Democratic and Republican congressional leaders are heading to the White House for a meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday in a late effort to avoid a government shutdown, but both sides have shown hardly any willingness to budge from their entrenched positions. 

If government funding legislation isn’t passed by Congress and signed by Trump on Tuesday night, many government offices across the nation will be temporarily shuttered and nonexempt federal employees will be furloughed, adding to the strain on workers and the nation’s economy. 

Republicans are daring Democrats to vote against legislation that would keep government funding mostly at current levels, but Democrats have held firm. They’re using one of their few points of leverage to demand Congress take up legislation to extend health care benefits.

Trump has shown little interest in entertaining Democrats’ demands on health care. 

The Latest:

Trump: Gaza’s people have ‘had a rough life with Hamas’ but could have ‘a brighter future’

There are many Palestinians who wish to live in peace,” Trump said.

The president, partly reading from prepared remarks and partly speaking off-the-cuff, said his plan would give the Palestinian people a chance to have that peace.

“I challenge the Palestinians to take responsibility for their destiny because that’s what we’re giving them. We’re giving them responsibility for their destiny,” he said.

Trump says Israel would have the US’s ‘full backing’ to destroy Hamas if the group rejects his plan

The president said that if the militant group does not accept the plan, Israel “would have my full backing” to “finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas.”

“Bibi, you’d have our full backing to do what you would have to do,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.

But he said he hoped they’d have a peace deal.

JUST IN: White House releases Trump plan for ending Israel-Hamas war and Gaza governance; no word on Israel or Hamas acceptance

Trump says Netanyahu has agreed to his plan

Trump, in his opening remarks, said he wants to thank the Israeli prime minister for agreeing to the plan.

“Today is a historic day for peace,” Trump said. “Let’s call it eternal peace in the Middle East.”

Netanyahu has not yet spoken or confirmed he has agreed to the plan.

White House releases plan to end Israel-Hamas war

The White House released its 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza and establish governance for Gaza moving forward.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Israel or Hamas has approved the plan, which was released shortly before Trump’s news conference with Netanyahu.

The plan calls for a temporary governing board that would be headed by Trump and include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. It wouldn’t require people to leave Gaza if they don’t want to, and calls for the war to immediately end if both sides accept.

JUST IN: White House releases Trump plan for ending Israel-Hamas war and Gaza governance; no word on Israel or Hamas acceptance

With Epstein files petition one signature short, House Dems demand new member’s swearing in

House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark sent a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday, urging him to reschedule House votes this week so that Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva can be officially sworn in.

Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona, was elected last week to succeed her father, the late U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva. She has pledged to sign a discharge petition to compel the release of all federal files related to Jeffrey Epstein – a petition currently just one signature short of the required threshold.

“Any delay in swearing in Representative-elect Grijalva unnecessarily deprives her constituents of representation and calls into question if the motive behind the delay is to further avoid the release of the Epstein files,” wrote Clark.

‘Mine, baby mine’: Trump administration again boosts coal

Officials said Monday they will open 13 million acres of federal lands for coal mining and provide $625 million to  recommission or modernize coal-fired power plants, as Trump continues his efforts to reverse the yearslong decline in the U.S. coal industry.

Under Trump’s orders, the Energy Department has required fossil-fueled power plants in Michigan and Pennsylvania to keep operating past their retirement dates to meet rising U.S. power demand amid growth in data centers, artificial intelligence and electric cars.

The latest announcement would allow those efforts to expand.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the initiative would fulfill a Trump promise to “mine baby, mine.”

Netanyahu coalition partner praises the Qatar attack

Israel’s far-right national security minister has defended Israel’s attack in Qatar following Netanyahu’s apology to the Gulf state.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, a key coalition partner of Netanyahu’s, says the attempt to strike Hamas’ leaders was “an important, just and ethical attack.”

“It is very good that it happened,” he wrote on X.

Netanyahu apologizes for Israeli strike inside Qatar targeting Hamas leaders

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apologized to Qatar for an airstrike Israel conducted against Hamas operatives in Qatar earlier this month in Doha.

Diplomatic sources familiar with the matter said Netanyahu spoke by phone with Qatari Emir Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani to express regret over the strike that killed at least one local Qatari security guard. The call came as Netanyahu was meeting with Trump to discuss a new plan to end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private diplomatic conversation.

Qatar and other Arab nations condemned Israel’s strike and said it dealt a significant blow to efforts to end the conflict in Gaza.

Associated Press reporter Joe Federline and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

JUST IN: Netanyahu calls Qatari prime minister to apologize for Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Doha, AP sources say

Republican governors urge Senate Democrats to pass ‘clean’ funding measure

Republican governors are urging Trump and Senate leaders to avoid a federal government shutdown.

