Hamas accepts some elements of Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, others require negotiation

Native Americans are bracing for damage to their health care, education, infrastructure and other services funded by Washington under treaties struck more than a century ago.

Tribal nations with casinos, oil and gas leases and other independent revenue sources expect to sustain operations for several months. But tribes more dependent on government money are already furloughing workers.

Many tribal leaders say they fear the administration could use the shutdown to lay off federal workers responsible for ensuring that trust and treaty responsibilities are honored.

The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe in Nevada furloughed at least 25 employees starting Oct. 1 and closed its museum and cultural center; higher education department; and services for Native children in public schools.

It said the closures would be temporary but more could come if the shutdown endures.

Chairman Steven Wadsworth said the furloughs were necessary to ensure operation of critical operations such as police, EMS and the food bank.

▶ Read more about tribes and the shutdown

In what appeared to be the first major challenge to the new $100,000 fee required for H-1B visa applications, a coalition of health care providers, religious groups, university professors and others filed suit Friday, saying the plan has “thrown employers, workers and federal agencies into chaos.”

Trump signed a proclamation Sept. 19 requiring the new fee, saying the H-1B visa program “has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor.”

The lawsuit says the H-1B program is a critical pathway to hiring health care workers and educators; drives innovation and economic growth; and allows employers to fill jobs in specialized fields.

Messages seeking comment were left with the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which are named as defendants along with Trump and the State Department.

▶ Read more about the lawsuit

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was prepared for the implementation of the “first stage” of Trump’s plan, apparently referring to the release of hostages.

But his office said in a statement that Israel was committed to ending the war based on principles it has set out before, without addressing potential gaps with Hamas.

It also said Israel would work “in full cooperation” with the U.S. president.

Mark Carney‘s visit comes ahead of a review of a free trade agreement, and as the U.S. president is engaging in 51st-state talk again and Canada asks to be included in his future Golden Dome missile defense program.

Carney’s office said in a statement that he will travel to Washington on Monday and meet with Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

Carney won Canada’s election earlier this year fueled by Trump’s annexation threats and trade war, but he has tried to improve relations ahead of a review of a free trade deal next year.

After out-of-office email messages for the department were reset Wednesday with language blaming Democrats for the government shutdown, the largest U.S. federal worker union sued Friday.

The American Federation of Government Employees’ lawsuit, filed Friday in a federal court in Washington, D.C., says the Trump administration violated workers’ First Amendment rights “by replacing their out-of-office email messages with partisan political language without the employees’ consent,” union president Everett Kelley said in a statement

The president is openly embracing the conservative blueprint he desperately tried to distance himself from during the 2024 campaign, as one of its architects works to use the government shutdown to accelerate his goals of slashing the federal workforce and punishing Democratic states.

In a post on his Truth Social site this week, Trump announced that he would be meeting with his budget chief, “Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.”

The comments represented a dramatic about-face for Trump, who spent much of last year denouncing Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation’s massive proposed overhaul of the federal government, which was drafted by many of his longtime allies and current and former administration officials.

▶ Read more about Trump and Project 2025

The federal appeals court in Boston held that the administration cannot withhold citizenship from children born to people in the country illegally or temporarily.

A three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday became the fifth federal court since June to either issue or uphold orders blocking the president’s order. which would end automatic citizenship such children.

The court concluded that plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claims that the children described in the order are entitled to birthright citizenship under the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment.

The issue is expected to move quickly back to the Supreme Court, which restricted the power of lower-court judges to issue nationwide injunctions in a ruling in June.

A second appeals court ruling on Friday also found in favor of several organizations that challenged the birthright citizenship order.

▶ Read more about the cases

The president released a video Friday evening from the Oval Office in which he credited allies for working to achieve a deal between Israel and Hamas for the return of hostages taken in the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.

“This is a big day,” Trump said. “We’ll see how it all turns out. We have to get the final word down in concrete.”

Trump said he looked forward to having the hostages, including those who were killed, be returned to their families. He thanked Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and “so many others.”

The president said “we’re very close to achieving” peace in the Middle East.

He ended the video by saying, “Everybody will be treated fairly.” It was unclear what Trump meant by that.

The two organizations for decades have tracked domestic extremism and racial and religious bias. The decision to cut ties follows complaints about the groups from some conservatives and prominent Trump allies.

FBI Director Kash Patel alleged that the Southern Poverty Law Center has been turned into a “partisan smear machine” and criticized it for its “hate map” documenting alleged anti-government and hate groups. A statement earlier in the week from Patel said the FBI would end ties with the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish advocacy organization that fights antisemitism.

