Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams

Two Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Monday added their names to a discharge petition that will now force a vote on legislation to restore the collective bargaining rights of hundreds of thousands of federal workers targeted by GOP President Donald Trump.

US Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) responded to Trump’s legally contentious executive order by introducing the Protect America’s Workforce Act in April. They began collecting petition signatures in June. At least 218 members had to sign it to override House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and force a vote on the bill.

Two New York Republicans, Reps. Nick LaLota and Mike Lawler, signed the petition on Monday. It was previously signed by the sponsors, House Democrats, and GOP Reps. Rob Bresnahan (Pa.) and Don Bacon (Neb.). Their move came on the heels of an end to the longest government shutdown in US history, which left some federal workers furloughed and others working without pay.

“Every American deserves the right to have a voice in the workplace, including those who serve their country every single day. Supporting workers and ensuring good government are not opposing ideas,” Lawler said in a statement. “They go hand in hand. Restoring collective bargaining rights strengthens our federal workforce and helps deliver more effective, accountable service to the American people.”

“Speaker Johnson has run out of excuses to delay a vote on this legislation to restore federal workers’ rights.”

Golden, a former Blue Dog Coalition co-chair who recently announced his plans to retire from Congress after this term, thanked the newest signatories for joining the fight for his bill.

“America never voted to eliminate workers’ union rights, and the strong bipartisan support for my bill shows that Congress will not stand idly by while President Trump nullifies federal workers’ collective bargaining agreements and rolls back generations of labor law,” Golden said. “I’m grateful to Reps. LaLota and Lawler for bringing this discharge petition over the finish line, and I’m calling on Speaker Mike Johnson to schedule a clean, up-or-down vote on this bill.”

Liz Shuler, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the country’s largest federation of unions, similarly welcomed the latest signatures and set her sights on the House speaker.

“The labor movement fought back against the largest act of union-busting in American history by doing what we do best: organizing,” Shuler said in a Monday statement. “Working people built a bipartisan coalition to restore union rights to federal workers in the face of unprecedented attacks on our freedoms. We commend every Democrat and Republican who signed the discharge petition to bring the Protect America’s Workforce Act to a vote, but the fight isn’t over.”

“Speaker Johnson has run out of excuses to delay a vote on this legislation to restore federal workers’ rights,” she continued. “It’s time to bring the Protect America’s Workforce Act to a vote and restore federal workers’ right to collectively bargain and have a voice on the job.”

Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)—which is the largest federal workers union, representing 820,000 people in the federal and District of Columbia governments—also applauded the development on Monday.

“An independent, apolitical civil service is one of the bedrocks of American democracy,” Kelley said in a statement. “Today, lawmakers stood up together to defend that principle and to affirm that federal workers must retain their right to collective bargaining. This is what leadership looks like.”

“Federal workers do their jobs every day without regard to politics. Today’s action honors that commitment,” Kelley asserted.

“AFGE will continue fighting until these essential rights are fully restored, including by fighting to retain Section 1110 of the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act,” he vowed, referring to an amendment to the NDAA that restores bargaining rights to hundreds of thousands of civilians working in the US Department of Defense.

While discharge petitions are rarely successful, this one secured the necessary 218 signatures following a similar victory last week, when the newest member of Congress, Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), signed her name to an effort to force a vote on releasing files related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Although President Donald Trump didn’t actually confess that his global trade war is driving up the cost of groceries for Americans, he did finally drop his dubiously named “reciprocal” tariffs on key imports on Friday.

According to a White House fact sheet, Trump’s new executive order ends his tariffs on beef; cocoa and spices; coffee and tea; bananas, oranges, and tomatoes; other tropical fruits and fruit juices; and fertilizers.

The New York Times had reported Thursday that “the Trump administration is preparing broad exemptions to certain tariffs in an effort to ease elevated food prices that have provoked anxiety for American consumers.”

The reporting drew critiques of the administration’s economic policies, including from members of Congress such as Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who said that “Trump just admitted it: Americans are footing the bill for his disastrous tariffs.”

“While this move may alleviate some of the cost increases Trump caused, it will not stop the larger problems of rising inflation, business uncertainty, and economic damage done by Trump’s crazy tariff scheme.”

Also responding to the Times reporting, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote on social media Friday: “After months of increasing grocery prices, Donald Trump is finally admitting he was wrong. Americans are literally paying the price for Trump’s mistakes.”

More lawmakers and other critics piled on after Trump issued the order. CNN‘s Jim Sciutto said: “Trump administration now acknowledging what economists and business leaders have told us from the beginning: that tariffs are driving up prices.”

MeidasTouch and its editor in chief, Ron Filipkowski, also called out the president on social media, with the outlet sarcastically noting, “But Trump said his tariffs don’t raise prices.”

Congressman Don Beyer (D-Va), who serves on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, said in a Friday statement that “President Trump is finally admitting what we always knew: His tariffs are raising prices for the American people.”

“After getting drubbed in recent elections because of voters’ fury that Trump has broken his promises to fix inflation, the White House is trying to cast this tariff retreat as a ‘pivot to affordability,'” Beyer said, referencing Democrats who won key races last week, from more moderate Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, the incoming governors of New Jersey and Virginia, to democratic socialist Mayors-elect Zohran Mamdani of New York City and Katie Wilson of Seattle.

In addition to those electoral victories for Democrats, last week featured a debate over Trump’s trade war at the US Supreme Court. According to Beyer: “The simple truth is that Republicans want credit for something they think the Supreme Court will force them to do anyway, after oral arguments before the court on Trump’s illegal abuses of trade authorities went badly for the administration. Trump is still keeping the vast majority of his tariffs in place, and his administration is also planning new tariffs in anticipation of a Supreme Court loss.”

