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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.

ByKevin Shalvey, Megan Forrester, Ivan Pereira, and David Brennan
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 03, 2025, 1:48 PM EDT

Leavitt provides no update on Trump's IVF campaign promise

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump has not abandoned his campaign promise to mandate insurance companies to cover IVF services.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Oct. 3, 2025, in Washington.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

However, when asked for an update, the press secretary could not give one, even though the deadline set by an executive order to come up with a plan had passed.

"As far as IVF goes, I'll check with our policy team and get you some updates," she said before taking another question.

Oct 03, 2025, 1:32 PM EDT

Leavitt dodges question about Trump's open embrace of Project 2025

White House press secretary Leavitt was asked about President Donald Trump going from saying he did not know about Project 2025 during the campaign to now knowing about it and supporting it.

The press secretary did not directly answer if Project 2025 was "the blueprint for shrinking the government."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Oct. 3, 2025, in Washington.
Alex Brandon/AP

"The blueprint is what the president, and his team and his Cabinet secretaries ultimately decide. And the president trusts his Cabinet secretaries to identify where there is waste, fraud and abuse," Leavitt said.

Russ Vought, the OMB director, co-authored Project 2025.

Oct 03, 2025, 1:28 PM EDT

Leavitt says Trump exploring cutting aid to Portland

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump is exploring plans to cut federal funding to Portland due to what she said was a rise in "Antifa" related incidents.

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

Antifa is not a group, but rather a political philosophy or movement. The term comes from the longer "anti-fascist" and is used as a catchall for groups that oppose the concept of authoritarianism, neo-Nazism and white supremacy.

Oct 03, 2025, 11:51 AM EDT

Pritzker pushes back against Trump Chicago transit cuts

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, in a post on X on Friday, slammed the Trump administration for putting a hold on funding for Chicago infrastructure projects.

"At a time when federal agents are sowing chaos in Chicago, the Trump administration is holding bipartisan funding hostage," Pritzker wrote. "It’s attempting to score political points but is instead hurting our economy and the hardworking people who rely on public transit to get to work or school."

-ABC News' Oren Oppenheim

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