The announcements amount to a dramatic rethinking of longstanding FBI partnerships with prominent civil rights groups at a time when Patel is moving rapidly to reshape the bureau. The organizations have long provided research on hate crime and domestic extremism, law enforcement training and other services, but have also been criticized by some conservatives for what they say is an unfair maligning of their viewpoints.

▶ Read more about the FBI, the SPLC and the ADL, including what those two groups have to say

The president isn’t letting the government shutdown get in the way of a trip to Norfolk, Virginia, to salute the Navy as it celebrates 250 years.

“I believe, ‘THE SHOW MUST GO ON!’” Trump posted on his social media site, Truth Social. “This will be the largest Celebration in the History of the Navy. Thousands of our brave Active Duty Servicemembers and Military Families will be in attendance, and I look forward to this special day with all of them.”

In the post the president again blamed Democratic leaders for the shutdown and said by doing so they were trying “to destroy this wonderful celebration of the U.S. Navy’s Birthday.”

Trump said he would be joined at the event by his wife, Melania, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan.

Hung Cao is tasked with tackling “the issues that affect the daily lives of Sailors and Marines,” Navy Secretary John Phelan said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Cao, a retired Navy captain and former Republican congressional candidate, will handle quality-of-service issues, recruiting, suicide prevention and other aspects of personnel policy. Not included are some of the biggest topics facing the service, such as a shipbuilding crisis and developing policy around drone warfare.

Cao briefly rose to national prominence when he challenged Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine for his Senate seat last year.

While debating Kaine, Cao said the Navy needed “alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds. Those are young men and women that are going to win wars.”

The offers are a new incentive in the administration’s efforts to persuade people to self-deport.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not say how much migrants would get or when the offer would take effect, but The Associated Press obtained an email to migrant shelters saying children 14 years of age and older would get $2,500 each. Children were given 24 hours to respond.

The notice to shelters from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department’s Administration for Families and Children did not indicate any consequences for declining the offer.

ICE said in a statement that it would initially be for 17-year-olds.

“Any payment to support a return home would be provided after an immigration judge grants the request and the individual arrives in their country of origin,” ICE said. “Access to financial support when returning home would assist should they choose that option.”

The president gave that directive after Hamas said it had accepted some elements of his plan to end the nearly two-year war and return all remaining hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

“I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE,” Trump said via social media. “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that. We are already in discussions on details to be worked out.”

Hamas said Friday that it accepts elements of Trump’s plan including giving up power and releasing all remaining hostages, but that others require further consultations among Palestinians.

The statement came hours after Trump said Hamas must agree to the deal by Sunday evening, threatening an even greater military onslaught. There was no immediate response from Israel, which was largely shut down for the Jewish Sabbath.

Shutdown disruptions have reached the gridiron, as some high school football teams on Army posts have had to postpone games.

Two schools in Kentucky, at Fort Knox and Fort Campbell, rescheduled games meant to be played Friday night. In fact all extracurricular activities have been paused, though classes remain in session.

Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell attempted to intervene, writing to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to ask that athletics and extracurriculars at the schools be designated as activities allowed to proceed despite the shutdown.

Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions, said the shutdown is causing severe pain in the sector across dozens of states.

“Over 300 Department of Energy project awards have been canceled, and major transportation projects are now also threatened in major hubs like New York and Illinois,” he said in a statement. “These are not headlines or talking points; these targeted actions attack the jobs of blue-collar workers and create deeper construction industry market instability in both red and blue states.”

“Real jobs and real paychecks are in jeopardy from these devastating blows to American workers and their families.”

McGarvey highlighted two projects in particular, the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub and California’s ARCHES Hub, which he said would have created more than 135,000 construction jobs.

Thanks so much to those of you who submitted questions about the federal government shutdown. A few questions showed up several times, so we’re resharing reporters’ answers below.

• Are immigrants in the country illegally eligible for federal health care?
• Do lawmakers get paid during the shutdown?
• Who gets paid during a shutdown?
• How might the shutdown affect the economy?
• What about furloughed workers when the shutdown eventually ends?
• Has HUD violated the Hatch Act by using Democrat-blaming language on its website?
• Who is responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act? Are violations typically investigated?
• What if essential federal workers just ... don’t show up for work?
• How legal is it to fire furloughed workers?
• How does the shutdown impact National Guard troops?
• Are any Democrats voting to keep the government open?

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said that Republicans have “wasted a week” after the Senate rejected for the fourth time on Friday two bills that would open up the government.