“The same logic—that Trump’s tariffs are driving up prices on coffee, fruit, and other comestibles—is equally true for the thousands of other goods on which his tariffs remain,” he continued. “While this move may alleviate some of the cost increases Trump caused, it will not stop the larger problems of rising inflation, business uncertainty, and economic damage done by Trump’s crazy tariff scheme.”

“Only Congress can do that, by reclaiming its legal responsibility under the Constitution to regulate trade, and permanently ending Trump’s trade war chaos,” he stressed. “All but a handful of Republicans in Congress are still refusing to stand up to Trump, stop his tariffs, and lower costs for the American people, and unless they find a backbone, our economy will continue to suffer.”

As the Associated Press noted Friday, “The president signed the executive order after announcing that the U.S. had reached framework agreements with Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Argentina designed to ease import levies on agricultural products produced in those countries.”

Trump’s order also came just a day after Democrats on the congressional Joint Economic Committee released a report showing that US families are paying roughly $700 more each month for basic items since Trump returned to office in January—with households in some states, such as Alaska and California, facing an average of over $1,000 monthly.

The president has floated sending Americans a $2,000 check, purportedly funded by revenue collected from his tariffs, but as Common Dreams reported Wednesday, economist Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research crunched the numbers and found that the proposed “dividend” doesn’t add up.

As the US House of Representatives prepared for a vote to reopen the federal government, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday called out members of her own Democratic Party in the Senate, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who capitulated to Republicans in the shutdown fight, for which they received “nothing” in return.

Shortly before the government shut down over Republicans’ refusal to address a looming healthcare crisis, Axios reported that the New York congresswoman was preparing to run for president or Senate in 2028. In the lead-up to Wednesday’s vote, she was asked at least twice on camera about how Schumer, also a New Yorker, handled the shutdown.

“I think it’s important that we understand that this is not just about Sen. Schumer, but that this is about the Democratic Party,” she told CNN‘s Manu Raju. “Sen. Schumer—there’s no one vote that ended this shutdown. We are talking about a coordinated effort of eight senators, with the knowledge of Leader Schumer, voting to break with the entire Democratic Party in exchange for nothing.”

Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, along with Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats, joined Republicans for both the procedural and final votes.

Unlike the upper chamber, Republicans have enough members in the House to advance legislation without Democratic support. The GOP’s continuing resolution neither reverses Medicaid cuts from the budget package that President Donald Trump signed in July nor extends expiring tax credits for people who buy health insurance on the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

“And now people’s healthcare costs are going to be skyrocketing, and we want to make sure that we have a path to ending this moment, and finding relief for them right now,” Ocasio-Cortez told CNN. “But I think that when we talk about this debate about the Democratic Party, that it is indeed about the party writ large, and our ability to fight or not.”

While no senators in the caucus have demanded that Schumer step aside yet, The Hill on Wednesday compiled comments from the growing list of House Democrats who have called for new leadership: Reps. Glenn Ivey (Md.), Ro Khanna (Calif.), Mike Levin (Calif.), Seth Moulton (Mass.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Mark Pocan (Wis.), Delia Ramirez (Ill.), Shri Thanedar (Mich.), and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.).

In a video circulated by C-SPAN on Wednesday, a reporter directly asked Ocasio-Cortez whether Schumer should stay in his leadership role. The progressive congresswoman’s response was similar to her remarks to CNN.

“I think what is so important for folks to understand is that this problem is bigger than one person, and it actually is bigger than the minority leader in the Senate,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “You had eight Senate Democrats who coordinated... their own votes on this.”

She also noted that two are retiring—Durbin and Shaheen—and the rest aren’t up for reelection next year, thanks to the Senate’s revolving cycles. Cortez Masto, Hassan, and Fetterman have until 2028, while Kaine, King, and Rosen have until 2030. She suggested that those who run for another term are hoping that “people are going to forget this moment.”

“I think what’s important is that we understand that... a leader is a reflection of the party. And Senate Democrats have selected their leadership to represent them,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And so, the question needs to be bigger than just one person. We have several Senate primaries this cycle.”

“I know I’m being asked about New York. That is years from now. I have to remind my own constituents,” she continued, directing attention to the 2026 races. “We actually do have Senate elections this year, and my hope is that people across this country actually participate in their primary elections in selecting their leadership.”

Elon Musk is the world’s richest person, with an estimated net worth of nearly $500 billion, but the Tesla CEO could become the world’s first trillionaire, thanks to a controversial pay package approved Thursday by the electric vehicle company’s shareholders.

Ahead of the vote, a coalition of labor unions and progressive advocacy groups launched the “Take Back Tesla” campaign, urging shareholders to reject the package for its CEO, who spent much of this year spearheading President Donald Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which prompted nationwide protests targeting the company.

Musk’s nearly $1 trillion package would be the biggest corporate compensation plan in history if he gets the full amount by boosting share value “eightfold over the next decade” and staying at Tesla for at least that long. It was approved at the company’s annual meeting after the billionaire’s previous payout, worth $56 billion, was invalidated by a judge.

The approval vote sparked another wave of intense criticism from progressive groups and politicians who opposed it—including on Musk’s own social media platform, X.

“Musk, who spent $270 million to get Trump elected, is now in line to become a trillionaire,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote on X. “Meanwhile, 60% of our people are living paycheck to paycheck. Americans understand we’re living in a rigged economy. Together, we can and must change that.”