A letter signed by 25 GOP executives echoes White House calls for the Senate to pass a continuing resolution that would extend government operations beyond a Tuesday deadline.

Democrats want a deal to include reversals of pending Republican health care cuts.

In their letter, the Republican governors accuse Democrats of holding “the federal government funding hostage” and risking “immediate consequences in every state across America that cannot be overlooked.” The letter notes that Democrats “did vote for this funding extension just six months ago.”

At that point, Republicans hadn’t yet passed Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill, which includes future Medicaid cuts and didn’t preserve expiring tax subsidies for people who buy health insurance in Affordable Care Act exchanges.

Democrats see the current funding fight as leverage on those matters, and they believe that Trump ultimately would be blamed for any extended shutdown and potential layoffs of federal workers.

Egypt and UAE leaders say they hope Trump plan can end the war in Gaza

The leaders of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates on Monday expressed their support to an initiative by Trump to end the war in Gaza.

That’s according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency following talks in Cairo between President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and his Emirati counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed.

According to the statement, both leaders affirmed “the importance of supporting this peaceful initiative, that paves the way for achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace in the region.”

The statement didn’t offer details about Trump’s proposal.

Israel protesters urge Trump to end the Gaza war

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the U.S. diplomatic office in Tel Aviv are calling on President Donald Trump to end the war and bring home the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Protesters hoisted large posters of the hostages, blew horns and pounded on drums.

“Bring them home now,” the crowd chanted. “Why are they still there?”

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is among the hostages, said Trump is the families’ best hope.

“Fight for us President Trump. Force a full agreement on Netanyahu and the end of the war,” she said.

Trump administration brings back some school mental health grants

After ending $1 billion in grant funding for student mental health initiatives this spring, the Education Department is making $270 million of the money available for new bids.

The funding was originally part of gun control legislation that passed in the aftermath of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting. It helped districts train and retain school counselors, psychologist and social workers, but the Trump administration said its goals for diversity in hiring conflicted with its priorities.

The new grants are available to support school psychologists, but not counselors or social workers. The new guidelines also state that recipients may not use the money for “gender ideology,” political activism or racial stereotyping.

The end of the mental health grants was challenged in a lawsuit that is still pending.

ICE says the man killed in Dallas shooting last week was from El Salvador

The agency identified the 37-year-old man who was shot and killed while being transported in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement van as Norlan Guzman-Fuentes.

ICE said Monday that it wasn’t known when or where Guzman-Fuentes entered the country. It said he was arrested on criminal charges in 2012 in Florida and in 2020 in Texas.

The agency said he was transferred to ICE custody on Sept. 24 after Dallas police arrested him in August.

Guzman-Fuentes was killed when a gunman opened fire Wednesday on the Dallas immigration field office. Two other detainees were critically wounded and the gunman fatally shot himself.

Trump official blasts Security Council session ahead of Netanyahu meeting

Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., criticized the U.N. Security Council for holding a meeting Monday on Israel’s settlement activity in the West Bank, saying it was a mere distraction from U.S. efforts to end the Gaza war.

“Unfortunately colleagues, today’s meeting is yet another example of this council’s obsessive focus on Israel,” Waltz said, adding that the “constant drumbeat of meetings” only distracts from the work needed to address issues of international peace and security.

As the sole defender of Israel’s actions on the 15-member council, the U.S. stood alone once again Monday in failing to condemn the expansion of settlement and settler violence against Palestinians. 

This comes as Trump is set to meet with Netanyahu after he vowed not to allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank.

Trump wants 100 per cent import tax on movies made outside of US

The president has little love for foreign cinema, saying the movie business “has been stolen” from Hollywood and the U.S.

“Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

It was unclear how these tariffs would operate, since movies and TV shows can be transmitted digitally without going through ports. 

Nor was it clear what this would mean for globetrotting U.S. movies that depend on foreign locations as part of the story, such as the James Bond franchise.

Nor was it clear what the legal basis would be for these import taxes. Trump has previously relied on national security grounds and an economic emergency in the form of trade deficits to justify his tariffs.

Trump’s team keeps posting AI portraits of him. We keep clicking

Here he is, depicted at six months in office, chiseled and brawny, as mighty as the very nation. 

Here he is as a Star Wars Jedi wielding a patriot-red lightsaber, rescuing our galaxy from the forces of evil. 

On Trump’s social media accounts and his second-term administration, a new official image of the president is emerging bit by bit: one generated artificially.