“Republicans thought they could scare us,” Schumer said. “It ain’t working.”

The government shut down at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday after the Senate was not able to pass legislation to keep it open. Democrats are demanding an extension in health care subsidies, among other asks, in exchange for their votes for a House-passed bill that would keep the government open until Nov. 21.

Republicans say they will not negotiate on the “clean” bill, which they argue should be non-controversial.

The Senate has also repeatedly rejected a Democratic bill that would extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of the year and reverse Republican cuts to Medicaid.

Schumer, D-N.Y., has blamed Republicans for the shutdown. “Republicans hold the House, the Senate and the White House,” he said. “They’re in charge.”

The Supreme Court on Friday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to strip legal protections from more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants.

The justices issued an emergency order, which will last as long as the court case continues, putting on hold a lower-court ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco that found the administration had wrongly ended temporary protected status for the Venezuelans.

Trump’s Republican administration has moved to withdraw various protections that have allowed immigrants to remain in the United States and work legally, including ending TPS for a total of 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians who were granted protection under President Joe Biden, a Democrat. TPS is granted in 18-month increments.

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Jim Risch said he was meeting with the president at the White House before the strikes on the boat in the Caribbean was announced.

The Republican from Idaho said Trump had authority to go after the cartels without further authorization from Congress under his powers as the commander in chief.

Risch said, “What could be a bigger defense of this country than keeping out this poison that’s killing thousands of Americans every year?”

But GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has consistently criticized the strikes, said only Congress, not the president, has the authority to wage war.

“Blowing them up without knowing who’s on the boat is a terrible policy, and it should end,” he told AP.

“If they want to declare war, come to Congress and say they want to declare war,” he said. “But you can’t just say it yourself and say, Oh, well, we sent them on note and now we’re at war with unnamed people who we won’t even identify before we kill.”

Hamas said it was willing to release hostages according to the plan’s “formula,” likely referring to the release of Palestinian prisoners. It also reiterated its longstanding openness to handing power over to a politically independent Palestinian body.

But it said aspects of the proposal touching on the future of the Gaza Strip and Palestinian rights should be decided on the basis of a “unanimous Palestinian stance” reached with other factions and based on international law.

The statement also made no mention of Hamas disarming, a key Israeli demand included in Trump’s proposal.

Hamas said Friday that it has accepted some elements of U.S. President Trump’s plan to end the war in the Gaza Strip, including giving up power and releasing all remaining hostages, but that others require further consultations among Palestinians.

The statement came hours after Trump said that Hamas must agree to the deal by Sunday evening, threatening an even greater military onslaught nearly two years into the war sparked by the Oct. 7 attack into Israel. It was unclear how the U.S. and Israel would respond to partial acceptance.

Trump appears keen to deliver on pledges to end the war and return dozens of hostages ahead of the second anniversary of the attack on Tuesday. His peace plan has been accepted by Israel and welcomed internationally, but key mediators Egypt and Qatar have said some elements need further negotiation, without elaborating.

House Speaker Mike Johnsons announced that the chamber would close for legislative business next week, a move meant to force the Senate to work with the government funding bill that has been passed by House Republicans.

During the House’s pro-forma session Friday, the speaker moved to make next week a district work period.

Asked whether he was concerned that health insurance premiums may rise in his state should Affordable Care Act subsidies lapse, Thune replied: “I’m always worried about anything going on in my state. Inflation is always a big issue. But again, I don’t think it’s absolutely a bad policy.”

“That doesn’t mean it can’t be reformed or fixed, it can. But we can’t get to that conversation until we get the government back into place,” he added.

Asked about his whereabouts for the weekend, Thune said: “I’m flying back to South Dakota, but I’ll be available!”

“We had a brief chat on the floor and I’ve chatted with some other members on their side of the aisle,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said of conversations he’s had with Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Senate Democrats.

“I think that the path forward on this is more likely to be achieved with rank and file members who actually want to have an appropriations process, want us to get back on track on the calendar legislatively,” said Thune as he left the Senate floor.

“I understand the predicament but we’ve got to get the government opened up or else we can’t get anything else done around here,” said Thune.

President Trump says he has personally reversed $187 million in funding cuts made by his administration for New York’s law enforcement and counterterrorism operations.

The restoration, which the Republican announced on Truth Social Friday, follows a bipartisan outcry from New York officials who said the original decision by the Department of Homeland Security to cut the funds put New Yorkers and Americans in danger.

Trump said on social media it was his “honor” to reverse the cuts.

