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Oct. 6, 2025, 11:16 PM EDTBy Sahil KapurWASHINGTON — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., broke with her party Monday evening by calling for action on expiring Obamacare subsidies to avoid premium hikes, adding a prominent MAGA voice to the cause led by Democrats.In a long post on X, Greene, the far-right MAGA firebrand, made it clear she was not in Congress when the 2010 law passed.“Let’s just say as nicely as possible, I’m not a fan,” she wrote. “But I’m going to go against everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire this year my own adult children’s insurance premiums for 2026 are going to DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district.”“No I’m not towing the party line on this, or playing loyalty games. I’m a Republican and won’t vote for illegals to have any tax payer funded healthcare or benefits. I’m AMERICA ONLY!!!” Greene added.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 or someone who is feeling the effects of shuttered services in your everyday life. Please contact us at tips@nbcuni.com or reach out to us here.Extending expiring Obamacare funding is the top demand of Democrats during the government shutdown. The money expires at the end of this year.Dem. House Leader Jeffries Speaks Out on Shutdown, Health Care03:47Republicans are divided over the issue, with more than a dozen swing-district House members and some senators calling for an extension of the funds. But many conservatives in the party want the money to expire on schedule, and party leaders are noncommittal about whether they will extend it. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., have insisted the issue will not be discussed until Democrats cave in on their present stance and reopen the government first.Greene said GOP leaders have not addressed the issue with the conference.“I’m carving my own lane,” she wrote. “And I’m absolutely disgusted that health insurance premiums will DOUBLE if the tax credits expire this year. Also, I think health insurance and all insurance is a scam, just be clear! Not a single Republican in leadership talked to us about this or has given us a plan to help Americans deal with their health insurance premiums DOUBLING!!!”Her post caught the eyes of at least one Democrat in Congress.Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, the chair of the Progressive Caucus, wrote on X: “I don’t quote MTG often, but… ‘Not a single Republican in leadership… has given us a plan to help Americans deal with their health insurance premiums DOUBLING!!!’”Sahil KapurSahil Kapur is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.

- Latest News - October 7, 2025

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., broke with her party by calling for action on expiring Obamacare subsidies to avoid premium hikes, adding a prominent MAGA voice to the cause led.

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Oct. 7, 2025, 5:00 AM EDTBy Lawrence HurleyWASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday considers a free speech challenge to a Colorado law that bans conversion therapy aimed at young people questioning their sexual orientations or gender identities in a case likely to have national implications.The ruling could affect more than 20 states that have similar bans and raise new questions about other long-standing state health care regulations.The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority that often backs conservative free speech claims, will hear oral argument in a case brought by Kaley Chiles, a Christian therapist, who says the 2019 law violates her free speech rights under the Constitution’s First Amendment.Conversion therapy, favored by some religious conservatives, seeks to encourage gay or lesbian minors to identify as heterosexual and transgender children to identify as the gender identities assigned to them at birth. Colorado bans the practice for licensed therapists, not for religious entities or family members.At issue is whether such bans regulate conduct in the same way as regulations applying to health care providers, as the state argues, or speech, as Chiles contends. Chiles says she does only talk therapy.The Supreme Court has, in major cases, backed LGBTQ rights, legalizing same-sex marriage in 2015 and ruling five years later that a federal law barring employment discrimination applies to both gay and transgender people.But in another line of cases, the court has backed free speech and religious expression rights when they conflict with anti-discrimination laws aimed at protecting LGBTQ people.The court backed a religious rights challenge this year to a Maryland school district’s policy of featuring LGBTQ-themed books in elementary schools. It also handed a major loss to transgender rights advocates by ruling that states could ban gender transition care for minors.Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, said in court papers that a ruling against the state would imperil not just conversion therapy bans but also other health care treatments that experts say are unsafe or ineffective.”For centuries, states have regulated professional healthcare to protect patients from substandard treatment. Throughout that time, the First Amendment has never barred states’ ability to prohibit substandard care, regardless of whether it is carried out through words,” he wrote.Chiles, represented by the conservative Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom, countered in her court papers that therapy is “vital speech that helps young people better understand themselves.”The state is seeking to “control what those kids believe about themselves and who they can become,” the lawyers said.Chiles’ lawyers cite a 2018 Supreme Court ruling in which the conservative majority backed a free speech challenge to a California law that requires anti-abortion pregnancy centers to notify clients about where abortion services can be obtained.The court might not issue a definitive ruling on conversion therapy bans; it could focus more narrowly on whether lower courts that upheld the ban conducted the correct legal analysis.If the law infringes on speech, it must be given a closer look under the First Amendment, a form of review known as “strict scrutiny,” which the justices could ask lower courts to do instead of doing it themselves. Under that approach, judges consider whether a government action that infringes on free speech serves a compelling interest and was “narrowly tailored” to meet that goal.The Trump administration filed a brief urging the court to find that the law does burden speech while also saying a ruling in favor of Chiles would not upend state regulations in other areas.Lawrence HurleyLawrence Hurley is a senior Supreme Court reporter for NBC News.

