LISA MASCARO Congressional Correspondent, Author at The Rapid City Post

President Donald Trump listens during an event in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump and budget chief Vought are making this a government shutdown unlike any other

October 14, 2025

President Donald Trump is making this government shutdown unlike any the country has ever seen. The White House budget office headed by Russ Vought is deciding who gets paid or fired in an unprecedented restructuring across the federal workforce. As the shutdown enters its third week, the Office and Management and Budget said Tuesday it’s preparing to “batten down the hatches” with more reductions in force to come. The president calls budget chief Vought the “grim reaper” who’s seized on the opportunity to fund Trump’s priorities, paying the military while slashing employees in health, education, the sciences and other areas. The actions have been criticized as illegal and are facing court challenges.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., praises President Donald Trump's peacemaking efforts leading to a ceasefire pausing two years of war in the Gaza Strip, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Government shutdown could be the longest ever, Speaker Johnson warns

October 13, 2025

Republican Speaker Mike Johnson predicts the federal government shutdown may become the longest in history. He says he “won’t negotiate” with Democrats until they hit pause on their health care demands and reopen the government. It’s the 13th day of the shutdown and the closures are taking a toll nationwide, halting routine government operations, shuttering the Smithsonian museums and other landmark cultural institutions and leaving airports scrambling with flight disruptions. It’s all injecting more uncertainty into an already precarious economy. The White House ensured military troops are paid this week. But the Trump administration is firing other federal workers.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks at a press conference on 8th day of the government shutdown at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

Speaker Johnson keeps the House away as he fights to end the government shutdown

October 10, 2025

House members’ absence during the government shutdown is creating a political dilemma for Republican Speaker Mike Johnson and is testing his leadership. The Louisiana congressman sent members home three weeks ago, and they haven’t been back in working session since. In the intervening weeks, the government has shut down. President Donald Trump threatened a mass firing of federal workers. And Democrat Adelita Grijalva won a special congressional election in Arizona but has not been sworn in. Johnson says the House already did its job, passing a bill to fund the government. Johnson blames Democrats in the Senate, which is also controlled by Republicans. Democrats want health care funds for insurance subsidies that are set to expire.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., talk to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House, Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Oval Office meeting didn’t stop a shutdown, but the Trump 2028 hats and a sombrero set a tone

October 3, 2025

Halfway through Donald Trump’s inaugural White House meeting with congressional leadership, the red “Trump 2028” hats appeared on the president’s desk. The moment was vintage Trump –- grabbing the attention and seeking to throw negotiators off their game as they tried to stop a government shutdown. It also underscored the president’s regard for Congress and his opponents across the political aisle. What was once was considered a historic occasion –- the president of the United States convening his first “big four” meeting with leaders from the House and Senate –- was reduced to another viral souvenir of Trump trolling his opponents. And it did little to prevent a federal government closure.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump uses government shutdown to dole out firings and political punishment

October 1, 2025

President Donald Trump has seized on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the federal workforce and punish detractors. The administration is threatening mass firings of workers and suggesting “irreversible” cuts to programs and services important to Democrats. The aggressive approach coming from the Trump administration is on par with what certain lawmakers and budget observers feared if Congress failed to do its work and relinquished control to the White House. Thursday is day two of the shutdown, and Congress is at a standstill. Democrats are demanding any bill to reopen government save health care funds. Republicans say they’re willing to have talks about health care, but not now.

The Capitol is seen during rainy weather just days before federal money runs out which could trigger a government shutdown, in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Trump’s vast federal cuts create distrust on Capitol Hill as shutdown risk grows

September 26, 2025

As Congress confronts a possible government shutdown, it’s also weighing the Trump administration’s willingness to simply halt federal spending — even when it’s against the law. Billions upon billions of dollars have been stalled, scrapped or withheld by the Trump administration so far this year. It’s one of the most brazen affronts to the federal budgeting process in 50 years. And it’s creating an undercurrent of distrust on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers face a deadline next week to pass legislation to keep government funded past Sept. 30. The Trump administration is preparing to fire federal workers, rather than simply furlough them, if there is a funding lapse.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., meets with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, days before federal funding runs out that could trigger a government shutdown. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries says Trump is marching the country into a government shutdown

September 26, 2025

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are “marching the country” into a government shutdown. Jeffries told the Associated Press in an interview late Friday that he remained hopeful Congress could reach an agreement to prevent a federal funding lapse next week, ahead of the Oct. 1 deadline. But with Republicans having canceled next week’s House voting session and Trump canceling his meeting with the Democratic leaders this week, he said, “the onus is on Donald Trump to show some presidential leadership.” Democrats are fighting to save health care funding from cuts. Republicans have said the issue can be addressed before the end of the year, when certain health care subsidies expire.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Trump cancels White House meeting with Schumer and Jeffries despite risk of a government shutdown

September 23, 2025

President Donald Trump has canceled this week’s planned meeting with congressional Democratic leaders ahead of a potential federal government shutdown. The Republican president refuses to negotiate over Democratic demands to shore up health care funds as part of any deal to keep the government funded. Congress faces a deadline next week to approve legislation to fund the government by Oct. 1. In a Tuesday social media post, Trump rejected the sit-down the White House agreed to the day before with Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. Trump says he’s decided no meeting with the Democratic leaders “could possibly be productive.” Jeffries says, “Trump Always Chickens Out.”