He had heard complaints about the reductions from both Democrats and Republicans representing New York. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul said they represented an 86% of homeland security funding to the state, impacting the New York City police and fire departments, state police and other law enforcement agencies.

Republican U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, the only Republican representing New York City in Congress, said she had spoken with Trump about the cuts, which she called a “terrible idea.”

A fired national security prosecutor has written colleagues a letter saying he’s “disappointed” to be leaving his job but even more distressed by what’s happened to the office where he works.

Michael Ben’Ary was fired on Wednesday from his job running the national security section in the prestigious Eastern District of Virginia. The termination came hours after Julie Kelly, a conservative writer and activist, shared online that he previously worked as senior counsel to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco during the Biden administration.

Kelly’s post speculated that Ben’Ary may have been part of the “internal resistance” in the office to the recently charged case against FBI Director James Comey. But Ben’Ary played no role in the Comey case.

In a letter to colleagues, Ben’Ary said the decision to fire career prosecutors and agents puts national security at risk and shows that the Justice Department’s leadership is more interested in punishing perceived enemies than it is in keeping the public safe.

He also noted that his firing will “hurt” the case against a suspected planner in the Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan. Ben’Ary was helping prosecute that case in Virginia and preparing for it to go to trial.

Hopes for a quick end to the government shutdown faded Friday as Democrats refused to budge in a Senate vote and President Trump readied plans to unleash layoffs and cuts across the federal government.

On the third day of the shutdown, a Senate vote to advance a Republican bill that would reopen the government fell well short of the 60 needed to end a filibuster and pass the legislation. Senators were expected to depart for the weekend, and there have been few signs of any real progress towards ending the congressional standoff.

Democrats are demanding that Congress extend healthcare benefits, while Republicans are trying to wear them down with day after day of voting on the House-passed bill that would reopen the government temporarily, mostly at current spending levels.

The Smithsonian Institution including all its museums will remain open at least through Oct. 11 amid an ongoing federal government shutdown.

Museums, research centers and the National Zoo were originally projected to only be able to operate through Saturday using prior-year funding.

The extension was posted Friday on the Smithsonian website.

The Smithsonian, the National Museum of African American History & Culture, has been targeted by the Trump administration for programs that advance “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology.”

The vote to advance a GOP bill to reopen the government isn’t over, but senators are already heading for the exits of the Capitol.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune says he will give Democrats the weekend to think over their stance, but there have been few signs of meaningful progress to ending the impasse.

The bill was poised to fail Friday afternoon as over 40 senators have already voted against it. The Senate’s filibuster rules require at least 60 senators to vote to advance the legislation to a final vote.

“We’ve got to do something to make sure the premiums don’t essentially double, which they will in my state,” said the Missouri Republican, referencing ongoing discussions about extending the ACA tax credits. “We just can’t allow that to happen.”

“That’s a lot of Missourians that will not be able to afford healthcare. So we have to do something about it,” said Hawley.

Some Republicans have said they will address the expiring ACA tax credits once the government reopens. Hawley said they need to be addressed “as soon as possible.”

The Senate is now voting on whether to advance legislation known as a continuing resolution that would reopen the government. The bill has already passed the House, but Senate Democrats have almost all held out against voting for it.

The Senate’s filibuster rules make it necessary for the government funding legislation to gain support from at least 60 of the 100 senators. That’s given Democrats a rare opportunity to use their 47 Senate seats to hold out in exchange for policy concessions.

“These aren’t serious individuals. They want to keep the government shut down,” the Democratic leader said during a Friday press conference.

Jeffries leveled a litany of critiques of President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans. He added that President Trump “has behaved in a deeply unserious and deeply unhinged manner, and it’s evidence of the fact that Republican have a weak argument.”

Jeffries reiterated Democrats’ position that an extension of Affordable Care Act healthcare subsidies would be necessary for any budget to reopen the government.

“Everyone is about to experience dramatically increased premiums, co-pays and deductibles because of the Republican health care crisis. Everyone,” he warned.

Jeffries said that he had not spoken with House Speaker Mike Johnson about a potential delay in the House returning next week but said he “expects” the current schedule for lawmakers to hold.

“I’m ready to talk to Mike Johnson, John Thune, the President, the Vice President, or any member of the Trump administration with any authority, anytime, anyplace, anywhere,” Jeffries told reporters.

As senators vote for a fourth time on legislation to fund the government, plenty of chats between Republicans and Democrats are unfolding on the Senate floor.

The more moderate senators have become a key part of the effort to unlock the impasse in the Senate and conversations have unfolded between Sens. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat.