- Latest News - October 7, 2025

The Supreme Court considers a free speech challenge to a Colorado law that bans conversion therapy aimed at young LGBTQ people.

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Kibbutz Be'eri 2 years on from Oct. 7

- Latest News - October 7, 2025

Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel was a community devastated by the Oct. 7 attacks in 2023, which prompted the beginning of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. NBC News’ Richard Engel reports.

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Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleOct. 6, 2025, 6:32 AM EDT / Updated Oct. 6, 2025, 4:37 PM EDTBy Alexander SmithIsrael and Hamas began indirect peace talks Monday, with hopes it could represent the best chance yet to end the two-year war and free the remaining hostages from Gaza.Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News television station reported that the talks began with a meeting between Arab mediators and the Hamas delegation. Mediators will then meet with the Israeli delegation, the station said.Egyptian and Qatari mediators will discuss the outcome of their meetings with both parties, before U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff joins the talks, it said.”I really think we’re going to have a deal. We have a really good chance of making a deal, and it will be a lasting deal,” President Donald Trump told reporters at a media gathering Monday. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing Monday that Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were holding talks with “their respective parties from all sides.””The president wants to see a ceasefire. He wants to see the hostages released, and the technical teams are discussing that as we speak to ensure that the environment is perfect to release those hostages,” Leavitt said. “They’re going over the lists of both the Israeli hostages and also the political prisoners who will be released. And those talks are underway, and the president is very much on the ball and is being apprised of this situation.”On the anniversary eve of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack, and subsequent military operation by Israel, representatives from all sides arrived in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss a 20-point peace plan tabled by Trump to halt the conflict.Hamas’ delegation is being led by senior official Khalil Al-Hayya, whom Israel tried to assassinate with a strike on Qatar last month. Al-Hayya, whom Israeli President Isaac Herzog described as a “murderous terrorist” in the wake of the Qatar strike, arrived in Egypt early Monday, Hamas said in a statement.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.Will Oliver / Bloomberg via Getty ImagesIsrael’s delegation will be led by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office Sunday. The two sides have agreed on parts of Trump’s proposal.Witkoff and Kushner traveled to Egypt to help hammer out the deal’s remaining sticking points, a senior White House official told NBC News on Saturday.Trump called the talks “very successful, and proceeding rapidly,” and said Monday’s meetings was just a case of technical teams clarifying “final details.” He wrote in a social media post that “the first phase should be completed this week.”Bishara Bahbah, a Palestinian American mediator, said in an interview that Hamas leaders were optimistic about the prospects of arriving at an agreement and feel specifically reassured by Trump’s recent comments. They believe Trump is the only person who can pressure Netanyahu into a deal, Bahbah added.Bahbah said he believes Hamas is unlikely to walk away from the talks without a deal, though “Hamas wants assurances that the war has truly ended and there will be no going back to the war and no Israeli violations” of the agreement, he said.On Monday, the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters, a