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, left, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, both of New York, tell reporters that they are united as the Sept. 30 funding deadline approaches, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Democratic leaders in Congress demand a meeting with Trump as government shutdown looms

September 20, 2025

A possible federal shutdown is looming at month’s end, and the Democratic leaders of Congress are demanding a meeting with President Donald Trump to negotiate. Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said Saturday that Republicans, at Trump’s insistence, have refused to enter talks. Democrats are pushing to preserve health care programs as part of any deal to keep government running past the Sept. 30 funding deadline. They want a meeting with Trump to prevent what they call “your decision” to shutter federal offices if no action is taken by month’s end. There’s no immediate response from the White House.

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump extends his reach into Congress in ways large and small

September 3, 2025

As Congress returns for a busy fall stretch, President Donald Trump is reaching into the affairs of the legislative branch, chiseling away at the separation of powers. Trump is pushing Congress to drop its probe into the Jeffrey Epstein files, saying, “It’s enough.” He has renamed his big bill, unleashed federal law enforcement in Washington, D.C., and utilized a highly rare tool to claw back federal funds Congress had already approved, courting a potential federal government shutdown Sept. 30. Republicans who have the majority in Congress have shown they are eager to follow the White House’s lead.

FILE - Federal agents escort a family to a transport bus after they were detained following an appearance at immigration court, July 22, 2025, in San Antonio, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Trump’s big bill is powering his mass deportations. Congress is starting to ask questions

August 11, 2025

Included in the Republican Party’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts is funding to power President Donald Trump’s deportation agenda. The nearly $170 billion is almost double the Department of Homeland Security’s annual budget and is raising alarms. Americans are watching scenes of immigrants being taken from city streets and job sites. Detention centers are rising in communities across the nation. The crush of new money is raising questions in Congress from lawmakers who are expected to provide oversight. Trump border czar Tom Homan insists they’re detaining and deporting the “worst of the worst.” But polling shows Americans’ views on the issue are shifting.

FILE - Congresswoman Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., exits the grounds at Delaney Hall, an ICE detention facility, May 9, 2025, in Newark, N.J, (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, File)

House GOP seeks to censure Democrat McIver over New Jersey detention center incident

July 23, 2025

A House Republican is seeking to censure Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey over an incident stemming from a congressional oversight visit to a new immigration detention facility in her state. The resolution filed Wednesday by Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana also calls for removing McIver from her seat on the Homeland Security Committee. McIver said in a statement that Higgins is a “bigot” seeking the spotlight. House Republicans have been quick to punish Democratic lawmakers for transgressions large and small — and in this situation, before McIver’s case has played out in court. She had pleaded not guilty to charges brought by interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, a Republican appointed by President Donald Trump, over the May 9 visit.

President Donald Trump holds a gavel after he signed his signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts at the White House, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Washington, surrounded by members of Congress. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

With gavel in hand, Trump chisels away at the power of a compliant Congress

July 19, 2025

When House Speaker Mike Johnson gifted to President Donald Trump the gavel used to enact the Republicans’ tax breaks and spending bill, it was a memorable moment at the White House. The image from the bill signing on Independence Day underscored the symbolic transfer of political power from a compliant Congress to the White House during Trump’s second term. Since Trump’s return to office in January, the Republicans in control of Congress have shown an unusual willingness to give the president of their party what he wants. And that poses a risk to Congress, an equal branch of government but one the Founding Fathers placed first in the Constitution.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., winks during a House Committee on Armed Services Chair hearing on the Department of the Army's Fiscal Year 2026 posture, Wednesday, June 4, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Centrist Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska won’t seek reelection

June 27, 2025

U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, a centrist Republican who represents Nebraska’s second district, will not seek reelection to a fifth term. That’s according to a person familiar with his plans and granted anonymity to discuss them. Bacon is known as an independent-minded Air Force veteran who serves on the House Armed Services Committee. He represents the so-called “blue dot” that includes many progressive voters around Omaha. Bacon has been at the center of many debates in Congress. He has also been chairman of the conservative-centrist Republican Main Street Caucus in the House. First elected in 2016, he is expected to finish his term.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., center, joined at left by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the GOP whip, speaks to reporters after Republican senators met with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and worked on President Donald Trump's tax and immigration megabill so they can have on his desk by July 4, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate struggle over Medicaid cuts threatens progress on Trump’s big bill

June 25, 2025

One key issue stalling progress on President Donald Trump’s big bill in Congress is particularly daunting. Republicans are struggling to figure out how to cut billions from health care without harming Americans who rely on the programs or the hospitals that provide care. Already, estimates say 10.9 million more people would be without health coverage under the House-passed version of the bill. GOP senators have proposed steeper reductions, which some say go too far. Senators have been meeting behind closed doors as they rush to find a solution. One proposal would create a rural hospital fund to help those providers.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and the Republican leadership depart a news conference after defending President Donald Trump's handling of protests in Los Angeles by sending thousands of National Guard troops and 700 active duty Marines to quell the immigration protests, at the RNC near the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Trump’s go-it-alone strategy on Iran risks dividing an already split Congress