During previous government funding votes earlier this week, senators engaged in long, intense talks. So far today, there’s more of a casual atmosphere in the Senate chamber as the lawmakers settle in for what’s likely to be at least several more days of a government shutdown.

After opening the briefing by claiming that “the Democrats continue to recklessly hold the American people hostage over their demands to give illegal aliens free health care,” Leavitt was asked to explain the disconnect between this claim and the existing law that prevents people in the U.S. illegally from receiving federally-funded health care.

Leavitt responded that “Democrats’ proposal would require Medicaid to pay more for emergency care provided to illegal aliens than Medicaid does for American patients who are disabled, elderly, or children.”

Hospitals receive Medicaid reimbursements — which would be reduced under Trump’s bill — for emergency care that they are obligated by federal law to provide to people who meet other Medicaid eligibility requirements but do not have an eligible immigration status. These payments do not go directly to patients and such spending accounted for less than 1% of total Medicaid spending between fiscal years 2017 and 2023.

Hey Robert, that’s right.

For a bill to pass through Congress, both chambers have to agree on it. So if a measure makes it through the Senate first, but hasn’t already gotten House approval, it has to go there next.

If the House were to then make any changes to the measure, it would have to go back to the Senate, since all of the language needs to be the same.

Only when both chambers agree can a bill go to the president for approval. That’s true for temporary spending measures, also known as continuing resolutions, as well as full budget bills.

The Senate is voting on whether to advance to a vote on a government funding bill that is being put forward by Democrats. It is expected to fail.

Senate Democrats are using the legislation as an alternative to Republicans’ bill. Besides reopening the government, it would undo many of the changes to Medicaid that were enacted this summer by President Donald Trump’s tax cut and spending law.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has repeatedly pointed to the Democratic bill as proof that Democrats are injecting unreasonable partisan priorities into the government funding fight, but Democrats are not seriously demanding that the bill be passed. Instead, they want Congress to take up an extension of tax credits for Affordable Care Act health plans.

The Puerto Rican superstar is slated to perform at the next Super Bowl.

The announcement angered some conservatives, who dislike Bad Bunny’s criticism of Trump’s deportation policies.

Asked for the White House’s opinion, Leavitt said Trump may have more to say at some point.

“I won’t get ahead of him,” she said. “I won’t reveal what he feels about this.”

The White House says almost 70 percent of their employees are still reporting for duty as the government shutdown continues.

Of the 1,733 people employed by the Executive Office of the President, 554 are being furloughed, according to the White House’s shutdown contingency plans. That means 1,179 are coming to work, which is about 68 percent of the total staff.

The 1,179 coming to work are either designated as essential during a shutdown, are in positions that are funded through other avenues, or for other reasons.

Of the 1,179 still working during a shutdown, 863 are considered “necessary to perform activities necessarily implied by law,” and another 183 are deemed “necessary to the discharge of the president’s constitutional duties and powers.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino were filmed Friday watching from the roof of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) west of Chicago, as protesters gathered below, according to footage shared online by conservative media personality Benny Johnson.

Noem was surrounded by armed agents and a camera crew while standing beside a sniper set-up. Noem was also present at a Friday morning raid at a Chicago Walmart, according to Johnson’s videos.

Some protesters have aimed to block vehicles from going in or out of the area in recent weeks, part of growing pushback to a surge of immigration enforcement that began in early September. Federal agents have repeatedly fired tear gas, pepper balls and other projectiles toward crowds and at least five people have faced federal charges after being arrested in those clashes.

Bovino, who led the recent immigration crackdown in Los Angeles, could be seen driving in the passenger seat of a Border Patrol vehicle leaving the facility amid protests Friday morning. He announced in September that he had arrived in Chicago, on the same day Noem confirmed she was in the nation’s third-largest city and posted videos of armed agents making multiple arrests.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday lashed out at the treatment President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security is meting out to protestors at a suburban Chicago immigration station.

Through a spokesperson, the Democrat said that federal authorities “are acting with impunity” at the president’s direction outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview. He said the “inhumane” tactics of the masked officials include rough treatment of protesters, arresting a reporter and firing chemical agents into the crowds.

Pritzker said the newly established “unified command” of the Illinois State Police, Cook County Sheriff’s Department and others which is staffing Broadview will control crowds while ensuring protesters their First Amendment right to free speech.

“They show their faces, they have proper identification, and they are accountable to the people of Illinois,” Pritzker said. “It is clear federal agents cannot be trusted to act to protect the safety and constitutional rights of the public.”