What to know today...
- SHUTDOWN DAY 6: The government shutdown is about to hit the one-week mark after the Senate again rejected Democratic and Republican funding bills. The House is out this week after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., canceled votes, saying the chamber has done its job in passing a short-term spending bill last month.
- ILLINOIS LAWSUIT: The state of Illinois filed a lawsuit to prevent President Donald Trump from deploying National Guard troops in Chicago.
- MAXWELL APPEAL: The Supreme Court rejected Ghislaine Maxwell’s challenge to her criminal conviction for recruiting and grooming teenage girls for sexual abuse by the late sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
- GAZA PEACE TALKS: Israel and Hamas are poised to conduct indirect peace talks to end the two-year war and free the remaining hostages from Gaza.
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Sen. Susan Collins says she's circulating a 'discussion draft' to end the shutdown
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said tonight that she's circulating a discussion draft of a plan to reopen the government, one that would include a commitment to Democrats that Congress will address expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies.
The draft “suggests that there be a conversation on the ACA extension for the premium tax credits after we reopen government, but there would be a commitment to having that discussion,” she told a small group of reporters.
Democrats have said they want the subsidies addressed before reopening the government.
Collins indicated that she had the document in a folder as she walked off the Senate floor, but she would not show it to reporters.
Collins said that she has circulated the draft “selectively” and that she has had conversations with both Republicans and Democrats. She said the draft would include passing the first package of three full-year appropriations bills, with a commitment to do another package of spending measures soon. Congress needs to pass 12 appropriation bills to fully fund the government.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, told NBC News that bipartisan huddles forming on the Senate floor last week didn’t happen today. “It feels like we lost the momentum from last week,” she said.
Murkowski agreed with Collins’ approach that Democrats need assurance that ACA subsidies will be addressed — after Democrats deliver the votes needed to reopen the government.
“They need to know that there’s a framework here, and that’s what many of us have been talking about,” Murkowski said. “It’s like, OK, if you vote to open up the government, you know that this is kind of the way that we’re going to move to reconcile some of the things that we’ve been talking about.”
She also criticized the strategy of the Senate’s voting on the same two stopgap bills, calling it “Groundhog Day here.” The Senate voted tonight for the fifth time on two procedural motions: the House-passed stopgap bill and a Democratic alternative. Both votes failed.
“I think you got to have some understanding by the Democrats that are going to change their vote that there’s a path here, and they want to know what that path is,” Murkowski said. “And so we’ve got to be talking.”
Sen. Angus King considers opposing GOP funding measure in next vote
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, told NBC News tonight that he is considering flipping his vote on the House-passed stopgap bill if Republicans don't address Democratic concerns about Medicaid cuts.
King, who caucuses with the Democrats and has voted in favor of passing the GOP stopgap five times, said he could flip his vote to a no “unless the Republicans are more forthcoming about dealing with the ACA problem," referring to the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
“The best we got was last Friday when [Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.] said he was open to conversations. That’s not good enough. We need to deal with this problem,” King said.
Other senators offered mixed reactions tonight after the Senate failed to reopen the government on Day 6 of the shutdown.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who voted with the Republicans to keep the government open in March but has voted against this GOP funding bill, said she sees a “sincere effort” among Republicans to reach a deal.
“There continue to be a lot of bipartisan conversations with people, and I think those will continue,” Shaheen said.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., had a less optimistic view. “The Republicans won’t talk when the government is open. The Republicans won’t talk when the government is closed. This is just not working,” she said.
Asked whether he’s open to working to reach a deal on health care before the government is reopened, Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., said, “I think what we need to do is reopen the government right now, not deal with this temper tantrum.”
FAA reports staffing issues at airports as government shutdown continues
The Federal Aviation Administration was experiencing staffing issues or anticipating shortages at airports and other air traffic control facilities in the United States tonight.
Reports of the staffing shortfalls came hours after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that there has been a slight increase in sick calls since the government shutdown began.
No air traffic controllers were expected at the tower at Hollywood Burbank Airport in the Los Angeles area for an hourslong stretch today night because of staffing issues, a source familiar with the situation said.
The FAA’s website showed the staffing issue between 4 p.m. and 9:59 p.m. PT (7 pm. Monday to 12:59 a.m. Tuesday ET).
Trump participates in tele-rally for his pick in tomorrow's Tennessee special election primary
Trump joined a telephone rally tonight for Matt Van Epps, a candidate in tomorrow’s GOP primary to determine the Republican nominee for a December special election for a House seat in a deep-red Tennessee district.
Trump reaffirmed his endorsement for Van Epps on the call, boasting the candidate's résumé as a former Army helicopter pilot who's now a lieutenant colonel in the Tennessee National Guard.
He also said Van Epps supported his “campaign to restore law and order to our cities and towns.” Trump recently established a task force to mobilize the National Guard to Memphis, Tennessee.