group that coordinates efforts for those still held in Gaza, sent an “urgent letter” to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, “strongly urging” the body to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the American president this week “for his unprecedented contributions to global peace.”A senior Arab negotiator directly involved in the talks told NBC News on Monday, “A deal will happen if President Trump keeps pushing.”A child sits in the rubble Wednesday at an UNRWA school in Gaza heavily damaged by Israeli attacks.Hamza Z. H. Qraiqea / Anadolu via Getty ImagesSecretary of State Marco Rubio was cooler, telling NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday that finding a resolution would take “some time” and that “there’s some work that remains to be done.”It came as Israel said it deported 171 activists, including the campaigner Greta Thunberg, who sailed toward Gaza on an aid flotilla. The detainees, whose vessels were boarded by Israeli military personnel, were deported to Greece and Slovakia, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The first phase of the talks will deal with the release of the remaining 48 hostages, some 20 of whom are believed to still be alive, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.The plan also calls for the end of fighting and the withdrawal of Israeli forces. Hamas agreed to some of this proposal Friday, while sidestepping Trump’s call for it to disband and disarm.On Sunday, Hamas leader Mahmoud Mardawi denied as baseless reports in Arab media that the group had agreed to lay down its weapons.Israel says it agrees with the plan, buoying the yearslong, impassioned domestic campaign by families and supporters of the hostages to cease fighting so they can be brought home.Ohad Ben Ami, 56, was released in February, having been kidnapped from kibbutz Be’eri, in southern Israel, and held captive for 491 days. On Sunday, he showed NBC News the place where he was taken on Oct. 7.”When we were down there” in the deep Gaza tunnel where he was held, he said he was told “many times there was a deal in the air,” he said. “We were very happy and on a high, then they say, ‘no it’s collapsed’ and we were very depressed.”A protest organixed by the families of the Israeli hostages, outside Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem on Saturday.Ahmad Gharabli / AFP via Getty ImagesStill, Netanyahu faces pressure from his own government over negotiations. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on X that stopping attacks on Gaza would be a “grave mistake.”In Gaza, many Palestinians are desperate for an end to the bombardment that has killed more than 67,000 people, most of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Some 78% of buildings have either been damaged or destroyed.The prospect of an agreement has not stopped the Israeli attacks. Gaza’s Hamas-run Government Media Office said Sunday that Israel had carried out 131 airstrikes on Gaza over the past 48 hours, killing 94 Palestinians.Israel launched the offensive after Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack, in which some 1,200 were killed and another 250 kidnapped.Though freeing the hostages would be a “significant achievement and a fulfillment of a principal war objective,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned his troops to be ready.“The operation is not over; we must remain alert and ready for combat at all times,” he said in a statement Sunday. “If the political effort does not succeed, we will return to fight.”Alexander SmithAlexander Smith is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital based in London.Reuters, Yarden Segev, Marc Smith, Richard Engel, Matt Bradley, Tara Prindiville and The Associated Press contributed.

- Latest News - October 7, 2025

Israeli, Hamas and American delegations were due in Egypt to discuss a 20-point peace plan tabled by President Donald Trump to halt the conflict.