The vote came during the longest-ever federal government shutdown, which has sparked court battles over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. A judge on Thursday ordered the full funding of 42 million low-income Americans’ November SNAP benefits, but it is not yet clear whether the Trump administration will comply.

The Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate group, noted the uncertainty over federal food aid in response to the Tesla vote, saying: “Meanwhile, millions of kids are losing SNAP benefits and healthcare because of Musk’s allies in DC. In a country rich enough to have trillionaires, there’s no excuse for letting kids go hungry.”

Robert Reich, a former labor secretary who’s now a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said: “Remember: Wealth cannot be separated from power. We’ve seen how the extreme concentration of wealth is distorting our politics, rigging our markets, and granting unprecedented power to a handful of billionaires. Be warned.”

In remarks to the Washington Post, another professor warned that other companies could soon follow suit. Rohan Williamson, professor of finance at Georgetown University, said Musk’s argument for commanding such a vast paycheck is largely unique to Tesla—though similar deals may become more prevalent in an age of founder-led startups.

“No matter how you slice it, it’s a lot,” Williamson said. But the deal seeks to emphasize Musk’s central—even singular—role in the company’s rise, and its fate going forward.

“I drove this to where it is and without me it’s going to fail,” Williamson said, summarizing Musk’s argument.“No CEO is ‘worth’ $1 trillion. Full stop,” the advocacy group Patriotic Millionaires argued Wednesday, ahead of the vote. “We need legislative solutions like the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act, which would raise taxes on corporations that pay their executives more than 50 times the wages of their workers.”

As Americans face tariff-related price hikes, surging health insurance premiums, and fallout from the government shutdown, from missed paychecks to no food assistance, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced its second interest rate cut of the year.

“Job gains have slowed this year, and the unemployment rate has edged up but remained low through August,” the US central bank said in a statement about the Federal Open Market Committee cutting the benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 3.75-4%, its lowest level in three years. “Inflation has moved up since earlier in the year and remains somewhat elevated.”

When the Fed slashed the federal funds rate last month, economist Alex Jacquez warned that it would “do little to address” the “economic turmoil” created by President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, the former Obama administration official, who is now chief of policy and advocacy at the think tank Groundwork Collaborative, again took aim at the US leader.

“The Fed’s decision only confirms what Americans already know—the economy is slowing, job growth has stalled, prices keep climbing, and consumers are pulling back because they’re out of options,” Jacquez said in a statement. “Trump’s reckless economic agenda is pushing our economy to the brink, and working families are paying the price.”

US House Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) similarly said in a Wednesday statement that “today’s rate cut is yet another warning sign about the sorry state of Donald Trump’s economy.”

“Nearly half of all states are now in or near recession, inflation is climbing, and the labor market is losing strength,” Boyle noted. “This is all a direct result of Trump’s reckless tariff taxes and his chaotic economic agenda.”

“At the same time, working families are facing the largest spike in health insurance premiums in our nation’s history,” he stressed. “I’ll keep fighting to lower costs, protect affordable healthcare, and make sure every American has access to a good-paying job.”

Rohit Chopra, who directed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during the Biden administration, before Trump gutted the agency, was also critical of the Republican president on Wednesday.

“While he is not in the room to vote on Fed interest rates, President Trump’s shadow looms large over the Federal Reserve and many members seem eager to please him,” Chopra said. “While Gov. Lisa Cook is fighting back, markets seem to understand that the Fed’s decision-making will be heavily shaped by the whims of the White House.”

Trump is trying to oust Cook from the Fed’s Board of Governors, which her lawyers call “unprecedented and illegal.” The US Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in her case in January; in the meantime, earlier this month, the justices allowed her to remain in her post.

Outrage over Spotify running advertisements for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ramped up on Tuesday, with the progressive advocacy group Indivisible urging users to cancel their subscriptions until the ICE ads are removed, engage in peaceful protests outside the streaming giant’s offices and events, and call on artists to boycott the platform.

Aiming to deliver on President Donald Trump’s campaign promise of mass deportations, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this summer launched an ICE recruitment campaign, with incentives including a $50,000 signing bonus, student loan repayment and forgiveness options, enhanced retirement benefits, and more.

With 276 million subscribers and 696 million monthly active users last quarter, Spotify is the world’s largest streaming service. Earlier this month, a Spotify spokesperson told The Independent that the ads encouraging listeners to “join the mission to protect America” and “fulfill your mission” by applying to become an ICE agent do not violate the company’s advertising policies.

The spokesperson added that the ads are “part of a broad campaign the US government is running across television, streaming, and online channels.”

The British outlet noted that “they mirror similar advertising that has been seen on cable television, X, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Meta,” and subscribers to ESPN, HBO Max, Hulu, and Pandora have also complained of encountering ICE ads.

As Trump’s anti-migrant rampage continued in Chicago and other cities across the country on Tuesday, Indivisible sent out an email with the subject line: “Don’t stream fascism. Cancel Spotify.”

“Spotify is running ads recruiting agents for ICE,” the email says. “Let that sink in. A platform built to connect creators and listeners is helping an authoritarian regime build up its secret police force. They’re choosing complicity over the artists, podcasters, and fans who make Spotify what it is—and when users and musicians called them out, Spotify’s first act was doubling down.”

“But we’re not going to idly accept that. We’re going to make them listen,” the email continues, pointing to the boycott of Disney in September, after the Trump administration’s bullying briefly got Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show yanked off of ABC.

