Elderly Democratic Congresswoman Falls on House Floor While Protesting Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’-An 81-year-old Democratic lawmaker suffered a misstep on the House floor Thursday while protesting President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tax package — legislation he has dubbed the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” but which opponents have branded the “big, ugly bill.”
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a fixture of Illinois politics since the 1990s, reportedly stumbled during a heated floor debate as she pressed her party’s case against the measure. The incident unfolded against the backdrop of frenetic negotiations in Washington, with Republicans determined to meet Trump’s July 4 deadline for passage.
Schakowsky had been reiterating Democrats’ chief criticism: that the legislation prioritizes the wealthy while jeopardizing healthcare access for millions. Just a day earlier, she had shared a fiery message on social media. “I’m not just a no on Trump’s Big Ugly Bill, I’m a HELL NO!” she declared on X, calling the legislation “a crime scene” designed to enrich the nation’s wealthiest citizens at the expense of working families.
Her comments set the stage for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who launched into an extended filibuster under the House’s “magic minute” rule — which allows members to speak for unlimited time so long as they remain standing. Surrounded by stacks of binders filled with prepared remarks, Jeffries delivered a lengthy address that stretched across the afternoon and evening, underscoring Democratic frustration over the bill’s rapid push toward passage.
Schakowsky’s stumble, while minor, drew fresh attention to a broader issue hovering over Washington: the advanced age of many of its most powerful figures. The question of whether octogenarians should continue serving in high-pressure roles has dominated headlines in recent months, following President Joe Biden’s faltering debate performance earlier this year and his subsequent decision to withdraw from the 2024 race.
For critics, the incident served as another reminder of the generational divide shaping American politics. Schakowsky, who announced she would not seek reelection in 2026, has served in the House since 1999 after seven years in the Illinois state legislature. Though she remains an outspoken progressive voice, her fall on the House floor has added to mounting unease about the physical and cognitive demands placed on elderly lawmakers.
Despite Democratic resistance, Trump’s tax bill cleared the House in a razor-thin 218-214 vote, marking one of the president’s most significant legislative wins since returning to the White House. The “One Big Beautiful Bill,” as Republicans celebrated it, extends the individual tax cuts first introduced in Trump’s 2017 overhaul and eliminates taxes on tips, overtime pay, and Social Security benefits for seniors.
It also includes sweeping changes to Medicaid, tightening eligibility in a move projected to reduce spending by $1 trillion over the next decade. Unauthorized immigrants and others deemed ineligible will be excluded under the new criteria.
Perhaps most notably, the bill allocates $46.5 billion toward completing a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border — a campaign promise dating back to 2016 that went unfulfilled during Trump’s first term.
For Trump and his allies, the vote represents a defining moment. “Campaigns are filled with promises and most administrations are filled with excuses, but not @POTUS,” former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows wrote on X. “Once again, he has fulfilled his commitments to the American people.”
For Democrats, however, the bruising defeat highlights both their internal divisions and the difficulty of countering Trump’s second-term momentum. With six months gone, the president has already achieved the bulk of his campaign pledges, reshaping the fiscal and political landscape for the remainder of his presidency.
As for Schakowsky, she returned to her seat shortly after her fall and continued participating in the debate. Yet the image of the elderly congresswoman stumbling as she fought to oppose Trump’s bill may linger in the public imagination — a symbolic moment
President Nick Daniels of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association warned Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Party that the ongoing government shutdown is posing serious safety risks in U.S. airspace.
The NATCA, which represents more than 10,800 certified air traffic controllers nationwide, has repeatedly called on Congress to pass a clean continuing resolution (CR) to end the shutdown — now on track to become the longest in American history.
The House approved a clean CR a month ago, but Democrats have blocked it more than a dozen times, insisting on tying the measure to their partisan legislative demands.
Daniels emphasized that air traffic controllers are unfairly shouldering the weight of the shutdown, with thousands now working exhausting six-day, 10-hour shifts amid an existing shortage of 3,800 personnel.
As essential workers, controllers are required to remain on the job, yet many are facing severe financial strain. They received partial paychecks for pre-shutdown work on October 14, followed by $0 paychecks on October 28 and in the pay periods since — leaving many with more than 120 hours of unpaid labor.
The shutdown has also furloughed 2,350 support staff — including engineers and technicians — while freezing new controller hiring and training and pausing critical maintenance and modernization projects, leaving the air traffic system increasingly vulnerable.
In an interview with Fox News, Daniels said hundreds of controllers have been forced to take second jobs just to make ends meet amid the prolonged shutdown.
“These American patriots, they are the unsung heroes that Secretary Duffy speaks about so often. They are the ones that have been thrust into the spotlight, into center focus of a shutdown. And air traffic controllers, we don’t start shutdowns, we’re not responsible for ending shutdowns. Who does? Congress,” he said.
“And that’s why we’re saying, end the shutdown immediately. It’s not like we’re sitting here talking about an aviation issue. We’re talking, I understand the fears, the frustrations of the American people. We want to do an amazing job on their behalf, and we are. We’re showing up to work every day, the best way that we can to get through this crisis. But this isn’t something that we asked for. We didn’t want to put ourselves in the middle of it,” he added.
“Yet here we are, the rope in the tug of war game that we didn’t ask for at all. And we should not be used as political pawns in any way, shape or form for these shutdowns,” Daniels noted further.
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Air traffic controllers have become a focal point in the government shutdown standoff, as flight delays and cancellations ripple across more than 20 U.S. airports.
Over the October 31–November 2 weekend — the worst stretch since the shutdown began — the FAA logged 98 “staffing triggers,” forcing ground stops, reduced arrival rates, and flight reroutes. Half of the nation’s 30 busiest airports reported staffing shortages, with absences in the New York area soaring to 80 percent.
NATCA and aviation experts have issued grave warnings, saying the shutdown is “eroding critical layers of safety” and rendering the National Airspace System “less safe with each passing day.”
Schumer has openly admitted that Senate Democrats are dragging out the government shutdown for political gain. In an October 9 interview with Punchbowl News, he bragged, “Every day gets better for us,” citing polling that blames Republicans for the stalemate.
He went even further, effectively insulting the intelligence of his own voters by insisting the shutdown is the GOP’s fault because Republicans “control everything.” In reality, that’s flatly untrue — Senate Republicans can’t pass a clean continuing resolution without 60 votes.