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Tag: deal

  • Shutdown nears as lawmakers brace for next round of ICE negotiations

    WASHINGTON — A budget impasse in Congress is poised to halt large swaths of federal operations early Saturday as lawmakers in Capitol Hill turn to the next flashpoint in negotiations to reopen the government: whether to impose new limits on federal immigration authorities carrying out President Trump’s deportation campaign.

    Over the next two weeks, Democrats and Republicans will weigh competing demands on how the Department of Homeland Security should carry out arrests, detention and deportations after the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents this month in Minnesota.

    Seeking to rein in the federal agency, Senate Democrats late on Thursday were able to strike a deal with the White House that would temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security but fund the Pentagon, the State Department, as well as the health, education, labor and transportation agencies through Sept. 30.

    The agreement is intended to give lawmakers more time to address Democratic demands to curb ICE tactics while averting a partial government shutdown.

    The Senate finalized the deal Friday evening on a 71-29 vote, hours before a midnight deadline to avert a government shutdown. Passage of the deal was delayed by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who objected to parts of the package.

    The House expected to take up the legislation as early as Monday. The partial government shutdown will occur until the measure clears the House and Trump signs it into law.

    The president supports the deal, which came after Senate Democrats said they would not vote to fund Homeland Security unless reforms for the agency were approved. Among the demands: banning federal agents from wearing masks, requiring use of body cameras and requiring use of judicial warrants prior to searching homes and making arrests.

    Democrats have also demanded that local and state law enforcement officials be given the ability to conduct independent investigations in cases where federal agents are accused of wrongdoing.

    The deal, however, does not include any of those reforms; it includes only the promise of more time to negotiate with no guarantee that the new restrictions will be agreed to.

    Both of California’s Democratic senators, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, voted against the Senate deal. They both opposed giving more funding to Homeland Security without reforms in a vote Thursday.

    Schiff voted no because he said he promised to not “give another dime for ICE until we saw real reforms — and not just promised reforms but statutory requirements.”

    “I want to see those reforms before I am prepared to support any more funding for these agencies,” Schiff said in a video message posted on X, and added that he did not see the White House acting in “good faith. “I want it in writing and statute.”

    After voting against the measure, Padilla said in a statement: “I’ve been clear from the beginning: No more money for ICE and CBP without real oversight and accountability.”

    House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters Friday morning that Democrats will find out whether two weeks is enough time to reach a compromise.

    “We will evaluate whether that is sufficient time,” Jeffries said. “But there is urgency to dealing with this issue because ICE as we have seen is out of control.”

    Meanwhile, the absence of reforms in the Senate deal has already drawn concerns from some progressives, who argue the deal falls short of what is needed to rein in federal immigration enforcement.

    “First of all, I’m actually disappointed that Senate leadership is not right now demanding more,” Rep. Robert Garcia, a top-ranking House Democrat from Long Beach, told reporters Friday. “This idea that we’re somehow going to continue to fund this agency and somehow just extend the pain, I think is absolutely wrong.”

    Garcia said it was “outrageous” that the Senate deal would extend funding for Homeland Security for two weeks without any new requirements.

    “This idea that we’re somehow not demanding immediately the removal of masks and body cameras and all the other reforms while eliminating this agency that’s causing harm, I think, is outrageous,” Garcia said.

    Democratic Rep. Judy Chu of Pasadena said in a statement that she had not yet decided whether to support the Senate deal once it reaches the House floor.

    But, Chu added: “I cannot support legislation that increases funding to this agency while delivering no accountability measures.”

    Rep. Kevin Calvert (R-Corona) said in a statement that it is “critical” for lawmakers to pass the bipartisan spending package, in part because it included funding for the U.S. military.

    “As Chairman of the [House] Defense Appropriation Subcommittee, I’m especially concerned about the negative impacts of a shutdown at a time when we have a buildup of American military assets in the Middle East,” Calvert said.

    Calvert added that Homeland Security operations will continue even in the shutdown because lawmakers provided an influx of funding for the agency in last year’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” But he said he worried that any lapse in funding would affect other operations by the agency, including disaster funding and security assistance for major events, such as the upcoming World Cup.

    “We need to get these priorities funded,” he said.

    Other Republican lawmakers have already signaled the possible hurdles Democrats will face as they try to rein in ICE.

    Graham held up consideration of the Senate deal, in part because he wanted the Senate to vote to criminalize local and state officials in sanctuary cities — a term that has no strict definition but that generally describes local jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

    “You can convince me that ICE can be better, but I don’t think I will ever convince you to abandon sanctuary cities because you’re wedded to it on the Democratic side,” Graham said.

    Graham also delayed passage of the deal because it included a repeal of a law that would have allowed senators — including himself — to sue the government if federal investigators gained access to their phones without notifying them. The law required senators to be notified if that were to happen and sue for up to $50,000 in damages per incident.

    “We’ll fix the $500,000 — count me in — but you took the notification out,” Graham said. “I am demanding a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.”

    Other Senate Republicans also expressed concern with Democrats’ demands, even as Trump seemed to try appease them.

    Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) said the demand for federal agents to remove their masks during operations was a “clear and obvious attempt to intimidate and put our federal agents in harm’s way.”

    “When enforcement becomes dangerous for enforcers, enforcement does not survive,” Schmitt said in a Senate floor speech. “What emerges is not reform, it is amnesty by default.”

    Despite the GOP opposition, most Senate Republicans were poised to join Democrats on Friday and vote for the deal. But there is no certainty that they will join the minority party when negotiations resume in the coming weeks.

    Recent history suggests that bipartisan support at the outset does not guarantee a lasting deal, particularly when unresolved policy disputes remain. The last government shutdown tied to a debate over healthcare exposed how quickly negotiations can collapse when no agreement is reached.

    In November, a small group of Democrats voted with Republicans to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history with the promise of negotiating an extension to healthcare tax credits that were set to expire in the new year.

    Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Franciso), a former House speaker, reminded the public on Friday that Democrats were unable to get Republican support for extending the tax credits, resulting in increasing healthcare costs for millions of Americans.

    “House Democrats passed a bipartisan fix, yet Senate Republicans continue to block this critical relief for millions of Americans,” Pelosi wrote in a post on X.

    Times staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.

    Ana Ceballos

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  • For these thrifters, their rental is 99% secondhand goods and that’s ‘part of the fun’

    After moving to Los Angeles from Palo Alto in 2023 with only a standing desk and a bed frame, Tess van Hulsen and Andrew Chait learned quickly how to furnish an empty rental without buying anything new.

    Because they love thrifting, decorating together was actually fun for them.

    In this series, we spotlight L.A. rentals with style. From perfect gallery walls to temporary decor hacks, these renters get creative, even in small spaces. And Angelenos need the inspiration: Most are renters.

    Two years later, their love of thrifting, antiquing, bargaining and restoring has turned their Westwood rental into a showcase of “secondhand treasures,” says Van Hulsen, 28, who works as a commercial contract specialist.

    “I have always liked things that have history and character and a story behind them,” she says. “Each piece represents a store we love, a lucky find or a successful haggle that ended with us carrying home something with history.”

    Two people sit at a table on the rooftop of their condo.

    Andrew Chait and Tess van Hulsen relax on their condo rooftop, sitting on patio furniture they bought in Venice through Facebook Marketplace.

    Chait, meanwhile, enjoys the thrill of searching and bargaining. He likes making deals, and even if he walks away, he still feels like he’s won.

    “I’m good at finding value, and Tess has the eye for style,” says Chait, 32, who works as a development director. “It’s something we really enjoy doing together.”

    At a time when many millennials and Gen Z shoppers enjoy hunting for deals on secondhand items, Van Hulsen and Chait also wanted to avoid “fast furniture, poorly built materials and disposable design,” according to Van Hulsen. For them, gently used pieces make their rental feel special.

    “People my age are taking an interest in having heirlooms and traditional items,” Van Hulsen says as she points to a silver-plated trinket tray that holds her jewelry. “I think it’s really fun to entertain and bring stuff out when guests come over. It makes the table look nice, and the platters are great for bringing food upstairs when we entertain on our rooftop patio.”

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    An assortment of vintage items sit on shelves in a china cabinet.

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    A silver punch bowl and candlesticks on a dresser underneath an artwork.

    1. An assortment of vintage items on display in a hutch the couple purchased at the Santa Monica Flea Market. 2. Brass angel candlesticks scored for $2 apiece at a Palo Alto garage sale flank a silver-plated punch bowl. The couple purchased the lithograph in Beverly Hills through Facebook Marketplace.

    Except for a few family heirlooms and some small dressers from IKEA and West Elm, nearly everything in their condo is thrifted.

    In the living room, an elegant cream-colored linen sofa from the Home Consignment Center is the main piece. On either side are striped linen armchairs, and a wooden coffee table from Facebook Marketplace completes the look, giving the room a relaxed coastal feel.

    A blue vintage ashtray rests on top of a Cezanne book next to a vintage ceramic container on top a chest.

    A vintage ashtray Van Hulsen found on Etsy rests on top of a Cezanne book scored at a Palm Springs estate sale.

    Blue and white vintage fine china items sit in display case.

    Dutch ceramic figurines and Asian ginger jars from various estate sales and thrift stores.

    Next to the 2-year-old sofa is an antique Tiger Oak hutch from the Santa Monica Antique and Vintage Market. It’s filled with their thrifted finds including silver champagne buckets, candlesticks, colorful Mexican ceramics and a tall rotating server from the Council Shop, a thrift store chain that supports low-income women and families in Los Angeles.

    “It’s dangerous living so close to the Council Shop,” Chait says of the nonprofit, which is within walking distance of the couple’s rental. “We probably walk down there every two weeks or so.”

    As the couple walks through their home, they reminisce about how each item has its own story.

    A decorative metal cup holds toothbrushes and toothpaste on top of a silver dish inside the restroom.

    In the bathroom, a mint julep cup that was given as a trophy at the 1964 Peacock Hill National Horse show holds toothpaste and toothbrushes.

    “I knew we wanted a neutral couch,” Van Hulsen says of the sofa that was originally on hold when they first saw it. “Luckily, it is modular, so my mother-in-law and I took it home in pieces in two cars.”

    The china cabinet was discounted to $60 at the Santa Monica Antique and Vintage Market because it was missing some glass pieces. “We purchased it from a father and son who were so nice,” says Chait. “Tess and I couldn’t fit it in our car, so they delivered it to us for $40.”

    Adds Van Hulsen: “It’s narrow and the perfect size.”

    In the dining room corner next to a table and eight chairs from the UCLA Thrift Shop that they had to pick up in two trips sits a charming oak dresser with carved floral details. “I found it on the street during bulky item pickup day in Palo Alto and brought it down during a holiday car ride back,” van Hulsen says.

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    A matted frame with illustrations of St. Martin's Church and St. James' Palace in London.

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    Wooden figurines depict men

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    A bronze duck holds a business card.

    1. A matted frame with illustrations of St. Martin’s Church and St. James’ Palace in London. 2. Chait’s collection of vintage mechanical banks. 3. A bronze duck paperweight.