Indivisible also published a video tutorial for canceling a Spotify premium account and a webpage with its demands for the company’s founder and chief executive, Daniel Ek, as well as incoming co-CEOs Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström:

• Immediately terminate all ICE and DHS advertising contracts with Spotify;
• Spotify must update its advertising policy to prohibit government propaganda and hate-based recruitment campaigns; and
• Spotify must commit to defending civil rights and standing up for communities under threat from authoritarian actions.

As for Spotify users who cancel their accounts and peaceful protesters, Indivisible is calling on them to promote their actions on social media with the hashtags #CancelSpotify, #DontStreamFascism, and #StopICEAds.

The largest Muslim civil rights organization in the United States is calling for the release of British journalist and political commentator Sami Hamdi, who was detained by immigration officials at San Francisco International Airport on Sunday while on a US speaking tour.

“Abducting a prominent British Muslim journalist and political commentator on a speaking tour in the United States because he dared to criticize the Israeli government’s genocide is a blatant affront to free speech,” said the Washington, DC-based Council on American-Islamic Relations in a statement. Hamdi was in California to speak at CAIR’s annual gala on Saturday. On Sunday, he was heading to Florida to speak at another of the group’s events.

US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin confirmed on social media Sunday that “thanks to the work of” DHS chief Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, “and the men and women of law enforcement,” Hamdi’s visa was revoked and he is in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody pending removal.

Under President Donald Trump, McLaughlin said, “those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country. It’s common sense.”

McLaughlin also linked to a social media post from Amy “Mek” Mekelburg, the founder and editor-in-chief of Rise Align Ignite Reclaim (RAIR), which CAIR identifies as “a hate organization and website that regularly publishes anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim conspiracy theories.” Both Mekelburg and far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer publicly celebrated ICE’s detention of Hamdi.

Meanwhile, CAIR said that “our attorneys and partners are working to address this injustice. We call on ICE to immediately account for and release Mr. Hamdi, whose only ’crime’ is criticizing a foreign government that committed genocide.”

“Our nation must stop abducting critics of the Israeli government at the behest of unhinged Israel First bigots,” the group added. “This is an Israel First policy, not an America First policy, and it must end.”

Throughout Trump’s second term, his administration has provided the Israeli government with diplomatic and weapons support—like his Democratic predecessor—while targeting foreign scholars critical of Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip for deportation. The administration has also engaged in a broader crackdown on dissent.

Blasting Hamdi’s detention and potential deportation, Yasir Qadhi, a Pakistani American Muslim scholar and dean of the Islamic Seminary of America in Texas, said on social media Sunday: “Our government is doing this on behalf of and as Israel’s proxy, because he is a vocal critic of that genocidal regime. Our country is heading towards a fascist dictatorship in which any speech that goes against the official narrative is going to be criminalized.”

“This is happening within the context of the most hate-filled, blatant, anti-Muslim bigotry we’ve seen in our lifetimes,” he continued, pointing to the New York City mayoral race. “Disagree with Sami’s message all you want, but do so with facts and evidence, not by banning and deporting. Unless they come back to their senses, these same people who are being whipped up into such hysteria will happily and willingly become the very embodiments of evil that they claim to fight, and that inhumane evil will be directed against multiple minorities, not just Muslims.”

Hamdi is “the managing director of the International Interest, a global risk and intelligence company,” according to his LinkedIn profile. He advises governments on the geopolitical dynamics of Europe and the Middle East and North Africa region, and “has significant expertise in advising companies on commercial issues related to volatile political environments.”

Hamdi has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the prestigious SOAS University of London, and has provided commentary on Al Jazeera, BBC, TRT World, and other outlets. In response to Hamdi’s detention, Drop Site News shared his recent interview on Sky News about the ceasefire in Gaza after two years of US-backed Israel’s genocidal assault.

This past summer, Hamdi took a speaking tour in South Africa, where he spoke with The Voice of the Cape, the country’s first Muslim radio station. In an interview, he credited his father, Mohamed Hechmi Hamdi, for his political awareness.

“My father was very active in politics; he was the head of the student movement in Tunisia, head of the Islamist Tunisian Student Movement, sentenced at 20 years of age, imprisoned at 19, imprisoned at 20, had to flee Tunisia, went to Algeria and then Sudan, and then ended up in London,” Hamdi explained. “He then became a prominent voice in trying to push back against dictatorial regimes in Tunisia, and I grew up under that sort of umbrella, even if it was not something I wanted to embrace, as I wanted to be a footballer.”

“One day my father, when I was 17 or 18, put a book in my hand titled Road to Mecca by Mohammad Asad,” Hamdi continued. “The book is about an Austrian Jew who travels across the Middle East, becomes Muslim, and ends up contributing to many of the seismic events that take place in the region. He becomes an adviser in Saudi Arabia, goes and meets Omar al-Mukhtar in Libya, goes to India, meets Muhammad Iqbal, and ends up helping to write the Pakistan Constitution. I remember reading that book and saying, ‘Allah, I want to have a life like this guy.’”

Twenty-four days into the second-longest government shutdown in US history, yet another poll revealed a rising majority of voters across the political spectrum are concerned about skyrocketing health insurance premiums.

Data for Progress and Groundwork Collaborative surveyed 1,215 likely voters nationwide on Wednesday and Thursday. Results released Friday show that 75% of likely voters—including 83% of Democrats, 72% of Independents, and 69% of Republicans—are concerned about premiums soaring. That is an increase from 72% of respondents who expressed concern last week.