Artificial imagery isn’t new for Trump, an early target of AI-generated simulacra who later exploited the technology during his 2024 campaign for the presidency. 

“It works both ways,” the Republican president said of AI-generated content at a news conference earlier this month. “If something happens that’s really bad, maybe I’ll have to just blame AI.”

Read more about the Trump administration’s use of artificial intelligence

White House: Trump giving Dems ‘one last chance to be reasonable’

 The White House is making its position ahead of Trump’s meeting with top congressional leaders clear.

“The president wants to keep the government open, he wants to keep the government funded,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House on Monday morning.

Trump, Leavitt said, “is giving Democrats one last chance to be reasonable today.”

Democrats are demanding health care provisions in exchange for supporting the short-term funding bill. Leavitt hinted that negotiations were possible independent of the shutdown fight, saying “there are, of course, important policy discussions that can be had.”

“But we are nearing a government shutdown,” she added.

White House: Church attack suspect “hated people of the Mormon faith”

Leavitt said federal authorities are still investigating Sunday’s deadly attack on the Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, house of worship that killed four and wounded eight. 

But she said investigators are looking into possible animus by the suspect toward members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church.

“Well, from what I understand, based on my conversations with the FBI director, all they know right now is this was an individual who hated people of the Mormon faith,” Leavitt said in an interview on “Fox & Friends.”

Leavitt said she was briefed by FBI Director Kash Patel earlier Monday. 

Trump threatens no federal funding for NYC if Mamdani wins

The president said Monday morning that New York City, his former home, “won’t be getting any” federal cash if frontrunner Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor.

“Remember, he needs the money from me, as President, in order to fulfill all of his FAKE Communist promises,” Trump wrote on social media. “He won’t be getting any of it, so what’s the point of voting for him?”

Still, the president sees a political upside in having a democratic socialist be one of the prominent figures in the Democratic Party.

Mamdani “will prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party,” Trump wrote.

White House urges Israel and Hamas to get to a ceasefire and hostage release deal

Netanyahu was set to meet Trump for talks, Leavitt was urging both sides to finalize an agreement to bring an end to the nearly two-year old war in Gaza.

“Nobody knows better than President Trump to reach a good deal, a reasonable deal for both sides, both sides have to give up a little bit and might leave the table a little bit unhappy,” Leavitt said in her appearance on “Fox & Friends.”

Pentagon confirms 200 National Guard troops called to duty in Portland

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement the troops have been called into service immediately and will serve for 60 days “to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. Government personnel who are performing Federal functions.”

The deployment is being made over the objections of state leaders and is similar to one last summer in Los Angeles but is on a much smaller scale.

Trump had announced on Saturday that he would send troops to Portland. The state’s governor, Democrat Tina Kotek, said Sunday that she objected to the deployment in a conversation with the president.

Trump and Netanyahu to meet in Washington

Days after using a U.N. address to reject international demands for an end to the war in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will sit down with President Donald Trump. 

But Monday’s scheduled meeting in Washington comes at a tenuous moment. 

Israel is increasingly isolated after losing support from many countries that were long its steadfast allies. At home, Netanyahu’s governing coalition appears more fragile than ever. 

And the White House is showing signs of impatience. The question now is whether Trump will step up pressure on Israel to wind down the long conflict.

Deal for new Trump Plaza in Saudi Arabia 

A London-listed luxury real estate developer says it plans to launch a Trump Plaza in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah in the second collaboration with the Trump Organization, following the success of Trump Tower Jeddah. 

Monday’s announcement by Dar Global said the $1 billion landmark development is to rise along King Abdulaziz Road in the heart of the city. 

The company said the project is its second collaboration in Jeddah with The Trump Organization and plans to launch Trump Plaza Jeddah that represents the second Trump-branded development in Saudi Arabia, following the launch of Trump Tower Jeddah in December last year.

Federal government shutdowns are nothing new

Congress often finds itself at the brink of one as the two major political parties’ differences grow more intractable with each passing year. Democrats are threatening to vote against keeping the government open on Oct. 1.

Democratic leaders in Congress say they won’t budge unless Republicans immediately extend health care subsidies that expire at the end of the year, among other demands. 

Republicans say they don’t want to add any complicated policies to keep the government open for the next seven weeks.

Time and time again, lawmakers hold out until just before the deadline and negotiate a last-minute compromise. But this time Democrats see some potential political advantages to a shutdown with their base voters spoiling for a fight.

History shows the tactic almost never works, and federal employees are caught in the middle. The White House has already laid out a plan to potentially lay off hundreds, if not thousands, of federal employees.