    She also found a vintage print of Windsor Castle, now hanging in the entryway, on the street in Palo Alto. “That was the furthest thing we have thrifted,” she says.

    Many of the accessories in their penthouse such as a bright blue Kitchen Aid mixer (which can cost up to $699 new), coffee-table books and a decorative clam shell remind the couple of their favorite place: Palm Springs.

    “Palm Springs is our happy place,” Van Hulsen says. “We often go there for a night or a long weekend, and there’s a reliable string of antique stores there that we love: Sunny Dunes Antique Mall and the Antique Galleries. We keep extending our thrifting to Rancho Mirage — we love Victoria’s Attic Antiques and Collectibles — and La Quinta, and we also go to estate sales.”

    Tess van Hulsen and Andrew Chait play cards inside their rental condo.

    The couple play Phase 10 on the dining room table they purchased from the UCLA Thrift Shop.

    Now that they’re settled, it’s easy to forget how tough it was to find a rental near Chait’s new job in Santa Monica. “It was hard,” Van Hulsen says. “It was around Christmas, and there wasn’t a lot available.”

    “People were making deals and offering to pay more than the listed rent,” says Chait.

    Eventually, they found a bright two-bedroom, two-bath unit in Westwood with high ceilings, a loft and a rooftop patio. “We applied to two other places before we saw this one. It was worth waiting for,” van Hulsen says.

    Chait grew up in L.A. and spent 10 years in the Bay Area. He believes buying secondhand from strangers is a great way to get to know the city. “When I went to buy a wine fridge from someone yesterday, we ended up talking about surfing for half an hour,” Chait says. “It’s fun to meet new people and hear the stories behind what they’re selling. Plus, exploring new parts of L.A. is always interesting.”

    A small figure of a dog sits by other vintage cocktail items.

    A ceramic beagle rests next to two silver toothpick holders.

    For them, sticking to a budget is a way to get creative. Whether it’s silver platters or things left out on the street during bulky item pickup day, the couple is always searching for stylish, affordable finds.

    The result is a surprisingly cohesive look with jute rugs, light woods and striped linens creating a relaxed California coastal vibe with touches of Palm Springs and France. “My mom has always been a thrifter,” says Van Hulsen. “When we lived in London for four years, we collected all sorts of bits and baubles.”

    “From the beginning, Tess and Andrew’s relationship was stitched together through a shared love for the hunt,” her mother Dana McCue said in an email. “Their weekends away were never just about the destination, but about the ‘treasures’ hidden in dusty corners and the thrill of the ‘find.’ Today, their beautiful Westwood Penthouse serves as a living gallery of their love story. Each curated piece is more than just decor; it is a physical milestone that captures their journey from that first shared discovery to the life they have built together.”

    A bedroom with a white coverlet.

    The couple’s bed and side tables are among the new items in their condo.

    Though some couples who are making a home together for the first time prefer to buy new furniture, Van Hulsen and Chait have stuck with secondhand pieces except for their upholstered panel bed, which they purchased at Living Spaces. “That is our only big furniture purchase,” Chait says. “Things are so expensive, and so many things fall apart. And besides, we like the stories. That’s what we get excited about: the story, talking to people, imagining the life it had before.”

    They have a dresser from the Venice Canals that Tess squeezed into her Jeep Cherokee, etchings from an estate sale in Carmel, a lamp from the Guy on Motor at Venice in Palms and a vintage mirror from San Diego. “We have thrifted all over California,” says Van Hulsen.

    Silver platters are everywhere: on side tables, under cabinets and also under the bed. “Stubbing my toe on silver is not that bad of a life,” she adds, laughing.

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    A vintage soldier decanter.

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    A vintage case of Navy Cut cigarettes.

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    Legos, a Nintendo Game Boy and figuring sit on top of a Sony Playstation 4 console

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    A bronze woman rest next to other second hand items on a wooden cabinet.

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    Leather-bound books are sandwiched in between brass duck bookends.

    1. A vintage soldier decanter. 2. A vintage case of Navy Cut cigarettes from Palm Springs. 3. Legos, a Nintendo Game Boy and figurine sit on top of a Sony Playstation 4 console. 4. A bronze woman purchased in Laurel Canyon rests to other thrifted items in the dining room. 5. Leather-bound books are sandwiched in between brass duck bookends the couple found at an estate sale in Northern California.

    Sometimes things don’t go as planned. For example, Chait recently bought a Frigidaire wine refrigerator for $100 on Facebook Marketplace, but when he got it home, he saw it was too big for their space. (They’re still trying to make it work.) Van Hulsen adds: “I’ve gotten some coffee tables that I ended up flipping because they didn’t work in our space.”

    Making a cheap mistake isn’t a big deal when you can just resell the item online.

    Now that their condo is furnished, do they have a rule about not bringing in too much stuff?

    A picture of Tess van Hulsen and Andrew Chait sits next to a painting of Manhattan Beach on top of a bedside table.

    A photograph of the couple rests next to a painting of Manhattan Beach the couple found on Facebook Marketplace.

    “You’re looking at him,” Van Hulsen says, grinning at her fiancé.

    “You’re making me sound like the bad guy!” Chait says, laughing.

    “That’s part of the fun,” Van Hulsen says as she brings over a sterling silver ice cream scoop engraved with “There’s nothing wrong with me that ice cream can’t fix” in barely perceptible cursive.

    “We’re never really done,” Van Hulsen says. “It’s exciting to find new things and imagine how they’ll fit in our home.”

    Lisa Boone

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  • TikTok finalizes a deal to form a new American entity

    TikTok has finalized a deal to create a new American entity, avoiding the looming threat of a ban in the United States that has been in discussion for years on the platform now used by more than 200 million Americans.The social video platform company signed agreements with major investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX to form the new TikTok U.S. joint venture. The new version will operate under “defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for U.S. users,” the company said in a statement Thursday. American TikTok users can continue using the same app.President Donald Trump praised the deal in a Truth Social post, thanking Chinese leader Xi Jinping specifically “for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal.” Trump added that he hopes “that long into the future I will be remembered by those who use and love TikTok.”Adam Presser, who previously worked as TikTok’s head of operations and trust and safety, will lead the new venture as its CEO. He will work alongside a seven-member, majority-American board of directors that includes TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew.The deal ends years of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the United States. After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed — and President Joe Biden signed — a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if it did not find a new owner in the place of China’s ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law’s January 2025 deadline. For a several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration sought an agreement for the sale of the company.“China’s position on TikTok has been consistent and clear,” Guo Jiakun, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Beijing, said Friday about the TikTok deal and Trump’s Truth Social post, echoing an earlier statement from the Chinese embassy in Washington.Apart from an emphasis on data protection, with U.S. user data being stored locally in a system run by Oracle, the joint venture will also focus on TikTok’s algorithm. The content recommendation formula, which feeds users specific videos tailored to their preferences and interests, will be retrained, tested and updated on U.S. user data, the company said in its announcement.The algorithm has been a central issue in the security debate over TikTok. China previously maintained the algorithm must remain under Chinese control by law. But the U.S. regulation passed with bipartisan support said any divestment of TikTok must mean the platform cuts ties — specifically the algorithm — with ByteDance. Under the terms of this deal, ByteDance would license the algorithm to the U.S. entity for retraining.The law prohibits “any cooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm” between ByteDance and a new potential American ownership group, so it is unclear how ByteDance’s continued involvement in this arrangement will play out.“Who controls TikTok in the U.S. has a lot of sway over what Americans see on the app,” said Anupam Chander, a professor of law and technology at Georgetown University.Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX are the three managing investors, each holding a 15% share. Other investors include the investment firm of Michael Dell, the billionaire founder of Dell Technologies. ByteDance retains 19.9% of the joint venture.___Associated Press writers Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong and Didi Tang in Washington contributed to this report.

    TikTok has finalized a deal to create a new American entity, avoiding the looming threat of a ban in the United States that has been in discussion for years on the platform now used by more than 200 million Americans.

    The social video platform company signed agreements with major investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX to form the new TikTok U.S. joint venture. The new version will operate under “defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for U.S. users,” the company said in a statement Thursday. American TikTok users can continue using the same app.

    President Donald Trump praised the deal in a Truth Social post, thanking Chinese leader Xi Jinping specifically “for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal.” Trump added that he hopes “that long into the future I will be remembered by those who use and love TikTok.”

    Adam Presser, who previously worked as TikTok’s head of operations and trust and safety, will lead the new venture as its CEO. He will work alongside a seven-member, majority-American board of directors that includes TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew.

    The deal ends years of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the United States. After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed — and President Joe Biden signed — a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if it did not find a new owner in the place of China’s ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law’s January 2025 deadline. For a several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration sought an agreement for the sale of the company.

    “China’s position on TikTok has been consistent and clear,” Guo Jiakun, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Beijing, said Friday about the TikTok deal and Trump’s Truth Social post, echoing an earlier statement from the Chinese embassy in Washington.

    Apart from an emphasis on data protection, with U.S. user data being stored locally in a system run by Oracle, the joint venture will also focus on TikTok’s algorithm. The content recommendation formula, which feeds users specific videos tailored to their preferences and interests, will be retrained, tested and updated on U.S. user data, the company said in its announcement.

    The algorithm has been a central issue in the security debate over TikTok. China previously maintained the algorithm must remain under Chinese control by law. But the U.S. regulation passed with bipartisan support said any divestment of TikTok must mean the platform cuts ties — specifically the algorithm — with ByteDance. Under the terms of this deal, ByteDance would license the algorithm to the U.S. entity for retraining.

    The law prohibits “any cooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm” between ByteDance and a new potential American ownership group, so it is unclear how ByteDance’s continued involvement in this arrangement will play out.

    “Who controls TikTok in the U.S. has a lot of sway over what Americans see on the app,” said Anupam Chander, a professor of law and technology at Georgetown University.

    Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX are the three managing investors, each holding a 15% share. Other investors include the investment firm of Michael Dell, the billionaire founder of Dell Technologies. ByteDance retains 19.9% of the joint venture.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong and Didi Tang in Washington contributed to this report.

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  • Zelensky works yet again to break Putin’s hold on Trump

    WASHINGTON — Standing alongside President Trump at his Palm Beach estate, Volodymyr Zelensky could only smirk and grimace without overtly offending his host. “Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed,” Trump told reporters, shocking the Ukrainian president before claiming that Vladimir Putin is genuine in his desire for peace.

    It was just the latest example of the American president sympathizing with Moscow in its war of conquest in Europe. Yet Zelensky emerged from the meeting Sunday ensuring once again that Ukraine may fight another day, maintaining critical if uneasy support from Washington.

    Few signs of progress toward a peace agreement materialized from the meeting at Mar-a-Lago, where Zelensky traveled with significant compromises — including a plan to put territorial concessions to Russia before the Ukrainian people for a vote — in order to appease the U.S. president.