The new survey also shows that 56% of voters—including 85% of Democrats, 65% of Independents, and 23% of Republicans—don’t believe GOP President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are focused on “lower healthcare costs” for people like them and their families.

The pollsters further found that a plurality of voters continue to blame the president and GOP lawmakers the most for the shutdown, in line with Data for Progress and Groundwork Collaborative’s findings from last week.

The new findings track with not only the groups’ previous poll but also a survey released earlier this week by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research—which found that 6 in 10 Americans are “extremely” or “very” worried about their healthcare costs going up over the next year.

“While the president’s main priority may be his brand new ballroom, American voters have made their priority loud and clear: Averting the healthcare premium cliff that will more than double their insurance premiums,” said Elizabeth Pancotti, managing director of policy and advocacy at Groundwork, in a Friday statement.

Trump headed to Asia late Friday after facing rising criticism in the US this week for the ongoing shutdown and tearing down the East Wing of the White House to build a massive ballroom funded by weapons makers, tech giants, private equity firms, and other corporate donors.

Meanwhile, the GOP confirmed Friday that the US House of Representatives won’t return to Washington, DC, next week. The chamber’s Republicans passed a funding bill before the shutdown, but they couldn’t get it through the Senate, where some Democratic support is needed. Democrats want to undo Republican Medicaid cuts and extend expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) credits, but the GOP majority refuses.

The open enrollment period for ACA plans begins November 1. The Washington Post reported Friday that “premiums for the most popular types of plans sold on the federal health insurance marketplace Healthcare.gov will spike on average by 30% next year, according to final rates approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.”

Absent action sought by congressional Democrats, at least tens of millions could face significant premium jumps—on top of the estimated 10 million people who could lose their Medicaid coverage. Pancotti said that “instead of acting to prevent healthcare price hikes for the American people, President Trump and Republicans in Congress are playing games with people’s lives.”

Just over nine months after President Donald Trump returned to office and pardoned his supporters who stormed the US Capitol, one of the Republican’s top aides suggested that federal law enforcement may arrest Democrats standing up to the White House’s anti-migrant agenda, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.

Asked about the administration’s willingness and federal authority to arrest the Illinois leader on Fox News Friday, Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser, responded: “Well, the answer I’m about to give doesn’t only apply to Gov. Pritzker, it applies to any state official, any local official, anybody who’s operating in an official capacity who conspires or engages in activity that unlawfully impedes federal law enforcement conducting their duties.”

“So if you engage in a criminal conspiracy to obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration laws or to unlawfully order your own police officers or your own officials to try to interfere with ICE officers, or even to arrest ICE officers, you’re engaged in criminal activity,” he said, referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Different types of crimes would apply. There is obstruction of justice. There is harboring illegal aliens. There is impeding the enforcement of our immigration laws.”

“And then, as you get up the scale of behavior, you obviously get into seditious conspiracy charges, depending on the conduct, and many other offenses. So again, it depends on the action. It depends on the conduct. It depends on what is taking place,” Miller continued. He went on to tell ICE officers that “you have federal immunity in the conduct of your duties.”

Both Miller’s threat toward Pritzker and other officials, and his immunity claim, were met with swift backlash, including from Zeteo‘s Mehdi Hasan, who highlighted Trump’s pardons for the January 6, 2021 insurrectionists.

“Remember, these fascist freaks pardoned the actual people convicted of ’seditious conspiracy’ while falsely accusing their opponents of this serious crime,” the journalist wrote on social media. “(On a side note, arresting Pritzker would make him the most popular politician in America overnight.)”

Trump himself has called for jailing Pritzker and Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson “for failing to protect” ICE officers. Priztker, a billionaire and potential 2028 presidential candidate, has suggested Trump should be removed from office via the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution.

Miles Taylor, who served as Department of Homeland Security chief of staff during the first Trump administration and authored an infamous, anonymous 2018 New York Times editorial, said Friday, “Feels like we’re going down the rabbit hole pretty fast here, folks.”

California state Sen. Scott Weiner (D-11), one of the Democrats running for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s seat in the next cycle, said: “They’re now explicitly taking the position that state and local elected officials are committing crimes when they attempt to protect their communities from the ICE secret police.”

Weiner‘s state Senate district includes San Francisco, one of the cities targeted by Trump with immigration agents, and a potential National Guard deployment. The president said he backed off the threat to send troops to the city, for now, after calls from billionaire friends.

However, Trump’s administration is still fighting in federal court to deploy the National Guard in the Chicagoland area, where ICE’s Operation Midway Blitz is underway. The people of Illinois have responded with persistent protests, including at an ICE facility in suburban Broadview, where agents have met demonstrations with violence.

“No, ICE officers do not have immunity to assault and arrest unarmed Americans without a warrant,” former Obama administration official and Pod Save America co-host Jon Favreau stressed on social media Friday.

Tufts University international politics professor Daniel Drezner similarly said, “This seems very disturbing and also wrong.”

Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) concluded: “Stephen Miller is the most evil, fascist, wannabe authoritarian in the Trump regime. And that’s saying something.”

Miller’s comments came just two days after Pritzker appeared on Fox News and discussed Trump’s attacks on him, immigration agents’ actions in Illinois, and the risk that Trump may try to use US troops to steal future elections.

The governor’s deputy chief of staff for communications, Matt Hill, responded to Miller’s remarks by pointing to that appearance.

“Holy crap. Gov. Pritzker did ONE interview on Fox, and Stephen Miller is freaking out,” Hill said on social media with a snowflake emoji. “All the Gov. did was appoint experts to collect videos and testimony of what’s happening in Chicago. Now, Miller is threatening to silence Illinoisans and arrest their governor.”

