the briefing, Hakeem Jeffries stepped before the microphones to declare that Republicans don’t want to provide healthcare «to working-class Americans.»
The minority leader said the administration is trying to «jam their extreme right-wing agenda down the throats of the American people … The Republican healthcare crisis is immoral.»
Frankly, it just didn’t sound as forceful or have the same impact.

Vice President JD Vance suggested Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is pivoting left for fear of a primary challenge by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (Alex Brandon, Pool/AP Photo)
Whatever the immediate toll of the shutdown – military people and hundreds of thousands of civilians not getting paid, food stamps on hold – Vance and Leavitt blamed it on Democratic intransigence. (Those laid off will get back pay once the shutdown ends.)
The vice president said Schumer is moving left because he’s terrified of a primary challenge by AOC. She says her only goal is to «stop this madness.»
The president has been more candid, telling reporters: «We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them. Like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like.» Now that’s transparency.
The Dems don’t hold the moral high ground when it comes to kick-the-can votes to delay a shutdown, having frequently used the tactic when they were in charge. While Vance says they’d be happy to talk about healthcare during a seven-week delay, the other party feels they would lose whatever leverage they have, and it would be politically humiliating.
The Democrats are making a more complicated argument about healthcare, and that’s a tougher sell for the many millions who don’t follow the news closely.
KFF, which is Kaiser, says those on Obamacare would get socked if tax credits are allowed to expire at year’s end. Average premiums next year would be $888, but without the tax credits, would jump to $1,593 – a 114 percent increase.
That would really cripple the Affordable Care Act and knock millions off the rolls.
SOCIAL SECURITY, AIRPORTS, FOOD STAMPS: HOW ARE YOU AFFECTED DURING A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN?
The Dems’ other objection is to deep cuts in Medicaid, despite Trump’s promise to protect the program. But that’s why we have elections. Having lost the House, Senate and White House, the party can’t expect the GOP to make sweeping changes to its preferred budget.
It just so happens – a coincidence, I’m sure – that the administration yesterday halted $18 billion in funding for two major transportation projects in New York City, expansion of the Second Avenue subway and new train tunnels under the Hudson River.
A shot at Schumer’s hometown? Vance says this is a question of «triage,» saving money on such projects to preserve essential services.
But it’s really a case of Trump going after Democratic priorities, as he said he would, since he preserved funding for one of his pet projects, the mission of returning to the moon, which seems less than vital at the moment.
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., appeared outraged by an AI image of him shared online by the president. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu/Getty Images)
What really got Jeffries mad after Monday’s unsuccessful White House meeting was a fake AI image posted by the president. It depicted him as having a handlebar mustache and wearing a huge sombrero, with mariachi music in the background.
Jeffries called the parody «racist» and demanded that the president «say it to my face.»
The bottom line, given the atmosphere of mutual distrust, is that this government closure could drag on for awhile. That would gradually boost the pain level, and the Democrats are already at a disadvantage.
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At this point the opposition party is trying to show the public that it can fight, and that, beyond the healthcare battle, may be its main message.
media buzz,donald trump,chuck schumer,congress,white house,government shutdown
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La misteriosa muerte del embajador de Sudáfrica en Francia al caer desde un piso 22: ¿Suicidio o asesinato?

Había sido denunciado por corrupción
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Interferencias en investigación
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Carlos Zanón: “El libro es un enfermo con una salud de hierro”

