Stay up to date with live coverage of the Trump administration and national politics on Monday as the president touched down in Japan to meet with new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the country’s first female PM.
POTUS arrived in Asia this weekend for a three-nation tour, signing peace and trade deals Sunday with the leaders of Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have a high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea, where they’re set to sign a trade agreement to avert Trump’s threatened 100% additional tariff on Chinese goods.
House Speaker Mike Johnson isn't sure if troops will get their next paycheck at the end of the week due to the government shutdown.
"The president, as you know, tapped into research and development on unobligated funds and paid the military in the middle of October. Their next paycheck is due at the end of this week," Johnson (R-La.) said during a press conference Monday.
"I don't know the final analysis yet," he added, referring to the White House's exploration of whether money can be moved around to cover the next round of paychecks.
GOP leadership is constantly considering whether to gavel the lower chamber back into session amid the ongoing government shutdown, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson.
The House has been adjourned since Sept. 19, and Johnson (R-La.) has kept it out of session until Senate Democrats stop blocking the "clean" House-passed stopgap measure to reopen the government.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks about the government shutdown, during a press conference. AFP via Getty Images
“We're evaluating this day by day,” Johnson told reporters when asked if he would bring the House back into session. “The House Republicans are doing some of the most meaningful work of their career in their districts.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson reiterated Monday that the Obamacare subsidy issue underpinning the Democratic shutdown demands was "always on the calendar."
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks about the government shutdown, now on Day 27, during a press conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, October 27, 2025. AFP via Getty Images
Johnson (R-La.) argued that Democrats' leveraging the shutdown fight to extract concessions on the expiring enhanced Obamacare subsidies was always unnecessary.
"They made the calculation that they would rather shut the government down and impose all this pain on the American people because they believe the Marxists, the far-left in the base, are more active than hardworking Americans," Johnson further chided during a press conference this morning.
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson hit back Monday at Democratic attacks that Republicans are fully in control of the government and should therefore be blamed for the shutdown.
"They keep saying Republicans are in charge of the government. We aren't. Not in the Senate. 60 votes control the Senate," Johnson told reporters this morning.
House Speaker Mike Johnson hit back Monday at Democratic attacks that Republicans are fully in control of the government. AFP via Getty Images
While Republicans have a 53-seat majority in the Senate, they don't have the 60 votes needed to break a Democratic filibuster blocking advancement of a House-passed fix to reopen the government.
President Trump revealed he underwent an MRI during a recent checkup at Walter Reed, stating the results were “perfect.” This comes after two visits to the medical center this year raised questions about his health, with the White House previously noting “advanced imaging” was performed.
WASHINGTON — The largest union of federal workers in the country is publicly imploring Congress to pass a "clean" stopgap measure to end the government shutdown, ramping up pressure on Democrats to abandon their healthcare demands.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) rallies outside the Capitol in Washington, DC on Feb. 11. Now, the union is begging Congress to pass a "clean" stopgap measure to end the government shutdown, ramping up pressure on Dems to abandon their healthcare demands. Getty Images
“Both political parties have made their point, and still there is no clear end in sight,” American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) President Everett Kelley declared in a statement.
“It’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today. No half measures, and no gamesmanship.”
For the past month, Republicans have insisted on a "clean" continuing resolution to fund the government through Nov. 21 without any strings attached to buy time for a longer-term fix.
But Senate Democrats blocked the House-passed "clean" short-term spending patch and instead demanded that Republicans make expensive concessions on healthcare policy in exchange for reopening the government.
AFGE represents over 800,000 federal workers, many of whom have gone without pay since the beginning of the month due to the shutdown.
The US Department of Agriculture warned Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits will not go out on Nov. 1 — disrupting food access nationwide as the government shutdown drags on.
The department posted a notice with the grim announcement after the Trump administration said it would not tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep SNAP benefits flowing into November, raising the stakes for nearly 42 million Americans who receive assistance through the program every month.
A general view of a SNAP sign at a food market in Hawthorne, NJ. Christopher Sadowski
The announcement blamed Senate Democrats for holding up the program also known as food stamps.
President Trump arrives at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Air Force One on Monday. AFP via Getty Images
Japan's Emperor Naruhito welcomes Trump to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Monday. REUTERS
Japan is Trump's second stop on his three-country tour of Asia that began over the weekend in Malaysia. AP
Trump meets with Japan's Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace on Monday. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
The president's trip will end Thursday with a summit in South Korea with China's President Xi Jinping that could end the bruising trade war between the world's two largest economies. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
President Trump is set to meet Japan's newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a conservative figure who is widely seen as a China hawk.
Takaichi took office earlier this month after former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba resigned. She had been an ally of late PM Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in 2022. Trump was very close to Abe.
Japan's newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is a conservative figure who is widely seen as a China hawk. AP
Their meeting will take place on Tuesday local time. (Japan has a 13-hour time difference.) It is widely seen as one of Takaichi's first major tests as prime minister.
On Monday, Trump met with Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, kicking off his roughly three-country swing through Asia.