    But Zelensky won concessions of his own from Trump, who had for weeks been pushing for a ceasefire by Christmas, or else threatening to cut off Ukraine from U.S. intelligence that would leave Kyiv blind on the battlefield. “I don’t have deadlines,” Trump said Sunday.

    Over the course of Trump’s first year in office, Zelensky and other European leaders have repeatedly worked to convince Trump that Russia’s President Putin is, in fact, an aggressor opposed to peace, responsible for an unprovoked invasion that launched the deadliest conflict in Europe since the Second World War.

    Each time, Trump has come around, even going as far over the summer as to question whether Ukraine could win back the territories it has lost on the battlefield to Russia — and vowing to North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, “we’re with them all the way.”

    Yet, each time, Trump has changed course within a matter of days or weeks, reverting to an embrace of Putin and Russia’s worldview, including a proposal that Ukraine preemptively cede sovereign territories that Russia has sought but failed to occupy by force.

    Zelensky’s willingness to offer concessions in his latest meeting with Trump has, at least temporarily, “managed to keep President Trump from tilting further towards the Russian position,” said Kyle Balzer, a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “But Trump’s position — his repeated insistence that a deal is necessary now because time is not on Ukraine’s side — continues to favor Putin’s line and negotiating tactics.”

    U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Putin’s revanchist war aims — to conquer all of Ukraine and, beyond, to reclaim parts of Europe that once were part of the Soviet empire — remain unchanged.

    Yet Trump’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, whose own sympathies toward Russia have been scrutinized for years, recently dismissed the assessments as products of “deep state” “warmongers” within the intelligence community.

    On Monday, hours after speaking with Trump, Putin ordered the Russian military to push toward Zaporizhzhia, a city of 700,000 before the war began. The city lies far outside the Donbas region that Moscow claims would satisfy its war aims in a negotiated settlement.

    “Trump’s instincts are to favor Putin and Russia,” said Brian Taylor, director of the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs at Syracuse University. “Ukraine and its European partners still hope to convince Trump of the obvious fact that Putin is not interested in a deal that doesn’t amount to a Ukrainian surrender.

    “If Trump was convinced of Putin’s intransigence, he might further tighten sanctions on Russia and provide more assistance to Ukraine to try to pressure Putin into a deal,” Taylor added. “It’s an uphill battle, one might even say Sisyphean, but Zelensky and European leaders have to keep trying. So far, nearly a year into Trump’s second term, it’s been worth it.”

    On Monday, Moscow claims that Ukraine orchestrated a massive drone attack targeting Putin’s residence that would force it to reconsider its stance in negotiations. Kyiv denied an attack took place.

    “Given the final degeneration of the criminal Kyiv regime, which has switched to a policy of state terrorism, Russia’s negotiating position will be revised,” Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister since 2004, said in a Telegram post.

    Another senior Russian official said the reported attack shocked and infuriated Trump. But Zelensky, responding on social media, said that Russia was “at it again, using dangerous statements to undermine all achievements of our shared diplomatic efforts with President Trump’s team.”

    “We keep working together to bring peace closer,” Zelensky said. “This alleged ‘residence strike’ story is a complete fabrication intended to justify additional attacks against Ukraine, including Kyiv, as well as Russia’s own refusal to take necessary steps to end the war.”

    “Ukraine does not take steps that can undermine diplomacy. To the contrary, Russia always takes such steps,” he added. “It is critical that the world doesn’t stay silent now. We cannot allow Russia to undermine the work on achieving a lasting peace.”

    Frederick Kagan, director of the Critical Threats Project, which collaborates with the Institute for the Study of War to produce daily battlefield assessments on the conflict, said that the meeting did not appear to fundamentally shift Trump’s position on the conflict — a potential win for Kyiv in and of itself, he said.

    “U.S.-Ukraine negotiations appear to be continuing as before, which is positive, since those negotiations seem to be getting into the real details of what would be required for a meaningful set of security guarantees and long-term agreements to ensure that any peace settlement will be enduring,” Kagan said.

    Gaps still remain between Kyiv and the Trump administration in negotiations over security guarantees. While Trump has offered a 15-year agreement, Ukraine is seeking guarantees for 50 years, Zelensky said Monday.

    “As Trump continues to say, there’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Kagan added. “We’ll have to see how things go.”

    Michael Wilner

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  • Left fielder Tyler Soderstrom reaches $86M, 7-year agreement with Athletics, AP source says

    Left fielder Tyler Soderstrom and the Athletics have agreed to an $86 million, seven-year contract, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations.The deal includes a club option for an eighth season, the person told The Associated Press on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement has not been finalized.Soderstrom’s agreement, which is subject to a successful physical, contains bonus provisions that could raise its value to $131 million, the person said.Soderstrom started 145 of the 158 games he played this year — 100 of those starts in left field — his first full major league season after making his debut in 2023 and playing 45 games before 61 last year. He batted .276 with 25 home runs and 93 RBIs with 141 strikeouts and 55 walks this past season.Drafted 26th overall by the A’s in 2020, the 24-year-old Soderstrom has locked in a long-term contract to stay close to where he grew up in Turlock, California. He was on track to become eligible for arbitration after the 2026 season and for free agency after the 2029 season.Planning to move to Las Vegas for 2028, the A’s last offseason agreed to a $60 million, five-year contract with designated hitter/outfielder Brent Rooker and a $65.5 million, seven-year deal with outfielder Lawrence Butler. The team is entering the second of three planned seasons at a Triple-A ballpark in West Sacramento. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    Left fielder Tyler Soderstrom and the Athletics have agreed to an $86 million, seven-year contract, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations.

    The deal includes a club option for an eighth season, the person told The Associated Press on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement has not been finalized.

    Soderstrom’s agreement, which is subject to a successful physical, contains bonus provisions that could raise its value to $131 million, the person said.

    Soderstrom started 145 of the 158 games he played this year — 100 of those starts in left field — his first full major league season after making his debut in 2023 and playing 45 games before 61 last year. He batted .276 with 25 home runs and 93 RBIs with 141 strikeouts and 55 walks this past season.

    Drafted 26th overall by the A’s in 2020, the 24-year-old Soderstrom has locked in a long-term contract to stay close to where he grew up in Turlock, California. He was on track to become eligible for arbitration after the 2026 season and for free agency after the 2029 season.

    Planning to move to Las Vegas for 2028, the A’s last offseason agreed to a $60 million, five-year contract with designated hitter/outfielder Brent Rooker and a $65.5 million, seven-year deal with outfielder Lawrence Butler. The team is entering the second of three planned seasons at a Triple-A ballpark in West Sacramento.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • TikTok secures its future in the U.S. with agreement for new joint venture

    TikTok has finalized a deal with Oracle and two other investors that will allow the popular social video platform to continue its business in the U.S.

    The deal, expected to close on Jan. 22, will be 50% held by a new investor consortium that includes tech giant Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX, a technology fund in the United Arab Emirates, with each holding 15%. TikTok parent ByteDance will own 19.9% of the U.S.-based joint venture, while affiliates of existing ByteDance investors will hold 30.1%, TikTok said in a memo to employees.

    “With these agreements in place, our focus must stay where it’s always been — firmly on delivering for our users, creators, businesses and the global TikTok community,” TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew wrote in his memo.

    The deal removes a shadow that was cast over the future of TikTok, which has become one of the world’s most dominant social media platforms and has a large presence in Culver City.

    The company’s business in the U.S. had been uncertain for many years amid security concerns among legislators about ByteDance’s ties to China. ByteDance had been under pressure to divest its ownership in the app’s U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban after Congress passed a law that went into effect in January.

    President Trump — who years ago led the push to ban TikTok from the U.S. — has allowed TikTok to keep operating in the country and in September signed an executive order outlining the new joint venture.

    The venture, which would oversee U.S. data protection, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurance, would be governed by a seven-member board that is majority American, Chew said in his memo. Oracle will be the security partner responsible for “auditing and validating compliance with the agreed upon National Security Terms,” Chew wrote.

    Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison and his family also are leading an effort to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.

    Oracle did not return a request for comment.

    Shares in the Texas-based cloud provider jumped on Friday following a period of investor unease over the AI market. Oracle’s share price closed Friday at $191.97, up 7%.

    Silver Lake declined to comment. The White House on Thursday referred questions about the deal back to TikTok. In September, Trump said that Chinese President Xi Jinping had approved the deal.

    “These safeguards would protect the American people from the misuse of their data and the influence of a foreign adversary, while also allowing the millions of American viewers, creators, and businesses that rely on the TikTok application to continue using it,” Trump stated in his executive order.

    The announcement will also come as a relief to creators and businesses that rely on TikTok to entertain and reach fans and customers.

    “I hope it just stays true to the platform and the independence we get from it,” said Yasmine Sahid, who posts comedy videos on TikTok and has 2.4 million followers. “I hope we’re still able to monetize our videos the same way, because without that, I think a lot of people would leave or feel uninspired.”

    Many TikTok creators are based in Southern California, close to TikTok’s office in Culver City. Over the years when TikTok’s future appeared uncertain, some of those creators diversified, posting their content to other platforms such as YouTube and Instagram.

    “It’s a smart way to avoid ownership and data issues,” Ray Wang, principal analyst at Constellation Research, said of the deal.

    If finalized, the deal would remove a persistent issue in Beijing-Washington relations and signal progress in broader talks. But it would also deprive China’s most valuable private company of total control of an American social media phenomenon.

    ByteDance’s coveted algorithms are considered central to TikTok’s business. Under the deal proposed by Washington, ByteDance will license its artificial intelligence recommendation technology to a newly created U.S. TikTok entity, which will use the algorithm to retrain a new system that is secured by Oracle, according to Bloomberg. The algorithm will be retrained on U.S. user data by the U.S. joint venture, according to TikTok.

    Some industry observers questioned whether the deal addresses the larger concerns surrounding TikTok in the law Congress passed.

    “While these executive orders positively have allowed the platform to operate and maintain the venue for speech, they do not resolve the underlying concerns about the law, which could be applied to other platforms in the future and raise questions about executive power,” Jennifer Huddleston,
    a senior fellow in tech policy at Cato Institute, said in a statement.

    “Just because TikTok remains available under such orders does not mean that the policy concerns about the underlying law have been resolved,” she wrote.

    Bloomberg contributed to this report.

    Wendy Lee, Katerina Portela

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  • Black Friday shoppers spend more time looking for deals but less money amid economic angst

    Black Friday shoppers flocked to stores, hoping to get more bags for their buck as they grapple with inflation, tariffs and anxiety about the health of the economy.

    Citadel Outlets in Commerce was mobbed Friday morning with long waits for parking and winding lines in front of stores as consumers tried to grab good deals. Camila Romero and her 13-year-old daughter spent hours in line trying to get the best possible deals on Ugg and Coach items on their wish lists.

    “You come to the Citadel because it’s outlets. And it’s discounts on top of that,” she said. “So even when you’re broke, you don’t feel it.”

    Shoppers across Los Angeles plan to spend less this holiday season, data show. While retailers tease their biggest deals and prepare for what they hope is robust demand, a Deloitte survey found that Angelenos plan to spend 14% less over the holidays compared with last year.