Es la cuarta vez que Carlos Zanón visita la Argentina pero esta, dice, la nota distinta. En el ambiente se respira otro aroma. La última vez —piensa— fue hace unos ocho o nueve años. “Sí, distinta. De todos modos es el día a día lo que tienes que evaluar. Se ve que la gente habla menos de política, por ejemplo. Eso es algo que me ha sorprendido. Hace diez años, cuando entrabas a un taxi o en un bar, todo el mundo hablaba de política. Ahora parece que la gente está bastante escaldada de hablar de política. Entonces hablamos de otras cosas, de la eliminación de River, y ya está”.
Este escritor nacido en Barcelona en 1966, autor de una veintena de libros —varios poemarios, también libros sobre música y un incipiente énfasis en la novela en los últimos años—, es uno de los grandes invitados del festival Semana Negra BA 2025. Hoy a las siete de la tarde va a estar junto a Claudia Piñeiro en una charla titulada “Charco noir: el género a un lado y otro del Atlántico”. Será en la Casa de la Cultura con la moderación de Hinde Pomeraniec. Y mañana, viernes, a la seis y media de la tarde conversará con Gabriela Saidon en el Centro Cultural de España en Buenos Aires.
“A la Argentina me unen los libros. Desde chaval ya leía autores argentinos”, dice del otro lado del teléfono, y recuerda a uno con mucho cariño: «Julio Cortázar para mí fue una fascinación». “He seguido leyendo las cosas que se hacían aquí. Tengo muchos amigos. Selva Almada, Claudia Piñeiro, Gaby Cabezón. La verdad es que tengo muchas referencias de lo que está pasando aquí“, dice quien hoy se ha vuelto una referencia en la novela negra. Su último libro, Love song (Salamandra, 2022), cuyos personajes viven con la máxima que “todo en la vida pasa una vez y media”, es una buena muestra.
El ingreso de Zanón al género negro fue “muy casual”: “No era consciente, porque en España el género negro es muy flexible, no es sólo el policial y las categorías no son tan marcadas como en otros países. A mí, como autor, el género puro y duro no me interesa. Me interesa más la tradición, que quizás viene de Patricia Highsmith, de una novela psicológica, una novela existencialista también. Me interesa más el por qué que el quién mató a quién: por qué suceden las cosas, qué harías tú en una situación determinada, qué pasa en las ciudades, de qué manera gestionamos las familias».
“Me interesa más explorar ambientes y personajes, también todo aquello que se mezcla con el fantástico, con lo histórico o simplemente con la novela costumbrista de toda la vida. Me interesa, sobre todo, una mirada negra”, dice Zanón y se pone su propio traje, el que más cómodo le queda, porque es el suyo, el que tiene “un cierto pesimismo, un cierto determinismo quizás”. “Mi mirada como escritor, mi visión de la sociedad, es más pesimista y determinista en el sentido de que el destino es el carácter. Lo que te va a pasar es como eres y de ahí no puedes escapar por mucho que lo intentes. Me interesa ese tipo de mirada en donde no hay salida. Es lo que yo llamo mirada negra”.
Antes de Love song y Taxi, antes de resucitar al emblemático detective de Manuel Vázquez Montalbán con Carvalho: problemas de identidad, incluso antes de Yo fui Johnny Thunders y de Tarde, mal y nunca, lo que había en Zanón era un poeta. “La poesía es la manera en que gestiono la literatura: trabajar las palabras y el contexto. Toda literatura, si es literatura, es música, y si es música, es poesía. Nos gusta cómo nos explican las cosas, más que lo que nos explican: las palabras que eligen, el tiempo, la musicalidad. La diferencia entre redactar y escribir es la música”.

En los sesenta y setenta, en la casa familiar de los Zanón no había libros desperdigados por las habitaciones ni una pila de títulos sosteniendo una maceta con un potus. Mucho menos una colorida biblioteca. Sus padres no eran grandes lectores, sin embargo le insistían con los beneficios de la lectura. A su padre le gustaba un libro, tal vez el único, Los tres mosqueteros de Alejandro Dumas, y se lo inoculó. “A mí tampoco, cuando era crío, me gustaba leer, pero sí me gustaba mucho Los tres mosqueteros. Lo leí muchísimas veces. Ese fue mi primer contacto con la literatura», agrega.
En el fondo del recuerdo aparece un tío, docente de primaria que murió en un accidente de tránsito. Cuando Carlos Zanón se fue a vivir con sus abuelos se encontró con su biblioteca. “Leer esos libros fue una manera de estar en contacto con él. Era una biblioteca absolutamente heterogénea, desde Cómo aprender kárate en treinta lecciones a una colección sobre las cien mejores obras de la historia. Recuerdo Lord Byron, Bécquer, Julio Verne, Emilio Salgari, los cuentos de Cortázar. Leía Madame Bovary a una edad que no entendía nada. Todo era como un misterio, un código secreto».
“Somos historias”, dice Zanón. “Nos explicamos todo como historias y creo que eso tiene que ver mucho con la ficción y con la función literaria. El hecho de abrir un libro, que es hecho individual, me parece que es algo imparable, algo siempre muy subversivo”. Ni las pantallas podrán, opina Zanón, porque “el libro es un enfermo con una salud de hierro”. “Leer no nos hace mejores, pero sí nos abre la cabeza y nos permite vivir otras vidas, porque con la que tenemos no nos es suficiente. Eso creo que es lo que dan los libros. A diferencia de otras plataformas, exige un esfuerzo, y es recompensado”, concluye.
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