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Oct. 6, 2025, 5:00 AM EDT / Updated Oct. 6, 2025, 8:02 PM EDTBy Sahil Kapur, Julie Tsirkin and Frank Thorp VWASHINGTON — The U.S. government shutdown entered its sixth day Monday with no end in sight after the Senate yet again rejected competing bills proposed by Republicans and Democrats to reopen the government.The vote on the Democratic bill was 45-50, while the final tally on the GOP measure was 52-42, with neither reaching the 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster and advance for final passage.One hour before the vote, President Donald Trump left senators flummoxed after he claimed that there were negotiations taking place on health care. The central Democratic demand in the standoff is to extend expiring Obamacare funds.”We have a negotiation going on right now with the Democrats that could lead to very good things. And I’m talking about good things with regard to health care,” Trump told reporters.Asked specifically whether he’s speaking to Democratic leaders, Trump replied: “I don’t want to say that. But we are speaking with the Democrats. But some very good things could happen with respect to health care.”But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., quickly shot down Trump’s claim that negotiations are happening.“Trump’s claim isn’t true — but if he’s finally ready to work with Democrats, we’ll be at the table,” Schumer said in a statement. “For months, Democrats have been calling on Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans to come to the table and work with us to deliver lower costs and better health care for the American people.”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 or someone who is feeling the effects of shuttered services in your everyday life. Please contact us at tips@nbcuni.com or reach out to us here.Republicans similarly said they’re unaware of any bipartisan negotiations taking place on health care.”I’m not aware of any,” Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, the chair of the Finance Committee, which oversees health care, told NBC News. “I think Sen. Thune made it very clear: We’ll talk about it if we get out of the government shutdown.”Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said that it’s “good” if Trump is open to extending Obamacare money, but no such talks were happening yet.”But that’s still not going to happen until we actually get this government open,” Rounds said.Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has not committed to extending the Obamacare money, saying it’s a discussion he’s open to having — but only if Democrats relent and reopen the government.“Release the hostage. We’ll have that conversation,” Thune said on Fox News. “That is a program, by the way, that is desperately in need of reform. You cannot just extend it, flat extend it. It is too flawed.”Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said the president’s comments show that “Donald Trump is feeling the heat.”“People across this country do not want to see their insurance premiums double or even triple,” she said.Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said he was “delighted” to hear Trump’s comments, “and I hope that can lead to some fruitful discussion.” And Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the lead author of the bill to extend Obamacare funding, said she hasn’t spoken to the president.Again, King was one of just three Democratic caucus members who voted for the GOP bill, along with Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.Trump is declining to take a clear position on whether to extend Obamacare subsidies, the main Democratic demand and a central sticking point in the standoff. The subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year, which would result in major health insurance premium increases for people on the Affordable Care Act.“We want to fix it so it works,” Trump said Sunday when NBC News asked him whether he’s open to extending the funding. “It’s not working. Obamacare has been a disaster for the people, so we want to have it fixed so it works.”House members were supposed to return to Washington this week, but Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., canceled votes for the entire week, saying the chamber had already done its job and passed a funding bill back on Sept. 19.Democratic House Leader Jeffries speaks out on shutdown, health care03:47Some members of both parties, however, say that’s an attempt by Johnson to avoid a vote to require the Justice Department to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. A bipartisan House duo is expected to have the signatures they need to force a vote on the Epstein issue when the House returns to Washington and Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., is sworn in.Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said on X: “Why are we in recess? Because the day we go back into session, I have 218 votes for the discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files. @SpeakerJohnson doesn’t want that to be the news.”Johnson denied that’s the reason.“This has nothing to do with that,” he said Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “It’s another red herring. The reason the government is closed is because Chuck Schumer and 43 of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate have decided now to vote multiple times to keep the government closed.”In the battle of public opinion, the White House and the GOP are taking more of the blame for the shutdown than Democrats. A new CBS News poll shows that trend continuing, with 39% saying they mostly blame Trump and Republicans, while 30% blame Democrats in Congress and 31% blame both equally.Asked Monday on NBC’s “TODAY” show to react to Trump’s comments on ACA funding over the weekend, Jeffries was unimpressed.“He also mentioned that in the White House meeting that we had last Monday,” Jeffries said. “Unfortunately, the White House and Republican leaders have gone radio silent ever since then.”Sahil KapurSahil Kapur is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.Julie TsirkinJulie Tsirkin is a correspondent covering Capitol Hill.Frank Thorp VFrank Thorp V is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the Senate.

- Latest News - October 7, 2025

The U.S. government shutdown entered its sixth day on Monday with no end in sight, as Democrats and President Donald Trump and the Republican Party continue to blame each other.

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