    Nationally, shoppers are expected to spend 10% less than last year.

    Consumers are pulling back on spending in response to economic uncertainty and rising prices, said Rebecca Lohrey, a partner at Deloitte with expertise in retail and e-commerce.

    “There is at least a perception of higher prices and higher costs of goods,” Lohrey said. “That is a concern for consumers across the board, and is one of the reasons they’re tightening their wallets a little bit.”

    The survey found that 62% of Angelenos expect the economy to weaken in the year ahead, up from 34% in 2024. Around the same percentage of respondents said they are concerned about a potential recession in the next six months.

    Across income groups, consumers are making cost-cutting trade-offs and putting more emphasis on finding the best deal, the data showed. More than half of Los Angeles respondents said they would switch brands if their first choice was too expensive.

    “It tends to be the lower income brackets or the middle income brackets that are the most likely to trade down,” said Collin Colburn, vice president of commerce and retail media at the Interactive Advertising Bureau. “This year, actually, everyone is trading down.”

    Camryn Smith and her daughter showed up to snoop around for the deals at the Americana at Brand in Glendale early Friday morning. The discounts help knock off some of the effect of inflation, she said.

    “The prices are higher and they just bring them down to what they normally would be,” Smith said. “It’s crazy.”

    Consumers are fatigued from continuous inflation and instability brought on by the Trump administration. More shoppers are regifting or considering giving homemade gifts, the Deloitte survey found.

    “We’ve been in an environment where prices continue to rise for a host of reasons, inflation being one, tariffs being another,” Colburn said. “I think when that happens year on year, it really drags on the consumer.”

    This means more shoppers are looking for ways to save on purchases — and presents — they cannot put off.

    The National Retail Federation predicts that a record number of Americans will shop the sales over Thanksgiving weekend. Retail sales in November and December are expected to grow between 3.7% and 4.2% compared with last year, the federation said.

    Cautious consumers are more eager than ever to find a hot deal, said NRF chief economist Mark Mathews.

    “People are changing the way that they spend,” he said. “They’re focusing more on stretching their dollar and getting value for the dollar.”

    Even shoppers spending more than usual may be doing it out of concern, economists say. Consumers who anticipate inflation sometimes spend now out of fear that prices will rise later.

    Brooklyn Farmer braved the crowds at Citadel to shop and try to save amid inflation.

    “People are struggling right now, but the holidays are still important to them,” he said. “The thinking is if there’s going to be discounts like this, I might as well go while I can, instead of spending more later.”

    Of those surveyed by Deloitte in Los Angeles, 43% said they planned to spend most of their holiday budget at big-box retailers and 32% said they would spend the most at digital-first retailers.

    Shoppers are also using new tools to help them find products and deals, including artificial intelligence. Data collected by the Interactive Advertising Bureau found that AI now ranks as the second-most influential shopping source, ahead of retailers’ websites and apps and behind only search engines.

    Nearly 90% of shoppers nationally said AI helps them find products they wouldn’t have found otherwise, according to the IAB data.

    Mattel, the El Segundo-based toy company, is offering up to 50% off at Target on Hot Wheels, Barbie dolls and Disney Princess toys, said company spokesperson Kelly Powers.

    “Mattel is working closely with retailers across the country on Black Friday deals,” Powers said.

    In May, Mattel said it was considering raising its prices to offset the effect of President Trump’s tariffs on China..

    On the October earnings call, however, the company said the full effect of tariffs won’t be seen until the fourth quarter.

    Discount retailers that depend heavily on foot traffic have given conflicting signals about their business.

    Walmart recently raised its sales forecast for the year after reporting a 6% year-over-year increase in revenue in the third quarter.

    Target, in contrast, missed analyst expectations and reported a 1.5% decline in sales in the third quarter. On a call with analysts earlier this month, Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell said the company “has not been performing up to its potential.”

    Of course, for many shoppers on Friday, the pilgrimage to splurge at the local mall was about more than saving.

    Ericka Pentasuglia brought her daughter to the Americana the Brand at around 3 a.m. to be the first in line for a pop-up store selling Billie Eilish perfume. She thought it was important for her to pass down the tradition of Black Friday shopping.

    “I do feel like it is dying a little bit,” Pentasuglia said. “The best thing is that you don’t lose a tradition, it continues to your children.”

    Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Christopher Buchanan, Gavin J. Quinton

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  • Opinion | Can Trump Deliver Putin?

    The hysterics will get hysterical all over again when it turns out peace isn’t nigh.

    Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.

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  • Is the U.S. invading Venezuela? Or trying to make a deal?

    CARACAS, Venezuela — On the face of it, the United States appears closer than ever to mounting a military campaign to remove President Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela.

    President Trump says he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside the Caribbean nation, and has massed troops, fighter jets and warships just off its coastline.

    U.S. service members in the region have been barred from taking Thanksgiving leave. Airlines have canceled flights to Venezuela after the Federal Aviation Administration warned of a “potentially hazardous situation” there. And on Monday the White House officially designated Maduro as a member of an international terrorist group.

    In Caracas, the nation’s capital, there is a palpable sense of anxiety, especially as each new bellicose pronouncement emerges from Washington.

    “People are very tense,” said Rosa María López, 47, a podiatrist and mother of two. “Although no one says anything because they are afraid.”

    Traffic is sparse at the Simon Bolivar Maiquetia International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, on Sunday after several international airlines canceled flights following a warning from the Federal Aviation Administration about a hazardous situation in Venezuelan airspace.

    (Ariana Cubillos / Associated Press)

    Trump has been presented with a set of military options by the Pentagon, a source familiar with the matter told The Times, and is said to be weighing his options. Still, his plans for Venezuela remain opaque.

    Trump, even while warning of a possible military action, has also continually floated the possibility of negotiations, saying he “probably would talk” to Maduro at some point.

    “I don’t rule out anything,” Trump said last week.

    Now people in both the U.S. and Venezuela are wondering: is the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean the prelude to an invasion, or a bluff intended to pressure Maduro to make a deal?

    There are members of the White House — especially Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who are desperate to unseat Maduro, a leftist autocrat whom the U.S. does not recognize as Venezuela’s legitimately elected president.

    But other members of Trump’s team seem more intent on securing access to Venezuela’s oil riches, and keeping them from China and Russia, than pushing for regime change. Parties of that camp might be willing to accept a deal with Venezuela that does not call for Maduro’s exit and a plan for a democratic transition.

    Months of U.S. saber-rattling without any direct military action against the Maduro government may be weakening the Americans’ negotiating position, said Geoff Ramsey, a Venezuela expert at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based research group. “There is a psychological component to this operation, and it’s starting to lose its credibility,” he said. “I do fear that the regime thinks that it has weathered the worst of U.S. pressure.”

    Maduro, for his part, insists he is open to dialogue. “Whoever in the U.S. wants to talk with Venezuela can do so,” he said this week. “We cannot allow the bombing and massacre of a Christian people — the people of Venezuela.”

    Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro speaks at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas.

    Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, speaking Friday at the presidential palace in Caracas, has insisted he is open to dialogue with the United States.

    (Cristian Hernandez / Associated Press)

    For years, he has refused efforts to force him from office, even in the face of punishing U.S. sanctions, domestic protests against his rule and various offensives during the first Trump administration that Caracas deemed as coup attempts. Experts say there is no evidence that Trump’s buildup of troops — or his attacks on alleged drug traffickers off of Venezuela’s coast — has weakened Maduro’s support amid the military or other hard-core backers.

    Venezuela, meanwhile, has sought to use the prospect of a U.S. invasion to bolster support at home.

    On Monday, top officials here took aim at the State Department’s designation of an alleged Venezuelan drug cartel as a foreign terrorist group. Rubio claims the Cartel de los Soles is “headed by Nicolás Maduro and other high-ranking individuals of the illegitimate Maduro regime who have corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislature and judiciary.”

    Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth praised the declaration for introducing “a whole bunch of new options” to fight what he described as “narco-terrorists” and “illegitimate regimes.”

    The Venezuelan government says the Cartel de los Soles does not exist. Foreign Minister Yván Gil described Monday’s designation as a “ridiculous fabrication.” The U.S., he said, is using a “vile lie to justify an illegitimate and illegal intervention against Venezuela under the classic U.S. format of regime change.”

    The truth is somewhere in the middle.

    The Cartel de los Soles, experts say, is less a traditional cartel — with a centralized command structure directing various cells — than a shorthand term used in the media and elsewhere to describe a loose group of corrupt Venezuelan military officials implicated in the drug trade.

    The name, Cartel of the Suns, derives from the sun insignia found on the uniforms of Venezuelan soldiers, much like stars on U.S. military uniforms. It has been around since the early 1990s, when Venezuela was an important trans-shipment point for Colombian cocaine bound for the U.S. market. Today, only a small portion of cocaine trafficked to the U.S. moves through Venezuela.

    Venezuelan journalist Ronna Rísquez Sánchez said it is unclear whether Maduro actually directs illicit activities conducted by his military or simply allows it to transpire among his government. Either way, she said, it is “happening under his nose.”

    But she did not rule out that seizing on Maduro’s possible links to drug trafficking might be a convenient “pretext” for U.S. political machinations.

    For the people of Venezuela, recent weeks have seen a heightened sense of uncertainty and anguish as people ponder ever-conflicting reports about a possible U.S. strike.

    More than a decade of political, social and economic upheaval has left people exhausted and numbed, often unable to believe anything they hear about the future of Maduro’s government. There is a widespread sense of resignation and a feeling that things can only get worse.

    “Every week we hear they are going to get rid of Maduro, but he’s still here,” said Inés Rojas, 25, a street vendor in Caracas. “We all want a change, but a change that improves things, not makes them worse. We young people don’t have a future. The doors of immigration are closed, we are locked in here, not knowing what is going to happen.”

    Mostly, people seem to want an end to the overwhelming feeling of not knowing what comes next.

    “I pray every day that this uncertainty ends,” said Cristina López Castillo, 37, an unemployed office worker who favors Maduro’s removal from office. “We don’t have a future — or a present. We live every day wondering what will happen tomorrow. I have more fear of hunger than of Trump.”

    Still, Maduro retains many backers — and not only among the military and political elite who have seen their loyalty rewarded with additional wealth. Many people remain thankful for the social welfare legacy of Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, and are wary of U.S. motivations in Venezuela.

    “We Venezuelans do not want to be anyone’s colony, nor do we want anyone to drop bombs on us to get rid of a president,” said José Gregorio Martínez Pina, 45, a construction worker in the capital.

    “Is Maduro a narco? I haven’t seen any proof,” he said. “And if they have it, they should present it, instead of having a country living under terror for weeks.”

    Times staff writers Linthicum and McDonnell reported in Mexico City. Mogollón, a special correspondent, reported in Caracas. Michael Wilner in the Times’ Washington bureau also contributed reporting.

    Kate Linthicum, Patrick J. McDonnell, Mery Mogollón

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  • Trump administration accelerates its plan to shut down the Education Department

    WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday accelerated the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education with a plan to transfer key, legally required functions to other agencies, including oversight of its $18-billion, core anti-poverty program, Title 1.

    Critics said the move was politicized and counterproductive and fear future program cuts. California Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said vital services to the state and nation’s most vulnerable students were likely to be disrupted.

    The steps move toward fulfilling a Trump campaign promise to eliminate the department, which some conservatives have long derided as wasteful, ineffective and unnecessary.

    “The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. “Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission.”

    President Trump called for the department’s elimination in a March executive order. Both he and McMahon have spoken of a broad goal of sparking innovation through local control.

    Even before this effort, states provided about 90% of their own funding for education, but federal investment is still crucial, advocates say. In particular, the federal role has focused on ensuring services are provided for overlooked students and students with higher needs, such as those facing discrimination and poverty, and students with disabilities.

    While slashing the Education Department workforce, which Trump officials have characterized as a bloated bureaucracy, the president has adopted an interventionist agenda in education as well. He has threatened pulling federal funding if states and schools don’t follow his directives to combat antisemitism, clamp down on campus protests, end diversity, equity and inclusion programs and oppose expanded rights for transsexual students, among other issues in keeping with his agenda.

    The strategy behind the moves

    The key strategy announced Tuesday creates partnerships with other federal agencies, which will take on Education Department responsibilities. The department would retain legal authority even as the actual work shifts elsewhere.

    These partnerships are meant to sidestep federal rules — under the jurisdiction of Congress — that place programs, including Title I, specifically within the Education Department.

    Title I is expected to shift to the Department of Labor, which is likely to absorb an unknown number of education workers with the necessary experience and expertise. The long-term goal is to win buy-in from Congress — and then to eliminate the Education Department entirely, which requires congressional approval.

    “As we partner with these agencies to improve federal programs, we will continue to gather best practices in each state,” McMahon said.

    She also spoke of working “with Congress to codify these reforms,” an acknowledgment that the Department of Education was created by an act of Congress.

    Administration officials insist that their actions to date are legal, citing as precedent earlier agreements between federal agencies, including one example from the Biden administration. The scale of the current effort, however, is a much larger order of magnitude.

    Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles) questioned Trump’s authority to take this action. “Not only is dismantling the education department without congressional approval illegal, but they chose today because they knew the Epstein vote would dominate the headlines. They clearly didn’t want the public to see what they were doing to our kids’ futures.”

    Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Assn., the nation’s largest teachers union, accused the administration of “taking every chance it can to hack away at the very protections and services our students need.”

    How the action affects vulnerable students

    The changes will complicate efforts to get money and services where they are needed, Thurmond said.

    “This is an unnecessary, disruptive change that is going to harm students, especially the most vulnerable,” Thurmond said. “It is clearly less efficient for state departments of education and local school districts to work with four different federal agencies instead of one.

    “Experience also tells us that any time you move expertise and responsibilities, you disrupt services. There is no way to avoid negative impacts on our children and our classrooms with a change of this magnitude.”

    But administration officials talked of new efficiencies and synergies, asserting that associating education with workforce development in the Department of Labor would make education more relevant to a student’s employment future.

    What happens to other programs?

    The Labor Department would oversee almost all grant programs that are now managed by the Education Department’s offices for K-12 and higher education. That includes funding pools for teacher training, English instruction and TRIO, a program that helps steer low-income students to college degrees.

    Tuesday’s action leaves in place the Education Department’s $1.6-trillion student loan portfolio and its funding for students with disabilities.

    But ultimately moving these programs seems likely if the mission remains to shutter the department.

    Another transfer puts Health and Human Services in charge of a grant program for parents who are attending college, along with management of foreign medical school accreditation. The State Department will take on foreign language programs. Interior will oversee programs for Native American education.

    Federal officials said states and schools should see no funding disruptions. Liz Huston, White House assistant press secretary, said Tuesday the administration “is fully committed to doing what’s best for American students, which is why it’s critical to shrink this bloated federal education bureaucracy while still ensuring efficient delivery of funds and essential programs.”

    The Education Department tested this approach in June, announcing the transfer of adult education programs to the Labor Department. Working out essential details took some five months, officials said Tuesday.

    The administration’s plan immediately drew support from Tim Walberg, a Republican who represents a southern Michigan district.

    “The past few decades have made one thing clear: The status quo is broken,” Walberg said. “As the bureaucracy swelled, left-wing bureaucrats were emboldened to waste taxpayer dollars on a radical agenda. As a result, our students have been left in the dust. Test scores are plummeting, students can’t read, and college graduates leave school burdened by debt rather than equipped with workforce-ready skills.”

    But the Education Department — and its central programs — has bipartisan support.

    One Republican expressing concern is Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick.

    “The United States Congress created the U.S. Department of Education for very good reason,” Fitzpatrick said. “And for millions of families, particularly those raising children with disabilities or living in low-income communities, the Department’s core offices are not discretionary functions. They are foundational. They safeguard civil rights, expand opportunity, and ensure that every child, in every community, has the chance to learn, grow, and succeed on equal footing.”

    Feds say programs’ funding will continue

    Department officials said programs will continue to be funded at levels set by Congress. But that doesn’t stop programs from running afoul of another portion of the Trump agenda. For example, the Tuesday announcement notes that a program to help with the education of the children of migrant workers will transfer to the Labor Department.

    However, on other fronts the Trump administration is trying to eliminate that program. The administration first tried to hold back funding approved by Congress. The administration relented under pressure. But the administration also cut funding for migrant education from its budget proposal for future years.

    Officials said they did not yet have details on whether the changes would bring further job cuts at the Education Department, which has been thinned by waves of layoffs and retirements under pressure.

    Blume is a Times staff writer. Binkley writes for the Associated Press. Times staff writers Daniel Miller and Michael Wilner contributed to this report.

    Howard Blume, Collin Binkley

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  • UC nurses cancel planned strike after reaching tentative deal with university

    A planned labor strike by University of California nurses has been called off after the university system and the nurses’ union reached a tentative deal on pay and benefits, both groups announced Sunday.

    The four-year deal, between UC and the California Nurses Assn., covers some 25,000 registered nurses working across 19 UC facilities. The two groups had been bargaining over a new contract since June.

    The deal follows another one announced on Nov. 8 between UC and the University Professional and Technical Employees union, which represents 21,000 healthcare, research and technical professionals across the UC system. Those groups had been negotiating a new contract for 17 months.

    The nurses’ union had planned to strike Monday and Tuesday in solidarity with a third union, AFSCME 3299, which represents patient care technical workers, custodians, food service employees, security guards, secretaries and other workers at UC hospitals and campuses.

    Kristan Delmarty, a registered nurse at UCLA Santa Monica and member of the nurses association’s board of directors and bargaining team, said the union “organized for and won important patient protections” in the deal — which she said nurses will vote to approve this week.

    “Going into this round of bargaining, it was our priority to ensure UC nurses were given the resources to care for our patients and ourselves after years of short-staffing and under-resourcing,” she said. “We achieved our goal and now we stand together with our AFSCME colleagues, whose essential work demands the same resources guaranteed by a fair contract.”

    The nurses association said thousands of its members still planned to join AFSCME picket lines “while not on work time.”

    UC officials also lauded the deal. Missy Matella, associate vice president for systemwide employee and labor relations, said it “reflects the tireless work and collaboration of UC’s bargaining team, medical center leaders, and systemwide leadership working hand in hand with our dedicated nurses.”

    “We’re grateful to the nurses and the CNA bargaining team for their partnership and shared commitment to what matters most: our patients and the UC community,” Matella said. “This strong, forward-looking deal honors the vital role nurses play in delivering exceptional care and advancing UC’s public service mission.”

    AFSCME 3299 was still planning to strike. On Sunday morning, it posted a video to social media of members readying strike signs.

    “When we show up together, we win together. This is for our families, our patients, and for the future we deserve!” the group wrote on X. “Members and allies, bring your energy, see you on the line!”

    Kevin Rector

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  • White House: President ready to sign deal that ends government shutdown

    Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said today that the president is ready to sign this deal to reopen the government, framing tonight as the end of *** 43 day standoff that left millions unpaid. Obviously the president’s main priority was to reopen the federal government and get people back to work, and that’s what this deal accomplishes. While the shutdown may end tonight, that doesn’t mean things are going to snap back to pre-shutdown status immediately. Air travel will most certainly have lingering impacts, the Transportation Secretary said. It will depend on how quickly air traffic controllers get back on the job. Many also retired during the shutdown. The FAA administrator said air traffic controllers will receive their full back pay within 1 week, but it’s unclear how quickly other federal workers will get paid. After past shutdowns. It took as many as 8 weeks for some to get repaid. As for SNAP benefits, when you receive them may depend on where you live. The American Public Human Services Association anticipates most states will be able to issue full benefits within 3 days after the shutdown, but for others it may take about *** week, and that’s because there could be complications with states that issued partial benefits due to the shutdown. The Small Business Administration told me today that once the government reopens, they’ll be able to start processing and approving small business loans immediately at the White House, I’m Christopher.
    Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said today that the president is ready to sign this deal to reopen the government, framing tonight as the end of *** 43 day standoff that left millions unpaid. Obviously the president’s main priority was to reopen the federal government and get people back to work, and that’s what this deal accomplishes. While the shutdown may end tonight, that doesn’t mean things are going to snap back to pre-shutdown status immediately. Air travel will most certainly have lingering impacts, the Transportation Secretary said. It will depend on how quickly air traffic controllers get back on the job. Many also retired during the shutdown. The FAA administrator said air traffic controllers will receive their full back pay within 1 week, but it’s unclear how quickly other federal workers will get paid. After past shutdowns. It took as many as 8 weeks for some to get repaid. As for SNAP benefits, when you receive them may depend on where you live. The American Public Human Services Association anticipates most states will be able to issue full benefits within 3 days after the shutdown, but for others it may take about *** week, and that’s because there could be complications with states that issued partial benefits due to the shutdown. The Small Business Administration told me today that once the government reopens, they’ll be able to start processing and approving small business loans immediately at the White House, I’m Christopher.

    White House: President ready to sign deal that ends government shutdown

    The government shutdown, now in its 43rd day, may conclude tonight as the House plans to vote on reopening, with the president ready to sign the agreement.

    Updated: 5:20 PM EST Nov 12, 2025

    Editorial Standards ⓘ


    White House Correspondent

    The government shutdown, which has lasted nearly 43 days, could end tonight as the House prepares to vote on reopening the federal government, with the president ready to sign the agreement. The White House press secretary framed tonight as the end of a standoff that left hundreds of thousands of people out of work and millions without pay.”Obviously, the president’s main priority was to reopen the federal government and get people back to work, and that’s what this deal accomplishes,” said Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary.While the shutdown may end tonight, the return to pre-shutdown status will not be immediate. Air travel is expected to experience lingering impacts, as the transportation secretary noted that the speed of recovery will depend on how quickly air traffic controllers return to work, with many having retired during the shutdown. The FAA administrator stated that air traffic controllers will receive their full back pay within a week, but it remains unclear how quickly other federal workers will be compensated. In previous shutdowns, it took up to eight weeks for some workers to receive back pay.Regarding SNAP benefits, the American Public Human Services Association anticipates that most states will issue full benefits within three days after the shutdown ends, though some states may take about a week due to complications from issuing partial benefits during the shutdown.The Small Business Administration has indicated that once the government reopens, it will immediately begin processing and approving loans for small businesses.An AP News/NORC poll shows the president’s job approval suffered during the shutdown, with approval among Republicans for his handling of the federal government dropping from 81% in March to 68% this past week. Only one in four independents now approve of his management of the government. Despite this decline, the president’s overall approval rating and his handling of key issues like the economy and immigration remain largely unchanged.Regarding the lawsuit about SNAP benefits that went to the Supreme Court, the administration stated that full benefits will be paid once the government reopens, rendering the lawsuit moot.Get the latest from our Washington Bureau here:

    WASHINGTON —

    The government shutdown, which has lasted nearly 43 days, could end tonight as the House prepares to vote on reopening the federal government, with the president ready to sign the agreement.

    The White House press secretary framed tonight as the end of a standoff that left hundreds of thousands of people out of work and millions without pay.

    “Obviously, the president’s main priority was to reopen the federal government and get people back to work, and that’s what this deal accomplishes,” said Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary.

    While the shutdown may end tonight, the return to pre-shutdown status will not be immediate. Air travel is expected to experience lingering impacts, as the transportation secretary noted that the speed of recovery will depend on how quickly air traffic controllers return to work, with many having retired during the shutdown.

    The FAA administrator stated that air traffic controllers will receive their full back pay within a week, but it remains unclear how quickly other federal workers will be compensated. In previous shutdowns, it took up to eight weeks for some workers to receive back pay.

    Regarding SNAP benefits, the American Public Human Services Association anticipates that most states will issue full benefits within three days after the shutdown ends, though some states may take about a week due to complications from issuing partial benefits during the shutdown.

    The Small Business Administration has indicated that once the government reopens, it will immediately begin processing and approving loans for small businesses.

    An AP News/NORC poll shows the president’s job approval suffered during the shutdown, with approval among Republicans for his handling of the federal government dropping from 81% in March to 68% this past week. Only one in four independents now approve of his management of the government. Despite this decline, the president’s overall approval rating and his handling of key issues like the economy and immigration remain largely unchanged.

    Regarding the lawsuit about SNAP benefits that went to the Supreme Court, the administration stated that full benefits will be paid once the government reopens, rendering the lawsuit moot.

    Get the latest from our Washington Bureau here:

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  • House is poised to approve measure to end longest government shutdown in U.S. history

    WASHINGTON — The longest government shutdown in U.S. history was poised to come to an end Wednesday as the House finalized a vote on a spending package that President Trump was ready to sign into law as soon as it reached his desk.

    “President Trump looks forward to finally ending this devastating Democrat shutdown with his signature, and we hope that signing will take place later tonight,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press briefing earlier on Wednesday.

    The president’s signature will mark the end of a government shutdown that for 43 days left thousands of federal workers without pay, millions of low-income Americans uncertain on whether they would receive food assistance, and travelers facing delays at airports.

    The vote, which began Wednesday evening, also was a cap to a frenetic day in Capitol Hill in which lawmakers publicly released a trove of records from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate and welcomed the newest member of Congress, a Democrat from Arizona who was key in forcing a vote to demand the Justice Department release all the Epstein files.

    The spending package, when signed by the president, will fund the government through Jan. 30, 2026, and reinstate federal workers who were laid off during the shutdown. It will also guarantee backpay for federal employees who were furloughed or worked without pay during the budget impasse.

    The package does not include an extension to Affordable Care Act healthcare tax credits that are set to expire at the end of the year — a core demand Democrats tried to negotiate during the seven weeks the government was shut down.

    Ahead of the floor vote, House Democrats were steadfast in their opposition to a deal that did not address the lapsing healthcare subsidies.

    “We are not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said.

    If the tax credits expire, premiums will more than double on average for more than 20 million Americans who use the healthcare marketplace, according to independent analysts at the research firm KFF.

    Another point of contention during the floor debate was a provision in the funding bill that will allow senators to sue the federal government if their phone records are obtained without them being notified.

    The provision, which is retroactive to 2022, appears to be tailored for eight Republican senators who last month found their phone records have been accessed as part of a Biden-era investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.

    If they successfully sue, each violation would be worth at least $500,000, according to the bill language.

    Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the senators whose phone records were accessed, said Wednesday he will “definitely” sue when the legal avenue once it becomes available.

    “If you think I’m going to settle this thing for a millions dollars? No. I want to make it so painful, no one ever does this again,” Graham told reporters.

    Several Democrats slammed the provision on the House floor. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said it was “unconscionable” to vote in favor of the spending bill with that language tucked in.

    “How is this even on the floor? How can we vote to enrich ourselves by stealing from the American people?” she said.

    Some House Republicans were caught off guard by the provision and said they disagreed with the provision. The concern was enough to get Speaker Mike Johnson to announced that House Republicans will plan to fast-track legislation to repeal the provision next week.

    Epstein files loomed large over vote

    The House began voting on the bill after Johnson swore Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) into office, after refusing to do so for seven weeks.

    When Grijalva walked into the House floor and was greeted with applause by colleagues cheering her name, she immediately called out Johnson for delaying her taking the oath of office.

    “One individual should not be able to unilaterally obstruct the swearing in of a dully elected member of Congress for political reasons,” Grijalva said, while equating the decision to “an abuse of power.”

    After finishing her remarks, the Democrat immediately signed a petition to force a House floor vote demanding the full release of the Justice Department’s files on Jeffrey Epstein.

    Her signature was the final action needed to force a floor vote. The move is sure to reignite a pressure campaign to release documents tied to Epstein, just hours after House Democrats and Republicans released a trove of records from the Epstein estate.

    The documents included emails from the late sex trafficker that said Trump had “spent hours” with a victim at his house and Trump “knew about the girls.”

    “Justice cannot wait another day,” Grijalva said.

    In a social media post Wednesday, Trump accused Democrats of trying to use the “Jeffrey Epstein Hoax” as a distraction from their failed negotiations during the government shutdown.

    “There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!” Trump wrote.

    Ana Ceballos

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  • Republicans take a victory lap as House gathers to end shutdown

    WASHINGTON — President Trump and Republican lawmakers took a victory lap on Tuesday after securing bipartisan support to reopen the government, ending the longest shutdown in U.S. history without ceding ground to any core Democratic demands.

    House members were converging on Washington for a final vote expected as early as Wednesday, after 60 senators — including seven Democrats and an independent — advanced the measure on Monday night. Most Democratic lawmakers in the House are expected to oppose the continuing resolution, which does not include an extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits that had been a central demand during the shutdown negotiations.

    The result, according to independent analysts, is that premiums will more than double on average for more than 20 million Americans who use the healthcare marketplace, rising from an average of $888 to $1,904 for out-of-pocket payments annually, according to KFF.

    Democrats in the Senate who voted to reopen the government said they had secured a promise from Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, that they would get a vote on extending the tax credits next month.

    But the vote is likely to fail down party lines. And even if it earned some Republican support, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, has made no promises he would give the measure a vote in the lower chamber.

    An end to the shutdown comes at a crucial time for the U.S. aviation industry ahead of one of the busiest travel seasons around the Thanksgiving holiday. The prolonged closure of the federal government led federal employees in the sector to call out sick in large numbers, prompting an unprecedented directive from the Federation Aviation Administration that slowed operations at the nation’s biggest airports.

    Lawmakers are racing to vote before federal employees working in aviation safety miss yet another paycheck this week, potentially extending frustration within their ranks and causing further delays at airports entering the upcoming holiday week.

    It will be the first time the House conducts legislative work in over 50 days, a marathon stretch that has resulted in a backlog of work for lawmakers on a wide range of issues, from appropriations and stock trading regulations to a discharge petition calling for the release of files in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.

    “We look forward to the government reopening this week so Congress can get back to our regular legislative session,” Johnson told reporters Monday. “There will be long days and long nights here for the foreseeable future to make up for all this lost time that was imposed upon us.”

    To reopen the government, the spending package needs to pass the House, where Republicans hold a slim majority and Democrats have vowed to vote against a deal that does not address healthcare costs.

    Still, Trump and Republican leaders believe they have enough votes to push it through the chamber and reopen the government later in the week.

    Trump has called the spending package a “very good” deal and has indicated that he will sign it once it gets to his desk.

    At a Veterans Day event on Tuesday, Trump thanked Thune and Johnson for their work on their work to reopen the government. Johnson was in the crowd listening to Trump’s remarks.

    “Congratulations to you and to John and to everybody on a very big victory,” Trump said in a speech at Arlington National Cemetery. “We are opening back our country. It should’ve never been closed.”

    While Trump lauded the measure as a done deal, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the chamber, said his party would still try to delay or tank the legislation with whatever tools it had left.

    “House Democrats will strongly oppose any legislation that does not decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis,” Jeffries said in a CNN interview Tuesday morning.

    Just like in the Senate, California Democrats in the House are expected to vote against the shutdown deal because it does not address the expiring healthcare subsidies.

    Rep. Nancy Pelosi said the shutdown deal reached in the Senate “fails to meet the needs of America’s working families” and said she stood with House Democratic leaders in opposing the legislation.

    “We must continue to fight for a responsible, bipartisan path forward that reopens the government and keeps healthcare affordable for the American people,” Pelosi said in a social media post.

    California Republicans in the House, meanwhile, have criticized Democrats for trying to stop the funding agreement from passing.

    “These extremists only care about their radical base regardless of the impact to America,” Rep. Ken Calvert of Corona said in a social media post.

    Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) publicly called on Johnson to negotiate with Democrats on healthcare during the shutdown. He said in an interview last month that he thought there was “a lot of room” to address concerns on both sides of the aisle on how to address the rising costs of healthcare.

    Kiley said Monday that he was proposing legislation with Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-San José) that proposed extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits for another two years.

    He said the bill would “stop massive increase in healthcare costs for 22 million Americans whose premium tax credits are about to expire.”

    “Importantly, the extension is temporary and fully paid for, so it can’t increase the deficit,” Kiley said in reference to a frequent concern cited by Republicans that extending the credits would contribute to the national debt.

    Michael Wilner, Ana Ceballos

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  • Senate approves shutdown deal as Democrats balk at lack of healthcare relief

    WASHINGTON — The Senate gave final approval Monday night to a deal that could end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, sending it to the House, where Democrats are launching a last-ditch effort to block the measure because it does not address healthcare costs.

    Senators approved the shutdown deal on a 60-40 vote, a day after Senate Republicans reached a deal with eight senators who caucus with Democrats. The movement in the Senate prompted Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) earlier on Monday to urge House members to start making their way back to Washington, anticipating that the chamber will be ready to vote on the bill later in the week.

    The spending plan, which does not include an extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year, has frustrated many Democrats who spent seven weeks pressuring Republicans to extend the tax credits. It would, however, fund the government through January, reinstate federal workers who were laid off during the shutdown and ensure that federal employees who were furloughed receive back pay.

    Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) also promised senators a vote in December that would put lawmakers on record on the healthcare subsidies. Thune said in a speech Monday that he was “grateful that the end is in sight” with the compromise.

    “Let’s get it done, get it over to the House so we can get this government open,” he said.

    Senate Democrats who defected have argued that a December vote on subsidies is the best deal they could get as the minority party, and that forcing vulnerable Republicans in the chamber to vote on the issue will help them win ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

    As the Senate prepared to vote on the deal Monday, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader of the chamber, continued to reiterate his opposition to what he called a “Republican bill.” Schumer, who has faced backlash from Democrats for losing members of his caucus, said the bill “fails to do anything of substance to fix America’s healthcare crisis.”

    House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) speaks to reporters about the government shutdown.

    (Mariam Zuhaib / Associated Press)

    Thune’s promise to allow a vote in the Senate does not guarantee a favorable outcome for Democrats, who would need to secure Republican votes for passage through the chamber. And the chance to address healthcare costs will be made even harder by Johnson, who has not committed to holding a vote on his chamber in the future.

    “I’m not promising anybody anything,” he said. “I’m going to let the process play out.”

    House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), meanwhile, told reporters that House Democrats will continue to make the case that extending the subsidies is what Americans are demanding from elected officials, and that there is still a fight to be waged in the chamber — even if it is a long shot.

    “What we are going to continue to do as House Democrats is to partner with our allies throughout America is to wage the fight, to stay in the Colosseum,” Jeffries said at a news conference.

    Some Republicans have agreed with Democrats during the shutdown that healthcare costs need to be addressed, but it is unlikely that House Democrats will be able to build enough bipartisan support to block the deal in the chamber.

    Still, Jeffries said the “loudmouths” in the Republican Party who want to do something about healthcare costs have an opportunity to act now that the House is expected to be back in session.

    “They can no longer hide. They can no longer hide,” Jeffries said. “They are not going to be able to hide this week when they return from their vacation.”

    Democrats believed that fighting for an extension of healthcare tax credits, even at the expense of shutting down the government, would highlight their messaging on affordability, a political platform that helped lead their party to victory in elections across the country last week.

    If the tax credits are allowed to lapse at the end of the year, millions of Americans are expected to see their monthly premiums double.

    In California, premiums for federally subsidized plans available through Covered California will soar by 97% on average next year.

    Two men.

    Senate Majority Leader John Thune answers questions Monday about a possible end to the government shutdown after eight members of the Democratic caucus broke ranks and voted with Republicans.

    (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

    California’s U.S. senators, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, were among the Democrats who voted against the deal to reopen the government because it did not address healthcare costs.

    “We owe our constituents better than this. We owe a resolution that makes it possible for them to afford healthcare,” Schiff said in a video Sunday night.

    Some Republicans too have warned that their party faces backlash in the midterm elections next year if it doesn’t come up with a more comprehensive health plan.

    “We have always been open to finding solutions to reduce the oppressive cost of healthcare under the unaffordable care act,” Johnson said Monday.

    Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, for one, supported an expeditious vote to reopen the government but insisted on a vote to eliminate language from the spending deal he said would “unfairly target Kentucky’s hemp industry.” His amendment did get a vote and was eventually rejected on a 76-24 vote Monday night.

    With the bill headed to the House, Republicans expect to have the votes to pass it, Johnson said.

    Any piece of legislation needs to be approved by both the Senate and House and be signed by the president.

    Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, President Trump said he would support the legislative deal to reopen the government.

    “We’re going to be opening up our country,” Trump said. “Too bad it was closed, but we’ll be opening up our country very quickly.”

    Trump added that he would abide by a provision that would require his administration to reinstate federal workers who were laid off during the shutdown.

    “The deal is very good,” he said.

    Johnson said he spoke to the president on Sunday night and described Trump as “very anxious” to reopen the government.

    “It’s after 40 days of wandering in the wilderness, and making the American people suffer needlessly, that some Senate Democrats finally have stepped forward to end the pain,” Johnson said. “Our long national nightmare is finally coming to an end, and we’re grateful for that.”

    Ana Ceballos, Michael Wilner

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  • Schumer is pressured to step aside as Senate Democratic leader after shutdown vote

    WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York is facing mounting pressure to step aside as leader of the Senate Democratic caucus after eight members voted against his wishes Sunday, joining Republicans in a bid to end the longest government shutdown in history.

    The vote was just the latest development in a troubling week for the 74-year-old Schumer, who, after eight years as the top Senate Democrat, has faced growing calls from within the party to make way for a new generation of leadership.

    Elections last week revealed the emergence of a growing progressive movement in Schumer’s hometown, where the longtime senator declined to endorse Zohran Mamdani in his successful bid for New York City mayor.

    National progressive organizations on Monday urged him to step down and have encouraged a popular congresswoman in the state, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to run for his Senate seat in 2029. Polls show Schumer faces the lowest approval numbers of any national leader in Washington.

    His leadership troubles come on the heels of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), the first female speaker of the House, announcing her retirement, a decision that generated praise across the political aisle last week reflecting on her shrewd ability to control a sprawling House Democratic caucus during high-stakes votes.

    “Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) wrote on X after the Sunday night vote. “If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?”

    Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the top Democrat in the House, told reporters Monday that he strongly disapproved of the emerging deal in the Senate, where seven Democrats and one independent who caucuses with the party voted to proceed with government funding.

    For seven weeks, House and Senate Democrats said they would not vote for legislation to reopen the government unless they were able to secure an extension of health insurance subsidies. But the deal reached in the Senate indicated how some Democrats gave in on that bottom-line negotiation.

    Schumer reiterated his disapproval of the spending deal in a speech from the floor Monday. He criticized the compromise as a “Republican bill” even though members of his party helped broker the deal.

    “Republicans now own this healthcare crisis,” Schumer said. “They knew it was coming. We wanted to fix it and they said no, and now it is on them.”

    As Schumer delivered his speech, Jeffries spoke to reporters at a news conference on the other side of the Capitol.

    Asked whether he thought Schumer remained an effective leader and should remain in his position, Jeffries replied, “yes and yes.”

    When pressed to elaborate, Jeffries said “the overwhelming majority of Senate Democrats led by Chuck Schumer waged a valiant fight,” and turned his disapproval to the Democrats who voted with Republicans on the bill.

    “I am not going to explain what a handful of Senate Democrats have decided to do,” Jeffries said. “That’s their explanation to offer to the American people.”

    Now that the effort turns to the House, Jeffries said Democrats in the chamber will try to block a deal that does not address healthcare costs.

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom offered harsh criticism of Senate Democrats on Monday, who he said had “rolled over.”

    After speaking at the Milken Institute’s Global Investors’ Symposium in São Paulo, Newsom told The Times that the move blunted the momentum his party was experiencing following a string of victories last week.

    “You don’t start something unless you’re going to finish,” said Newsom, who next heads to the climate summit known as COP30 in Belém, Brazil. “Why the hell did we do this in the first place? We could have gotten this deal in 20 minutes. … Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on with my party.”

    Zach Wahls, a Democratic candidate for Senate in Iowa, said Schumer had “failed to lead this party in one of its most critical moments,” calling for him to step down. And Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democrat from Massachusetts, wrote that an effective leader would have been able to keep party members in line.

    “Tonight is another example of why we need new leadership,” Moulton wrote on X.

    The eight members who voted to reopen the government — 15% of the Senate Democratic caucus — voted directly against Schumer, who voted against the measure.

    Wahls speculated that the moderate members who voted with Republicans were privately given Schumer’s blessing to do so.

    “The fact that he voted against this deal, while he clearly gave it his blessing in private, is a perfect illustration of why people no longer trust the Democratic Party,” Wahls said, “and as long as he stays in a leadership role, it is going to be impossible for anybody — whether it’s in Iowa or any other swing state — to win a majority.”

    Times staff writers Wilner and Ceballos reported from Washington, and Gutierrez contributed from São Paulo.

    Michael Wilner, Ana Ceballos, Melody Gutierrez

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  • Bessent Says TikTok Deal Finalized – KXL

    The U-S Treasury Secretary says a TikTok deal has been completed.

    UNDATED – A deal that would transfer ownership of TikTok to the U.S. is moving forward. According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Chinese and American officials finalized the deal while meeting in Malaysia, and Bessent expects to finally see the resolution in the “coming weeks and months.” The deal seeks to limit the role of TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to comply with a 2024 law requiring the firm to divest from the platform or face a ban in the U.S.

    The U-S Treasury Secretary says a TikTok deal has been completed. Acquired Through MGN Online on 09/15/2025

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    Tim Lantz

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  • For California delegation and its staffers, here’s what shutdown life looks like

    WASHINGTON — Twenty-two days into the government shutdown, California Rep. Kevin Kiley spent an hour of his morning in Washington guiding a group of middle school students from Grass Valley through the empty corridors of the U.S. Capitol.

    Normally, one of his staff members would have led the tour. But the Capitol is closed to all tours during the shutdown, unless the elected member is present. So the schoolchildren from Lyman Gilmore Middle School ended up with Kiley, a Republican from Rocklin, as their personal tour guide.

    “I would have visited with these kids anyway,” Kiley said in his office after the event. “But I actually got to go on the whole tour of the Capitol with them as well.”

    Kiley’s impromptu tour is an example of how members of California’s congressional delegation are improvising their routines as the shutdown drags on and most of Washington remains at a standstill.

    Some are in Washington in case negotiations resume, others are back at home in their districts meeting with federal workers who are furloughed or working without pay, giving interviews or visiting community health centers that rely on tax credits central to the budget negotiations. One member attended the groundbreaking of a flood control project in their district. Others are traveling back and forth.

    “I’ve had to fly back to Washington for caucus meetings, while the opposition, the Republicans, don’t even convene and meet,” Rep. Maxine Waters, a longtime Los Angeles Democrat, said in an interview. “We will meet anytime, anyplace, anywhere, with [House Speaker Mike] Johnson, with the president, with the Senate, to do everything that we can to open up the government. We are absolutely unified on that.”

    The shutdown is being felt across California, which has the most federal workers outside the District of Columbia. Food assistance benefits for millions of low-income Californians could soon be delayed. And millions of Californians could see their healthcare premiums rise sharply if Affordable Care Act subsidies are allowed to expire.

    For the California delegation, the fallout at home has become impossible to ignore. Yet the shutdown is in its fourth week with no end in sight.

    In the House, Johnson has refused to call members back into session and prevented them from doing legislative work. Many California lawmakers — including Kiley, one of the few GOP lawmakers to openly criticize him — have been dismayed by the deadlock.

    “I have certainly emphasized the point that the House needs to be in session, and that canceling a month’s worth of session is not a good thing for the House or the country,” Kiley said, noting that he had privately met with Johnson.

