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Hundreds of federal employees working on mental health services, disease outbreaks and disaster preparedness were among those hit by the Trump administration’s mass firings over the weekend, current and laid-off workers said Monday, as the administration aimed to pressure Democratic lawmakers to give in and end the nearly two-week-long government shutdown. (Swenson and Aleccia, 10/14)

Dozens of fired staff members at the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, a federal health agency, included individuals with top-secret clearance who work with intelligence agencies on biodefense issues such as pandemics and weaponized pathogens, said a former Department of Health and Human Services official who has been in contact with those dismissed. (Sun and Winfield Cunningham, 10/13)

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted Monday the federal government shutdown may become the longest in history, saying he “won’t negotiate” with Democrats until they hit pause on their health care demands and reopen. Standing alone at the Capitol on the 13th day of the shutdown, the speaker said he was unaware of the details of the thousands of federal workers being fired by the Trump administration. It’s a highly unusual mass layoff widely seen as way to seize on the shutdown to reduce the scope of government. Vice President JD Vance has warned of “painful” cuts ahead, even as employee unions sue. “We’re barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history,” Johnson of Louisiana said. (Mascaro, 10/14)

Employees who help regulate hazardous waste. Inspectors who check the quality of federal housing. An office that makes sure students with disabilities get the help they need. These are among the targets of the Trump administration’s latest round of federal layoffs, undertaken during a government shutdown now stretching through its second week. (Natanson, Meckler, Siegel, Kornfield and Ajasa, 10/14)

Following public outcry, the U.S. Department of Education has restored funding for students who have both hearing and vision loss, about a month after cutting it. But rather than sending the money directly to the four programs that are part of a national network helping students who are deaf and blind, a condition known as deafblindness, the department has instead rerouted the grants to a different organization that will provide funding for those vulnerable students. (Cohen and Smith Richards, 10/13)

Congress remains far from a deal to reopen the government but some rank-and-file members have begun to discuss what an extension of the expiring tax credits in health insurance exchange plans could look like. To be sure, the prospects of any deal or negotiation are slim at the moment. Most Senate Democrats and one Republican have voted seven times against a Republican bill to fund the government through Nov. 21. A Democratic alternative, which would fund the government through October, extend enhanced tax credits under the Affordable Care Act that expire this year and repeal Medicaid cuts, has only won Democratic support. (McAuliff, 10/13)

Vice President Vance said Sunday that subsidies offered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) fuel waste and fraud in the insurance industry, as Republicans refuse Democratic demands to extend the tax credits ahead of open enrollment next month. “The tax credits go to some people deservedly. And we think the tax credits actually go to a lot of waste and fraud within the insurance industry. So we want to make sure that the tax credits go to the people who need them,” Vance told Margaret Brennan on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.” (Rego, 10/13)

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Sunday that he and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) had a “thoughtful conversation” in recent days regarding the latter’s concerns over health care premiums. During an interview with Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday, Johnson said he told Greene that “there are many Republicans in Congress that have been working around the clock on this.” (Rego, 10/12)

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said on Sunday that a hypothetical commitment from Republicans to hold a vote by the end of the year on extending health care subsidies would not be sufficient to secure Democratic support for the GOP proposal to reopen the government. Kelly, in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” called for a “real negotiation” and solution to the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies that are expected to increase health insurance premiums for millions of Americans. (Fortinsky, 10/12)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: California’s Health Insurance Marketplace Braces For Chaos As Shutdown Persists

California this week plans to notify Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollees that their costs could rise sharply next year unless Congress extends subsidies to help people buy health insurance. Health care analysts say the nation’s uninsured population will rise significantly if federal lawmakers do not agree to renew covid-era tax credits, which Congress authorized in 2021 to supplement ACA subsidies. (Wolfson, 10/14)