What to know today
- TRUMP SIGNS BILL: President Donald Trump has signed legislation to reopen the government. Earlier, the House voted to pass the legislation in a 222-209 vote.
- GRIJALVA SWEARING-IN: Rep. Adelita Grijalva was sworn in this afternoon, nearly two months after the Arizona Democrat won her late father’s seat in a special election. Democrats now have 214 members to the Republicans' 219. Grijalva became the 218th signature on a discharge petition to force a House vote on whether the Justice Department should release the Jeffrey Epstein files.
- VIRGINIA BATTLEGROUND: Former Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., a member of the Jan. 6 committee who lost re-election in 2022, told NBC News that she's launching a bid for her old congressional seat against GOP Rep. Jennifer Kiggans, one of the most competitive districts in next year's election.
Trump doesn't respond to questions on Epstein emails at bill-signing event
Trump did not respond to questions at tonight's bill-signing event where NBC News' Garrett Haake asked him about newly released Jeffrey Epstein emails.
Trump, who often speaks at length with reporters during Oval Office events, referred to Epstein's case as a "Hoax" in a Truth Social post earlier in the day, suggesting that Democrats would "do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects."
Trump has not made public remarks about the latest tranche of Epstein records that include emails mentioning him.
In response to questions from reporters at today's briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.”
Trump signs funding bill into law, ending record-long government shutdown
Trump this evening signed into law legislation that reopens the federal government and ends an acrimonious 43-day shutdown, the longest in American history.
His signature, which restores funding that has been frozen or halted for weeks, came shortly after the House voted 222-209 to send him the measure. Six Democrats joined nearly all Republicans in voting yes, and two Republicans joined most Democrats in voting no.
The Senate approved the same legislation Monday when eight Democrats peeled off and voted with Republicans to break a filibuster and end the shutdown.
The successful House vote came after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., brought the Republican-controlled chamber back into session Wednesday for the first time since Sept. 19, wrapping up an extraordinarily long and unscheduled recess.
Federal agencies are asking employees to report to work tomorrow
Multiple federal agencies are directing their employees to report to work tomorrow as Trump is expected to sign a short-term funding bill tonight, according to three administration officials.
Government workers at Departments of Health and Human Services, Interior, Housing and Urban Development and Justice were all advised to come in tomorrow, regardless of when the measure is signed tonight.
One of the emails referred to the funding lapse as the “Democratic shutdown,” continuing a trend of partisan language on display from various agencies leading up to and during the 43-day government shutdown.
It’s unclear when furloughed workers will get their back pay or how fast paychecks might resume.
House votes to end the record-long government shutdown, sending bill to Trump
The House on Wednesday night voted to pass legislation to reopen the federal government and end an acrimonious 43-day shutdown, the longest in American history.
The successful vote came after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., brought the Republican-controlled chamber back into session for the first time since Sept. 19, wrapping up an extraordinarily long and unscheduled recess.
The House passed the measure in a 222-209 vote. The Senate had approved the same legislation Monday when eight Democrats peeled off and voted with Republicans to break a filibuster to end the shutdown.
The bill now heads to Trump’s desk to become law and reopen the government, restoring funding that has been frozen or halted.
Jesse Jackson hospitalized in Chicago
The Rev. Jesse Jackson has been hospitalized in Chicago, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive health matter.
Jackson has a high pulse and a “rattle in his chest,” the source said, but no fever.
FAA freezes flight cancellations at 6% as House is set to vote to end shutdown
The Department of Transportation announced today that flight reductions will freeze at 6% thanks to strong staffing levels and a “rapid decline” in air traffic controller callouts.
The new emergency freezing order will scrap the previous plan to ramp up reductions to 10% by Friday, and will remain in place “as the FAA continues to assess whether the system can gradually return to normal operations,” the Department of Transportation said.
Officials attributed the freeze to favorable staffing conditions, with just 11 staffing triggers reported yesterday and four today — down from a high of 81 on Saturday. Those strong staffing numbers “suggest a further ramp up in-flight reductions are not necessary to keep the traveling public safe,” the Transportation Department said.
The 6% reduction impacts flights at 40 high-traffic airports, including those in the New York area and in cities including Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Phoenix, Dallas and Los Angeles.
Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez offers privileged disapproval of fellow Democrat — Rep. Chuy Garcia
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., offered a privileged resolution that would express the House’s disapproval of Rep. Chuy Garcia, D-Ill., for withdrawing his nominating petitions to run for re-election after the filing deadline once his chief of staff had submitted her own paperwork.
That makes his chief, Patty Garcia (no relation), the only Democrat to run in the primary.
Speaking on the House floor, Gluesenkamp Perez said his actions “are beneath the dignity of his office and incompatible with the spirit of the Constitution.”
Her resolution is privileged, meaning the speaker must schedule a vote on it within two legislative days. With the House leaving tonight, she will likely have to offer it again next week.
Immediately after she spoke, the Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., went over to speak with her.
The move comes ahead of an expected final vote in the House on ending the government shutdown.
House will vote to undo provision letting senators sue over Jan. 6-related searches
Speaker Mike Johnson said the House will vote next week to repeal a provision slipped into the bill to end the shutdown that would allow senators to sue the government for potentially millions of dollars if their data is obtained without their notification.
Johnson said he was “shocked” and “angry” when he learned about the provision, which would uniquely benefit eight Republican senators, whose phone records — but not the contents of their calls or messages — were found to have been accessed as part of the investigation that led to former special counsel Jack Smith’s probe of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
When asked today if he knew about the provision, which was tucked into the bill to reopen the government, Johnson replied, “No, I found out about it last night.”
“I was surprised. I was shocked by it, and I was angry about it, to be honest,” he said.
The House planned to pass the package to reopen the government later today, which will bring an end to the 43-day government shutdown.
House approves floor rule for funding bill, with one hour of debate to start soon
The House approved the rule for debating legislation that would reopen the government, a necessary procedural step.
The rule, which allows for an hour of floor debate before a vote on final passage, was agreed to on a party-line vote of 213 to 209.
Affordability worries and GOP infighting hover over the early race to succeed Trump
Trump has 38 months left in office and — as his occasional pining about an unconstitutional third term attests — is loath to be a lame duck anytime soon.
But the quacking from others has begun.
Democrats scored resounding victories in elections last week as voters agonized over high prices and a federal government shutdown that paused paychecks and disrupted food aid for low-income Americans. The results put Republicans, especially those interested in succeeding Trump in 2028, in a bind over how to respond to growing affordability concerns without overstepping a president who remains popular with their base.
