16 views

Oct. 28, 2025, 1:28 PM EDTBy Melanie ZanonaWASHINGTON — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., ripped into the shutdown strategy of her fellow Republicans and White House staff during a heated conference call on Tuesday.Her chief complaint, which she has also aired publicly, is that Republicans are not doing anything to address the looming health care cliff. Some funding for insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act expires at the end of this year, and many Americans could see their monthly premium costs double or even triple.GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says health care is ‘No. 1 issue’ in her district02:51The issue has increased urgency because open enrollment begins on Saturday, Nov. 1, and there are concerns that people may drop their coverage for 2026 if they see a spike in prices.On Tuesday, Greene accused her party of letting the country down, according to a Republican source who was on the conference call. Greene later confirmed the comments herself on X, adding more detail, in the latest sign of a rift between her and her party.Greene has long been one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal backers, but in recent weeks, she’s bucked her party on a number of high-profile issues, including the administration’s strikes on Iran, the conflict in Gaza and its handling of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.Not long after Tuesday’s call ended, the Georgia Republican began posting on X and confirming reports that she had reamed out her party leadership and expressed frustration with the White House’s political team.”I said I have no respect for the House not being in session passing our bills and the President’s executive orders. And I demanded to know from Speaker Johnson what the Republican plan for healthcare is,” she wrote.Greene also argued that Republicans’ shutdown strategy has angered the American people and hurt Trump’s popularity, according to the source on the call.She advocated for the Senate to get rid of the filibuster and for the House to come back into the session, this person said, although she also simultaneously argued Republicans need to get outside of Washington to listen to the anger of real Americans. The House has not been in session since Sept. 19, with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., keeping members out of town to put pressure on Senate Democrats to end the shutdown.#embed-20251002-shutdown-milestones iframe {width: 1px;min-width: 100%} Johnson, who was leading the call, pushed back on Greene. He argued that Republicans are working day and night on a health care solution and that conversations on the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies are ongoing, according to the source on the call.Greene confirmed as much on X, but said she was unsatisfied with his answer.”Johnson said he’s got ideas and pages of policy ideas and committees of jurisdiction are working on it, but he refused to give one policy proposal to our GOP conference on our own conference call. Apparently I have to go into a SCIF to find out the Republican healthcare plan!!!” she wrote, referring to secure areas for reviewing classified material.We’d like to hear from you about how you’re experiencing the government shutdown, whether you’re a federal employee who can’t work right now, a person who relies on federal benefits like SNAP, or someone who is feeling the effects of other shuttered services in your everyday life. Please contact us at tips@nbcuni.com or reach out to us here.Johnson also pushed back on Greene’s call for the Senate to nuke the legislative filibuster, according to a second source on the call. Most legislation requires 60 votes to pass the Senate, but Greene and others have suggested doing away with that rule to allow Republicans to reopen the government themselves. Proponents of keeping the filibuster in place worry that nuking it could come back to bite Republicans the next time Democrats take control of the Senate.Johnson’s office declined to comment.Melanie ZanonaMelanie Zanona is a Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC News.

- Latest News - October 28, 2025

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene ripped into the shutdown strategy of her fellow Republicans and White House staff during a heated conference call on Tuesday.

Source link

TAGS:
18 views

Netanyahu orders 'powerful' strikes on Gaza

- Latest News - October 28, 2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered “powerful” strikes on Gaza after he said Hamas violated a ceasefire agreement by returning the partial remains of a hostage recovered by the IDF almost two.

TAGS:
17 views

Oct. 28, 2025, 2:28 PM EDTBy Rebecca Cohen, Jay Blackman and Tom CostelloAs the government shutdown drags on, federal employees who support the country’s airports, such as air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration workers, say they are still in the dark about when they will next be paid. On Tuesday, workers received their first zero-dollar paycheck, reflecting two weeks of unpaid work amid the ongoing government shutdown. During the nearly monthlong shutdown, these individuals, whose roles are deemed essential, have been required to show up for work without the promise of a paycheck at the end of a standard pay period. Their last payout was a partial paycheck that included funds for time worked in September before the shutdown that began Oct. 1. Also Tuesday, controllers took matters into their own hands, pushing back on the work the government is demanding of them by handing out leaflets that describe the impact of the shutdown on aviation workers and how people can contact their members of Congress to call for the shutdown to end. The actions were scheduled to take place at nearly 20 airports nationwide. “We are here to ensure that the flying public is safe every time they get on an airplane. We have to be 100% focused, 100% of the time,” Pete LeFevre, an air traffic controller out of Washington Dulles International Airport, said in an interview with NBC News. “And all we’re looking for is to be relieved of the financial uncertainty that comes with the government shutdown, and we’d like to be paid as soon as possible.”While these federal employees will eventually receive back pay when the government shutdown ends, thanks to a 2018 law, the uncertainty of when that will be has air traffic controllers taking up side gigs to stay afloat. Some of these workers are now driving for DoorDash or Uber after their grueling work schedules, prompting a few to call in sick due to the job’s stress and the extra hours off the clock. The air traffic control industry is understaffed, and current controllers had already been working six-day weeks, 10-hour shifts, before the shutdown. “They should never work a side job, that they should never get off a night shift and then go wait tables,” Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said at a news conference Tuesday at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at the Tuesday news conference that he has been encouraging controllers to go to work and “do really important work for our country,” while acknowledging the unease of working without assured pay. “They can’t make it without two paychecks,” Duffy said of controllers, adding later, “controllers and those other critical employees need our government to be open and they need to be paid.”He acknowledged that there have been “less problems” in the airspace this time around compared with prior shutdowns, due to his asking controllers to go to work. LeFevre added that the lack of pay adds another layer of stress to the already high-stress position. “It’s uncomfortable,” he said. “We do our best to leave all of our stress and worry at the door, but financial stress is challenging and it’s unique and it’s different, and it’s permeating.”The air traffic controller made clear that flying is still safe, and that his colleagues are working to ensure safety in the skies — something Duffy also called out during the news conference. Duffy has previously said that if there aren’t enough controllers to handle the workload on any given day, flights will be delayed and canceled to mitigate risk. Within the U.S., 2,109 flights had been delayed as of 1 p.m., according to flight tracking website FlightAware. At least 118 flights had been canceled. It was not immediately clear whether those delays and cancellations were a direct result of controllers calling out of work due to the shutdown. But the lack of immediate pay is also having a notable impact on real people in their lives outside the office. LaShanda Palmer, a TSA worker and the president of Local 333, which represents Philadelphia and Wilmington Airport TSA employees, said this is the “most trying” shutdown she’s been through in her 23 years in the industry.”We’re all one step away from being out on the street right about now,” Palmer told NBC News. “I have officers calling me honestly. They don’t have money for gas, they don’t have money to get child care, they don’t have food. It is extremely hard this go around. It’s hard to get help.” She said she’s in a similar situation, with a mortgage payment due Saturday that she isn’t sure how she’ll pay — her bank account is in the negative, and her bank keeps hitting her with overdraft fees. “The oath that I took, nothing has came down on our watch, and I don’t think people even consider that,” Palmer said. “We’re doing what we’re supposed to do, we should get our check.”Rebecca CohenRebecca Cohen is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.Jay BlackmanJay Blackman is an NBC News producer covering such areas as transportation, space, medical and consumer issues.Tom CostelloTom Costello is an NBC News correspondent based in Washington, D.C.  

- Latest News - October 28, 2025

As the government shutdown drags on, federal employees who support the country’s airports, such as air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration workers, say they are still in the dark.

TAGS: