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Government shutdown updates: Leavitt says Trump exploring cutting aid to Portland

"We will not fund states that allow anarchy," she told reporters.

Last Updated: October 4, 2025, 8:50 AM EDT

The federal government remains closed amid a bitter impasse on Capitol Hill over competing congressional spending bills.

President Donald Trump and Republicans have cast blame for the shutdown on Democrats' health care demands, while Democrats insist Republicans need to negotiate.

The Trump administration has threatened mass layoffs of some federal workers during the shutdown.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
Oct 02, 2025, 7:34 PM EDT

Trumps and Vances have dinner together

Trump and first lady Melania Trump are having dinner at the Vice President’s Residence with Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance, the White House confirmed.

-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie

Oct 02, 2025, 6:38 PM EDT

RFK Jr. says FDA approved abortion drug only 'because federal law requires' it

In an X post explaining the FDA’s decision to approve a new generic version of mifepristone, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the agency approved the new tablet only “because federal law requires approval when an application proves the generic is identical to the brand-name drug.”

Kennedy posted a copy of a letter he sent last month to Republican attorneys general in which he pledged the FDA would conduct a new review of abortion pills, a move abortion rights advocates say could lead to significant restrictions on the most common abortion method nationwide.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivers remarks on autism while President Donald Trump listens, at the White House, in Washington, September 22, 2025.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

In his post on Thursday, Kennedy doubled down on that pledge, and specifically access to mifepristone through telehealth appointments, which is how many women access abortion care in states with bans.

-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett and Will McDuffie

Oct 02, 2025, 5:01 PM EDT

Trump says Schumer and Jeffries were ‘very nice’ in Monday meeting, not so much after

In preview clips published ahead of a full interview with the Trump-friendly network OANN Thursday night, the president recounted his meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Monday.

“Well, we got along very well. I learned that they were much different outside of the office, because in the office, they were total gentlemen,” Trump said. “Outside of the office, they get out to the press and they start ranting and raving. I said, ‘Are those the two guys who just left?’ They were very nice. We had a nice talk for an hour, and they went outside, and it was a different group of people. I mean, they're political people.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer talk to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House, Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington.
Alex Brandon/AP

“And one of the other things is fraud, waste and abuse. They don't want to have any anybody. I mean, the whole thing is crazy. When you find obvious fraud, you want to take care of it, waste and abuse, and they don't want anything to change, and what that's going to do is ruin it for the people that are taxpaying, great American patriots,” Trump continued.

-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie

Oct 02, 2025, 1:59 PM EDT

Thune says it's 'unlikely' Senate will take weekend votes if Friday vote fails

The Senate floor is open Thursday, but the chamber is not voting due to Yom Kippur. The Senate is, however, expected to vote again Friday on both the Democrat funding bill that includes health care provisions and the short-term government funding bill.

As of now, however, Thune said he is not expecting the Senate to engage in weekend work.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaks to reporters outside of his office at the US Capitol, on the second day of the US government shutdown in Washington, October 2, 2025.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

"Unlikely," Thune said Thursday when asked if he'd hold votes this weekend.

Thune suggested he could be open to a meeting with Minority Leader Schumer over the weekend, but it would depend on its purpose.
"We'll see, if the meeting is focused around just a photo op along the lines of what they would try to get out of the White House meeting, I'm not sure there's a lot of purpose in that. But if they want to actually come forward and talk about how to end this thing, we'll see," he said.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

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