June 22, 2025

President Donald Trump’s decision to launch a military strike on Iran’s nuclear sites without fully consulting the U.S. Congress is layering a partisan approach onto a risky action. The White House briefed Republican leaders beforehand while leaving Democrats with little information. One, Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he learned of the strikes on social media, which he said, “is an uncomfortable thing.” It’s all a highly unusual situation that is complicating the difficult politics ahead for the president and his party. Trump faces a vote in Congress as soon as this week on a war powers resolution from Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine over the situation in Iran.

Activists with the Poor People's Campaign protest against spending reductions across Medicaid, food stamps and federal aid in President Donald Trump's spending and tax bill being worked on by Senate Republicans this week, outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

GOP’s food stamp plan is found to violate Senate rules. It’s the latest setback for Trump’s big bill

June 21, 2025

The Senate parliamentarian has advised that a Republican proposal that would shift some food stamp costs from the federal government to the states would violate the chamber’s strict rules. It’s another procedural blow to President Donald Trump’s tax and spending cut bill. Republicans were counting on savings from cutting back food stamps to help offset the lost revenue from the trillions of dollars of tax breaks in the bill. The GOP leadership is scrambling days before voting on the legislation is expected to begin. Trump wants the package passed into law by the Fourth of July.

File - The Capitol is seen in Washington, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Senate parliamentarian deals blow to GOP plan to gut consumer bureau in tax bill

June 20, 2025

Republicans have suffered a setback over their plans to gut the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau in President Donald Trump’s big bill. It signals a tough road ahead as GOP leaders push it toward a floor vote next week before Trump’s Fourth of July deadline. The Senate parliamentarian is working to make sure it complies with strict procedures that bar policy measures from the budget process. Republicans learned Friday that the parliamentarian had decided that the Senate Banking Committee’s draft for eliminating funding for the CFPB would be in violation. The CFPB was put in place after the 2008 financial crisis to protect Americans from fraud, but has been opposed by many GOP lawmakers.

FILE - President Donald Trump talks with California Gov. Gavin Newsom after arriving on Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Trump’s mass deportations leave Democrats more ready to fight back

June 11, 2025

California Gov. Gavin Newsom looked straight into the camera and offered a stark moment for his Democratic Party. The governor positioned himself as not only a leader of the opposition to Republican President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda but champion of the immigrants now being rounded up in California and across the country. It’s a politically charged position for the party. And it leaves Democrats deciding how vociferously to align with that message in the face of blistering criticism from Republicans who are pouring billions of dollars into supporting Trump’s anti-immigration campaign. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Wednesday of Newsom, ’We’re proud he’s refusing to be intimidated by Donald Trump.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., joined at left by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the GOP whip, meets with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Trump’s actions in Los Angeles spur debate over deportation funds in his ‘big, beautiful’ bill

June 10, 2025

President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” includes more than tax breaks and spending cuts — it also seeks to pour billions of dollars into his mass deportation agenda. Republican leaders capitalized Tuesday on the situation in Los Angeles, where groups of protesters are demonstrating against Trump’s immigration raids, to make the case for swift passage of the 1,000-plus-page bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the bill delivers “much-needed reinforcements,” including 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, $45 billion to expand migrant detention facilities and billions more to carry out deportations. Democrats warn Trump’s actions are inflaming tensions and wreaking havoc on the economy.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., arrives to speak with reporters about the spending and tax bill embraced by President Donald Trump and Republicans, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Trump’s big bill also seeks to undo the big bills of Biden and Obama

June 7, 2025

Chiseling away at President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Rolling back the green energy tax breaks central to President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. At its core, the Republican “big, beautiful bill” is more than just an extension of tax breaks approved during President Donald Trump’s first term at the White House. The package is an attempt to undo, little by little, the signature domestic achievements of the past two Democratic presidents. House Speaker Mike Johnson says Republicans are going “to do what we said we were going to do.” But the bill’s spending cuts pointed at the Democratic-led programs are causing the most political turmoil.

House Speaker Mike Johnson of La., poses for a photo in the Congressional Prayer Room at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Lisa Mascaro)

At 3 a.m. in the Capitol, the Speaker of the House pauses to share his place for prayer

May 23, 2025

Speaker Mike Johnson was rushing through the halls of the Capitol during the overnight House vote on President Donald Trump’s big tax bill. He paused for a question about his leadership style. And then he answered it with his own question: Have you seen the prayer room? He proceeded down the hall, punched in a keycode and opened up the door. “Been here a lot this week, right there on my knees,” he said. “Just praying.” The conservative Christian said he believes God has given him a chance to save the country, which he said he is trying to do. Democrats invoked the gospel, too, during debate, saying the bill’s steep cuts to Medicaid and food stamps are unconscionable.

LISA MASCARO Congressional Correspondent.