“Right now, we’re in Memphis. We’re going to Chicago, where you have rampant crime, even though you have a governor that says, ‘everything is wonderful,’” Trump said of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, whose state sued the administration today to prevent the deployment of federalized National Guard troops to Chicago.
Senate again rejects the House-passed GOP funding bill
A second vote tonight, to consider the House-passed Republican funding bill, failed in the Senate. That means the shutdown will extend into tomorrow.
The procedural motion failed 52-42. It needed 60 votes to advance. Three Democrats voted for it, and one Republican voted against it. Five senators missed the vote.
When the Senate last voted on the measure, on Friday, three senators in the Democratic caucus — Catherine Cortez Masto, John Fetterman and Angus King — joined Republicans in voting in favor of the bill. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voted against it. Those senators voted the same way tonight.
It's the fifth time the Senate has rejected the measure. The so-called clean bill would fund the government through Nov. 21.
Trump weighed in right after the Senate vote, accusing Democrats of shutting down the government while indicating willingness to negotiate with them on health care policies, which Democrats have cited as the reason they rejected the House-passed bill.
"I am happy to work with the Democrats on their Failed Healthcare Policies, or anything else, but first they must allow our Government to re-open. In fact, they should open our Government tonight!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Democrats have said they want issues like health care dealt with before they vote to reopen the government.
Senate rejects Democratic funding for the fifth time
The Senate voted down a procedural motion to move forward with a Democratic alternative to the House-passed GOP stopgap funding bill.
The measure failed along party lines, 45-50. It needed 60 votes to pass.
This is the fifth time the Senate has rejected the measure.
The vote, had it succeeded, would have started consideration of a bill to fund the government through Oct. 31, including an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies, money to offset Medicaid cuts from Trump's Big Beautiful Bill and funding for lawmaker security.
Hakeem Jeffries says he hasn't 'heard a word' from the White House since last week's meeting
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters that neither he nor Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had “heard a word” from the White House since their Oval Office meeting last week.
He said he doesn't know of any Democrat who has spoken to Trump about reopening the government.
“Both House and Senate Democrats are clear, we’ll sit down anytime, anyplace, with anyone from your administration, including the president, to get a resolution here with respect to the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which need to be extended right now, as well as dealing with and addressing the Republican health care crisis that is devastating everyday Americans all across the country,” Jeffries said.
Utah lawmakers pass new GOP-backed congressional map
Utah lawmakers passed new congressional district lines today that seek to protect the state’s all-Republican delegation after a court ordered them to draw a new map ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
Under the proposed map, Salt Lake County — the most Democratic part of Utah — would be split into two districts, rather than divided among the current four. Those two districts are expected to still lean Republican, but they could be more competitive for Democrats, while the two others in the state would remain solidly GOP.
The map, which a redistricting committee advanced this morning before the full Legislature passed it as part of special session later in the day, will still need to be signed by GOP Gov. Spence Cox and approved by the district court that demanded new lines.
The court ruled in August that the state must follow a 2018 ballot measure passed by voters, which prohibited gerrymandering; required lawmakers to keep counties, cities and communities of interest together whenever possible; and draw compact districts.
Trump says he would make a deal with Democrats 'if we made the right deal'
Trump suggested this afternoon that he would be open to making a deal with Democrats on a funding bill to reopen the government, without specifying under what terms or with what concessions such an agreement could be made.
“We are speaking with the Democrats, and some very good things could happen with respect to health care,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Asked whether he would be willing to make a deal with Democrats on Affordable Care Act subsidies, Trump responded: "If we made the right deal, I’d make a deal."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., responded by discussing health care funding that Democrats have been pushing for, saying, "Trump’s claim isn’t true — but if he’s finally ready to work with Democrats, we’ll be at the table."
“If President Trump and Republicans are finally ready to sit down and get something done in healthcare for American families, Democrats will be there — ready to make it happen," Schumer added in a statement.
Trump says he will 'look at' Ghislaine Maxwell case after Supreme Court rejected her appeal
Trump said this afternoon that he plans to speak with the Justice Department about the Supreme Court's decision to reject an appeal from Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein who was convicted on child sex-trafficking charges in 2022.
Asked in the Oval Office whether he would consider a pardon for Maxwell, Trump told reporters: "I haven’t heard the name in so long. I can say this, that I’d have to take a look at it. I would have to take a look."
Asked to confirm whether he was considering such an action, Trump responded: "I wouldn’t consider it or not consider. I don’t know anything about it."
He also was asked why Maxwell would be considered at all as a candidate for clemency. “I don’t know,” Trump said. “I mean, I’d have to speak to the DOJ. I’ll look at it.”
Epstein survivors last month urged Trump to rule out a pardon for Maxwell and release documents related to Epstein’s case.