With a majority of Americans now recognizing that President Donald Trump is weaponizing the US Department of Justice, the DOJ’s Friday announcement that it will send election monitors to California and New Jersey is generating alarm.

Republicans in both states had written to the DOJ, requesting monitors for the Nov. 4 general elections in which Californians will vote on Proposition 50, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s answer to Trump’s mid-decade gerrymandering in GOP-led states, and New Jersey residents will pick their next governor.

While the DOJ’s statement noted that its Civil Rights Division “regularly deploys its staff to monitor for compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections in communities across the country,” and US Attorney General Pam Bondi insisted that her department “is committed to upholding the highest standards of election integrity,” legal experts have accused the Trump appointee of “serious professional misconduct that threatens the rule of law and the administration of justice.”

The head of the Civil Rights Division, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, has also faced scrutiny, including for gutting the Voting Section—which, as the DOJ pointed out Friday, “enforces various federal statutes that protect the right to vote, including the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act, Help America Vote Act, Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, and the Civil Rights Acts.”

This DOJ deployment of poll watchers targets New Jersey’s Passaic County and five California counties: Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside.

Newsom’s office said on social media Friday that “this is not a federal election. The US DOJ has no business or basis to interfere with this election. This is solely about whether California amends our state Constitution. This administration has made no secret of its goal to undermine free and fair elections. Deploying these federal forces appears to be an intimidation tactic meant for one thing: Suppress the vote.”

Rusty Hicks, chair of the state’s Democratic Party, said that “no amount of election interference by the California Republican Party is going to silence the voices of California voters.”

Democratic New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin was similarly critical, saying in a statement that “the Trump Department of Justice’s announcement that it is sending federal ‘election monitors’ to Passaic County is highly inappropriate, and DOJ has not even attempted to identify a legitimate basis for its actions.”

“The Constitution gives states, not the federal government, the primary responsibility for running elections, and our state’s hardworking elections officials have been preparing for months to run a safe and secure election,” he added. “We are committed to ensuring that every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot and make their voices heard.”

Early voting in New Jersey begins Saturday. In the gubernatorial race, former Republican state legislator Jack Ciattarelli is facing Democratic Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill. As the Associated Press pointed out earlier this month, “New Jersey is one of two states, along with Virginia, electing governors this fall—and the contests are widely seen as measures of how voters feel about Trump’s second term and how Democrats are responding.”

Democracy Docket reported Friday that “already in recent months, voting rights advocates and leading Democrats have warned that the administration is laying the groundwork to deploy troops or law enforcement to the polls in key cities next year and in 2028. Friday’s announcement has intensified those fears.”

After the DOJ’s election monitoring announcement, journalist Keith Olbermann said on social media: “Trump has started his direct assault on local elections. This fascist interference must be prevented.”

Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, who unionized with the United Auto Workers last year, announced Thursday that they will vote next week to authorize a strike after over 13 months of fruitless contract negotiations with the auto giant.

The strike authorization vote planned for October 28-29 “comes after months of unfair labor practices committed by the company, including bad faith negotiations, unlawful intimidation, and the unilateral cutting of jobs at Volkswagen’s only US assembly plant,” UAW said in a statement. The union also highlighted Volkswagen’s $20.6 billion in profits last year.

Company spokesperson Michael Lowder said Monday that “Volkswagen made it clear to the union that our last, best, and final offer is indeed final. We cannot in good faith prolong negotiations by continuing to bargain when we have already put our best offer on the table. It is time for the UAW to give VW employees a voice and let them decide for themselves by voting on our final offer.”

However, multiple employees said Thursday that they are not happy with the company’s latest offer and plan to vote for a strike.

“I’m voting yes because this is the time to show Volkswagen we are serious about receiving industry-standard treatment. Job security’s essential. They could pay us $100 an hour, but it means nothing if they close the plant two weeks into the agreement,” said James Robinson. “I’m hoping this process shows the company we are serious about getting a fair contract. We will show them their offer wasn’t enough, show them we’re willing to stand up to get what we deserve.”

“I’m hoping this process shows the company we are serious about getting a fair contract.”

Employee Taylor Fugate said that “I’m voting yes to get Volkswagen to come back to the table. The majority of the people I know don’t want VW’s ‘final offer.’ They want to keep negotiating, and we are willing to do what it takes to make that happen.”

“We need affordable healthcare and a strong job security statement that leaves no gray area,” Fugate added. “We also deserve equal standards—Southern autoworkers shouldn’t be treated differently!”

One elected Republican held a press conference on Wednesday in a bid to bully the union into holding a vote on the company’s latest offer. Local 3 News reported that Hamilton County Commissioner Jeff Eversole said: “Volkswagen put forward a final union contract offer over a month ago that offers significant gains for Chattanooga workers, including a 20% wage increase, a cost-of-living allowance, a $4,000 ratification bonus, lower healthcare costs, and much more. Many employees have been reaching out to the UAW to vote, and the UAW has refused.”

Payday Report‘s Mike Elk pointed out Thursday that “the tactics used by the GOP in Chattanooga are similar to the tactics that they have used for more than a decade to sometimes successfully dissuade union votes by implying that the plant may close if the union gets ’too greedy’ (their words, not my mine, as the son of a Volkswagen auto assembly line worker).”

Local 3 News noted that “during the press conference, dozens of members from both the UAW and the Chattanooga Area Central Labor Council, or CLC, began picketing outside of the VW plant.”