    Kiley, who represented parts of the Sacramento suburbs and Lake Tahoe, is facing political uncertainty as California voters weigh whether to approve Proposition 50 on Nov. 4. The measure would redraw the state’s congressional districts to better favor Democrats, leaving Kiley at risk, even though the Republican says he believes he could still win if his right-leaning district is redrawn.

    The Senate has been more active, holding a series of votes on the floor and congressional hearings with Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. The chamber, however, has been unable to reach a deal to reopen the government. On Thursday, the 23rd day of the shutdown, the Senate failed to advance competing measures that would have paid federal employees who have been working without compensation.

    The Republicans’ plan would have paid active-duty members of the military and some federal workers during the shutdown. Democrats backed a bill that would have paid all federal workers and barred the Trump administration from laying off any more federal employees.

    “California has one of the largest federal workforces in the country, and no federal worker or service member should miss their paychecks because Donald Trump and Republicans refused to come to the table to protect Americans’ health care,” Sen. Alex Padilla said in a statement.

    Working conditions get harder

    The strain on federal employees — including those who work for California’s 54 delegation members — are starting to become more apparent.

    Dozens of them have been working full time without pay. Their jobs include answering phone calls and requests from constituents, setting the schedules for elected officials, writing policy memos and handling messaging for their offices.

    House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks about the shutdown at a news conference Thursday with other Republican House members.

    (Eric Lee / Getty Images)

    At the end of October, House staffers — who are paid on a monthly basis — are expected to miss their first paycheck.

    Some have been quietly told to consider borrowing money from the U.S. Senate Federal Credit Union, which is offering a “government shutdown relief loan program” that includes a no-interest loan of up to $5,000 to be repaid in full after 90 days.

    The mundane has also been disrupted. Some of the cafeterias and coffee carts that are usually open to staffers are closed. The lines to enter office buildings are long because fewer entrances are open.

    The hallways leading to the offices of California’s elected officials are quiet, except for the faint sound of occasional elevator dings. Many of their doors are adorned with signs that show who they blame for the government shutdown.

    “Trump and Republicans shut down the government,” reads a sign posted on the door that leads into Rep. Norma Torres’ (D-Pomona) office. “Our office is OPEN — WORKING for the American people.”

    Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from Torrance, posted a similar sign outside his office.

    A sign is posted outside of the office of Rep. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, in Washington.

    A sign is posted outside of the office of Rep. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, in Washington on Wednesday.

    (Ana Ceballos / Los Angeles Times)

    Rep. Vince Fong, a Republican who represents the Central Valley, has been traveling between Washington and his district. Two weeks into the shutdown, he met with veterans from the Central Valley Honor Flight and Kern County Honor Flight to make sure that their planned tour of the Capitol was not disrupted by the shutdown. Like Kiley’s tour with the schoolchildren, an elected member needed to be present for the tour to go on.

    “His presence ensured the tour could continue as planned,” Fong’s office said.

    During the tour, veterans were able to see Johnson as well, his office said.

    Shutdown highlights deep divisions

    California’s congressional delegation mirrors the broader stalemate in Washington, where entrenched positions have kept both parties at a negotiation impasse.

    Democrats are steadfast in their position that they will not agree to a deal unless Republicans extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits expiring at the end of the year, while Republicans are accusing Democrats of failing to reopen the government for political gain.

    Kiley is one of the few Republicans who has called on Johnson to negotiate with Democrats on healthcare. Kiley said he thinks there is a “a lot of room to negotiate” because there is concern on both sides of the aisle if the tax credits expire.

    “If people see a massive increase in their premiums … that’s not a good thing,” he said. “Especially in California, where the cost of living is already so high, and you’re suddenly having to pay a lot more for healthcare.”

    Rep. Robert Garcia, the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, in a press event Wednesday with five other California Democrats talked about the need to fight for the healthcare credits.

    Garcia, of Long Beach, said he recently visited a healthcare center in San Bernardino County that serves seniors with disabilities. He said the cuts would be “devastating” and would prompt the center to close.

    “That’s why we are doing everything in our power to negotiate a deal that reopens the federal government and saves healthcare,” he said.

    As the shutdown continues, many Democrats are digging their heels on the issue.

    At an Oct. 3 event outside of Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, for instance, Rep. Laura Friedman held a news conference with nurses and hospital staff and said she would not vote for a bill to reopen the government unless there is a deal on healthcare.

    Last week, the Glendale Democrat said her position hasn’t changed.

    “I will not support a shutdown deal that strips healthcare from tens of thousands of my constituents,” she said.

    Ana Ceballos

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  • President Trump says he’s ending trade talks with Canada over TV ad

    President Donald Trump said late Thursday that he was ending “all trade negotiations” with Canada because of a television ad opposing U.S. tariffs that he said misstated the facts and called “egregious behavior” aimed at influencing U.S. court decisions.The post on Trump’s social media site came after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he aims to double his country’s exports to countries outside the U.S. because of the threat posed by Trump’s tariffs. Trump’s call for an abrupt end to negotiations could further inflame trade tensions that already have been building between the two neighboring countries for months.Related video above: Earlier this month, Trump explained why a deal with Canada is complicatedTrump posted, “The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs.”“The ad was for $75,000. They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED.”Carney’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The prime minister was set to leave Friday morning for a summit in Asia, while Trump is set to do the same Friday evening.Earlier Thursday night, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute posted on X that an ad created by the government of Ontario “misrepresents the ‘Presidential Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade’ dated April 25, 1987.” It added that Ontario did not receive foundation permission “to use and edit the remarks.”The foundation said it is “reviewing legal options in this matter” and invited the public to watch the unedited video of Reagan’s address.Carney met with Trump earlier this month to try to ease trade tensions, as the two countries and Mexico prepare for a review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement — a trade deal Trump negotiated in his first term, but has since soured on.More than three-quarters of Canadian exports go to the U.S., and nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US$2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border daily.Trump said earlier this week that he had seen the ad on television and said that it showed that his tariffs were having an impact.“I saw an ad last night from Canada. If I was Canada, I’d take that same ad also,” he said then.In his own post on X last week, Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, posted a link to the ad and the message: “It’s official: Ontario’s new advertising campaign in the U.S. has launched.”He continued, “Using every tool we have, we’ll never stop making the case against American tariffs on Canada. The way to prosperity is by working together.”A spokesperson for Ford didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday night. But Ford previously got Trump’s attention with an electricity surcharge to U.S. states. Trump responded by doubling steel and aluminum tariffs.The president has moved to impose steep U.S. tariffs on many goods from Canada. In April, Canada’s government imposed retaliatory levies on certain U.S. goods — but it carved out exemptions for some automakers to bring specific numbers of vehicles into the country, known as remission quotas.Trump’s tariffs have especially hurt Canada’s auto sector, much of which is based in Ontario. This month, Stellantis said it would move a production line from Ontario to Illinois

    WASHINGTON —

    President Donald Trump said late Thursday that he was ending “all trade negotiations” with Canada because of a television ad opposing U.S. tariffs that he said misstated the facts and called “egregious behavior” aimed at influencing U.S. court decisions.

    The post on Trump’s social media site came after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he aims to double his country’s exports to countries outside the U.S. because of the threat posed by Trump’s tariffs. Trump’s call for an abrupt end to negotiations could further inflame trade tensions that already have been building between the two neighboring countries for months.

    Related video above: Earlier this month, Trump explained why a deal with Canada is complicated

    Trump posted, “The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs.”

    “The ad was for $75,000. They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED.”

    Carney’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The prime minister was set to leave Friday morning for a summit in Asia, while Trump is set to do the same Friday evening.

    Earlier Thursday night, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute posted on X that an ad created by the government of Ontario “misrepresents the ‘Presidential Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade’ dated April 25, 1987.” It added that Ontario did not receive foundation permission “to use and edit the remarks.”

    The foundation said it is “reviewing legal options in this matter” and invited the public to watch the unedited video of Reagan’s address.

    Carney met with Trump earlier this month to try to ease trade tensions, as the two countries and Mexico prepare for a review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement — a trade deal Trump negotiated in his first term, but has since soured on.

    More than three-quarters of Canadian exports go to the U.S., and nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US$2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border daily.

    Trump said earlier this week that he had seen the ad on television and said that it showed that his tariffs were having an impact.

    “I saw an ad last night from Canada. If I was Canada, I’d take that same ad also,” he said then.

    In his own post on X last week, Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, posted a link to the ad and the message: “It’s official: Ontario’s new advertising campaign in the U.S. has launched.”

    He continued, “Using every tool we have, we’ll never stop making the case against American tariffs on Canada. The way to prosperity is by working together.”

    A spokesperson for Ford didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday night. But Ford previously got Trump’s attention with an electricity surcharge to U.S. states. Trump responded by doubling steel and aluminum tariffs.

    The president has moved to impose steep U.S. tariffs on many goods from Canada. In April, Canada’s government imposed retaliatory levies on certain U.S. goods — but it carved out exemptions for some automakers to bring specific numbers of vehicles into the country, known as remission quotas.

    Trump’s tariffs have especially hurt Canada’s auto sector, much of which is based in Ontario. This month, Stellantis said it would move a production line from Ontario to Illinois

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  • Former MVP Russell Westbrook to sign with Sacramento Kings, sources say

    Russell Westbrook has agreed on a deal to play with the Sacramento Kings and is expected to be signed on Thursday, league sources confirmed to KCRA 3’s Michelle Dapper.Westbrook is a nine-time All-Star and was named the NBA’s MVP in 2017.He earlier won an Olympic gold medal in London in 2012.This will be the 18th season for the 36-year-old point guard, who most recently played with the Denver Nuggets.The deal was first reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania.While the signing is not yet official, Kings’ players were asked what an addition like Westbrook would bring to the team. Dennis Schröder described him as a “competitor and close friend” that never backs down. “He’s an amazing player, no question,” rookie big-man Maxime Raynaud said. The Kings will begin their regular season against the Suns in Phoenix on Oct. 22 and their home opener is on Oct. 24 against the Utah Jazz.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

    Russell Westbrook has agreed on a deal to play with the Sacramento Kings and is expected to be signed on Thursday, league sources confirmed to KCRA 3’s Michelle Dapper.

    Westbrook is a nine-time All-Star and was named the NBA’s MVP in 2017.

    He earlier won an Olympic gold medal in London in 2012.

    This will be the 18th season for the 36-year-old point guard, who most recently played with the Denver Nuggets.

    The deal was first reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania.

    This content is imported from Twitter.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    While the signing is not yet official, Kings’ players were asked what an addition like Westbrook would bring to the team.

    Dennis Schröder described him as a “competitor and close friend” that never backs down.

    This content is imported from Twitter.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    “He’s an amazing player, no question,” rookie big-man Maxime Raynaud said.

    This content is imported from Twitter.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    The Kings will begin their regular season against the Suns in Phoenix on Oct. 22 and their home opener is on Oct. 24 against the Utah Jazz.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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