The outlet also spoke with some employees. One of them, Dakotah Bailey, explained that “originally, it was going to be a 25% increase in wages. They didn’t want to take that, and now they dropped it down to 20%. I wanted to try and get my money now. Especially right before the holidays. It would be great to have an extra $5,500 sitting in my bank account.”

According to a “Volkswagen Stories” video series published by the UAW on YouTube, wages are a primary concern for workers. Other top priorities include health and safety conditions at the plant, healthcare, paid time off, and retirement benefits.

“I don’t want to strike, but if it comes to it, I will,” Volkswagen worker Mitchell Harris said Thursday. “Because I feel that all my brothers and sisters of UAW Local 42 deserve respect, to provide a better life for their families, and have job security for us and generations to come.”

With the second-longest federal government shutdown dragging on and Americans concerned about soaring health insurance premiums and coverage losses, Congressman Ro Khanna on Thursday again made the case for Medicare for All.

On CNBC‘s “Squawk Box,” co-host Joe Kernen made clear he doesn’t support Medicare for All but expressed concern about rising premiums. He also admitted, “I don’t know what the answer is.”

Khanna (D-Calif.), meanwhile, reiterated his support for a single-payer system, in part by highlighting how private health insurance companies are raking in billions of dollars in profits each year, at the expense of patients.

If the United States extended eligibility for Medicare, which is now only available to Americans ages 65 and older, “it would help private business,” the congressman argued. “It would lower healthcare costs.”

A 2020 analysis from the Economic Policy Institute found that Medicare for All would benefit companies and workers by supporting self-employment and small business development, boosting wages, increasing job quality, and lessening the stress and economic shock of losing or changing employment. That same year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that shifting to Medicare for All could save $650 billion annually.

Khanna on Thursday pushed back against claims that under Medicare for All, Americans wouldn’t be able to get the healthcare they need, saying: “I don’t think Medicare is rationing more than the private industry. [If] you are on private insurance, that’s where you get rationed. You have to get your pre-authorization. You have things denied. Medicare, actually, doesn’t do that.”

Although Medicare can deny coverage, KFF found in 2023 that people with employer-sponsored health insurance were twice as likely as those on Medicare for Medicaid—which covers people with low incomes and disabilities—to have a claim denied.

“Traditional Medicare, also known as Original Medicare, has historically required little in the way of pre-authorization for beneficiaries seeking services; pre-authorization was typically the domain of Medicare Advantage,” or plans administered by private insurance companies, Kiplinger reported this summer. “But that’s about to change.”

Under President Donald Trump’s “profoundly unqualified” pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, CMS will require prior authorization for 17 services it claims “are vulnerable to fraud, waste, and abuse” in six states next year.

Beginning in January, Arizona, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington will serve as testing grounds “to provide an improved and expedited prior authorization process relative to Original Medicare’s existing processes, helping patients and providers avoid unnecessary or inappropriate care and safeguarding federal taxpayer dollars,” CMS said in a June statement.

Julie Alderman Boudreau, who has worked as a researcher at various organizations, warned at the time that “this is a Medicare cut by another name. This will cause seniors to delay care or forgo it altogether.”

The CMS announcement came just days before Trump signed Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which contained cuts to Medicaid and did not extend expiring Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. The current government shutdown, which began on October 1, stems from Democrats’ fight to undo the GOP attacks on Medicaid and ACA subsidies.

The CBO estimates that 10 million Americans could be booted off Medicaid because of cuts. Additionally, more than 20 million Americans who buy insurance via ACA marketplaces are expected to see their premiums spike next year, and some of them may not be able to afford any plans. Multiple polls released this week show that US voters are concerned about premium hikes.

One of those surveys, released Monday by Data for Progress and Groundwork Collaborative, also shows that voters want Democrats in Congress to keep fighting for a fix to the looming healthcare crisis, even if it means the shutdown continues.

Khanna—one of several Democrats considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate—noted on social media earlier this week that KFF polling shows that “78% of Americans favor extending ACA credits.”

“Republicans are once again trying to reward the ultrawealthy at the expense of regular folks,” he added. “It’s time to pass Medicare for All and solidify Americans’ right to affordable healthcare.”

A coalition of labor unions and progressive advocacy organizations on Tuesday launched the “Take Back Tesla” campaign, urging shareholders of the electric vehicle giant to reject a pay package that could make CEO Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire.

Musk is already the richest person on the planet, with an estimated net worth of $458-485.9 billion as of Wednesday. His previous 10-year proposal, worth $56 billion, was invalidated by a judge. He’s now on an interim plan that has not been approved by shareholders, who are set to vote on the $1 trillion package at the company’s annual meeting next month.

Tesla’s board unveiled the proposed $1 trillion plan—which would be the biggest corporate compensation package in history—last month. Musk would get the full amount if he boosted share value “eightfold over the next decade” and stayed at Tesla for at least that long. He would own 29% of the company, one of several in which he holds a leadership position.

Top unions, such as the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and Communications Workers of America (CWA), joined groups including Americans for Financial Reform, Ekō, People’s Action Institute, Public Citizen, and Stop the Money Pipeline for the new campaign against “Musk’s money grab.” As part of it, they launched the website TakeBackTesla.com.

“How shareholders vote on Musk’s trillion-dollar pay package and other important Tesla ballot items will likely set the stage for similar attempts by other oligarchs to consolidate their own power.”

Several coalition leaders pointed to Musk’s recent efforts to get President Donald Trump elected and then help the Republican gut the federal government—which has been shut down for 22 days due to a congressional funding fight—via their so-called Department of Government Efficiency. The billionaire’s DOGE activities provoked nationwide protests targeting Tesla.

“In the last 12 months, Elon Musk’s attempts to destroy the American government have caused huge damage to the Tesla brand and contributed to a significant decline in the company’s sales in multiple key markets,” Stop the Money Pipeline’s Alex Connon noted, urging shareholders to “reject this insane proposal.”

AFT president Randi Weingarten said that “the Tesla board, instead of upholding basic governance standards, wants to green-light an outrageous $1 trillion pay package for a CEO who has spent most of the year engaged in childish political brawls, rather than working to create shareholder value.”

“To reward this destructive behavior with an obscene salary is a slap in the face—not only to the federal workers he’s fired, but to the retirees whose pensions are invested in Tesla stock,” she declared.

Dubbing the proposal “Musk’s corporate heist,” CWA president Claude Cummings Jr. similarly stressed that “Elon Musk is enriching himself by stealing from the American worker—from our infrastructure dollars for rural broadband to workers’ private data from the Department of Labor—and now he wants to steal $1 trillion from our pensions and retirement accounts.”

Natalia Renta, Americans for Financial Reform’s associate director of corporate governance and power, emphasized that the vote is bigger than Musk. She said that “how shareholders vote on Musk’s trillion-dollar pay package and other important Tesla ballot items will likely set the stage for similar attempts by other oligarchs to consolidate their own power.”

“This new website allows people to get their voices heard by sending letters to their state financial officer and mutual fund manager (if they have one),” Renta added. State treasurers of Connecticut, Nevada, and New Mexico have already joined mounting calls for shareholders to vote down Musk’s compensation package.

Ekō executive director Emma Ruby-Sachs argued that “no CEO is worth a trillion-dollar pay package, but especially not Elon Musk, who has wiped billions off of Tesla’s share value, trashed the company’s reputation, and driven millions of its customers away. Tesla’s shareholders need to show the judgment Musk so clearly lacks, and reject this pay deal.”

Saikat Chakrabarti, the progressive organizer who is challenging US Rep. Nancy Pelosi for the House seat she has held since 1987, was met with stone-faced stares and laughter on CNN when he spoke during a panel discussion Monday about the Trump administration's national security memo that one journalist said amounts to a “declaration of war” on the president’s political opponents.

Chakrabarti was joined by author and historian Max Boot, journalist Bata Ungar-Sargon, commentator and former Clinton White House aide Keith Boykin, and former spokesperson for the George W. Bush administration Pete Seat in a panel discussion hosted by Sara Sidner.

The discussion covered the weekend’s No Kings rallies, racist texts attributed to a nominee of President Donald Trump, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) raids in cities across the country before turning to the administration’s recent strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea, which it says have been aimed at stopping drug trafficking and which have killed dozens of people.

Chakrabarti said the administration’s policy of bombing boats in the Caribbean—vessels that, Vice President JD Vance admitted, could very well be fishing boats—to kill people the White House has claimed without evidence are “narco-terrorists,” raises alarm about the president’s push to unilaterally define who qualifies as a “terrorist.”

Trump’s policy in the Caribbean, Chakrabarti suggested, represents just one way in which the president is attempting to designate groups as terrorists. In the wake of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s killing—which he baselessly blamed on left-wing groups—he signed an executive order in September designating “antifa”—an anti-fascist ideology embraced by autonomous groups and individuals—as a “domestic terrorist organization,” despite the fact that there is no such legal designation in the US.

Days later, Trump signed National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), which focuses on left-wing and anti-fascist organizations and mandates a “national strategy to investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence so that law enforcement can intervene in criminal conspiracies before they result in violent political acts.”

The memo has recently garnered outrage from Democratic lawmakers, more than 30 of whom signed a letter condemning Trump’s threats against progressive groups and organizers, but it has received little attention in the corporate media, and Chakrabarti’s fellow guests on CNN Monday displayed little recognition of what he was talking about when he raised alarm about NSPM-7.

“Here’s what concerns me—Trump is saying, ‘I can define who’s a terrorist, and that means I can kill him.’ At the same time, we’re seeing executive orders defining whole parts of the Democratic Party as domestic terrorists,” said Chakrabarti. “Here we’re seeing NSPM-7, which says any anti-American or anti-capitalist or anti-Christian speech is extremist speech.”

While claiming to protect the US from drug traffickers, he added, the administration has created “a task force of 4,000 agents who are being taken off of drug trafficking and human trafficking, and the actual crime, and being put on prosecuting those people who are saying anti-capitalist things.”

“Do you think that’s okay?” he asked the other panelists. “Can you put two and two together about what’s going on here?”

None of the other guests responded, and Seat looked blankly at Chakrabarti before Sidner said the show was going to a commercial break.

“We will answer that question, coming up,” Sidner said, laughing. “We’re going to leave it there for that conversation.”

When the show returned, the conversation turned to Ukraine and Russia.

“Look how CNN shut down his question and moved on,” said commentator Guy Christensen.

Ken Klippenstein, who has reported on NSPM-7 and tracked mentions of the memo in the corporate press—some of which have downplayed the threat—expressed alarm that “the moment NSPM-7 comes up, [the] CNN anchor laughs nervously and ends the segment.”

On Tuesday, however, Klippenstein reported that the “NSPM-7 dam” in the corporate media was continuing to break, with CNN airing a second segment that mentioned the memo.

“This would be like if George W. Bush had said CodePink was al-Qaeda,” explained former national security official Miles Taylor, “or people protesting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were associated with the Islamic State.”