Judge orders Trump administration to pay SNAP benefits; air traffic troubles plague Day 37 of shutdown
NBC News Clone summarizes the latest on: Trump Government Shutdown 2025 Elections Congress Live Updates Rcna241430 - Politics and Government | NBC News Clone. This article is rewritten and presented in a simplified tone for a better reader experience.
U.S. flights and energy payment assistance for low-income households are expected to be the latest casualties of the impasse between Republicans and Democrats on federal spending.
Highlights from Nov. 6, 2025
- GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: Travelers were bracing for widespread flight delays after the Federal Aviation Administration announced it will slash capacity at 40 “high traffic” locations starting tomorrow. The shutdown broke the record yesterday as the longest federal closure ever.
- SNAP BENEFITS: A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to deliver SNAP payments in full to states by tomorrow. In a scathing order, U.S. District Judge John McConnell said the food stamps benefits lapse last weekend was a “problem that could have and should have been avoided.”
- PELOSI RETIRING: Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the nation’s first female speaker of the House, who orchestrated the opposition to President Donald Trump and former President George W. Bush during her two decades leading the Democratic caucus, announced this morning that she won't seek re-election next year.
- ‘SANDWICH GUY’ TRIAL: A jury has found Sean Dunn, known as D.C.’s “sandwich guy,” not guilty. Dunn’s hurling of a salami sub at a Customs and Border Protection agent became a symbol of local resistance to Trump’s immigration and crime enforcement surge in Washington.
Trump says Iran has been asking to have sanctions lifted
During a dinner with leaders of Central Asian countries today, Trump said Iran "has been asking" if the U.S. sanctions against it could be lifted.
"Iran has got very heavy U.S. sanctions, and it makes it really hard for them to do what they'd like to be able to do," Trump said while taking questions from reporters. "And I'm open to hearing that, and we'll see what happens, but I would be open to it."
Trump said the U.S. took sanctions off Syria “to give them a chance.”
"And I think so far there, I think he’s doing a very good job so far,” he said of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is set to meet with Trump at the White House on Monday.
EIi Lilly’s CEO says fast-track approval of its new oral weight loss drug is part of Trump deal
Eli Lilly’s top executive told NBC News today that a key component of the company’s agreement to sell its weight loss drug at a discount is that it will receive fast-track approval from the Trump administration for the oral version of a GLP-1 medication.
“As part of the deal, they’ve agreed to give us an expedited approval,” CEO David Ricks told NBC’s Tom Llamas on "Top Story" when asked about the new drug that's awaiting a final evaluation by the Food and Drug Administration.
Ricks' comments came after a White House event where Trump announced his administration had reached a deal to lower the cost of two popular GLP-1 weight loss drugs: Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Zepbound.
Asked about the ethics and optics of moving faster than normal in the approval process, Ricks defended the push to get it across the finish line sooner rather than later.
"There have been expedited approval mechanisms for decades. So, I don’t think it’s anything particularly new," he said. "What’s new is they’re linking it to this access deal. But to enable the access, we really do need the oral medication to be reviewed more quickly."
He said their application "will be sent to the FDA now in the next few weeks."
"I don’t expect them to cut any corners, and we certainly wouldn’t submit the medicine if we didn’t see it as safe and effective," Ricks added. "The trials are all complete, and they’re published."
The overall deal comes less than a year into Trump's second term. The main reason it didn't materialize during the Biden administration, according to Ricks, is that Trump's predecessor never reached out.
"I actually never got a call from the Biden administration about this," Ricks said.
"We were trying to work with Congress to pass an act that would actually force the administration, and all administrations, to cover these medications. That has not passed. So here, in lieu of that, we’re making a deal with President Trump," he said. "And we would have done that, though, with any party or any president. Our mission is to get medicines that really improve health to millions of people, and this is enabling that. That’s why we signed up."
Trump announces Kazakhstan is joining the Abraham Accords
In a Truth Social post tonight, Trump said that Kazakhstan is the first country in his second term to join the Abraham Accords.
"I just held a great call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of Israel, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, of Kazakhstan," Trump wrote. "We will soon announce a Signing Ceremony to make it official, and there are many more Countries trying to join this club of STRENGTH."
NBC News reported earlier today that Kazakhstan would be joining the accords — agreements reached during Trump's first term to normalize relations between Israel and some Arab countries.
The move by Kazakhstan is mostly symbolic; the country has had diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992.
Kazakhstan's president is among the leaders from Central Asian countries meeting with Trump at the White House tonight.
Senate rejects bipartisan resolution that would block Trump military action against Venezuela
The Senate today voted down a measure requiring congressional approval for any military action by Trump against Venezuela.
The bipartisan resolution failed in a 49-51 vote that required a simple majority to pass. Two Republicans — Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky — joined all 47 Democrats voting in support of the measure.
The vote comes after more than a dozen strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, Eastern Pacific or off the coastline of Latin America, killing at least 66 people.
Balance zero: SNAP recipients go without food after benefits don’t arrive
Gia Haley is trying to survive on water and coffee.
Haley, 41, said she has been out of groceries since Oct. 29, and the monthly $298 she receives in food assistance did not arrive as it ordinarily would have on Wednesday.
“The black coffee kind of kills my appetite,” she said.
Haley is one of more than 40 million people across the country who count on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a federal benefit that dates back to the late 1930s. But disruptions to SNAP, also known as food stamps, during what has become the longest government shutdown in American history have left recipients facing imminent hunger, unable to restock their pantries or refrigerators.
Although the Trump administration said partial funds would be distributed this month — a response to a lawsuit challenging its plan to suspend SNAP payments during the shutdown — recipients who were due to receive their benefits this week have empty balances.
More than 30,000 federal workers are now on unemployment benefits
Initial jobless claims in the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees program continued to decline slightly but remain very elevated due to the ongoing government shutdown.
According to state data just posted online from the Labor Department, 7,445 federal workers filed initial jobless claims for the week ended Nov. 1. That’s down from 8,665 last week and the peak of 10,062 the week before, according to data compiled by NBC News.
Continuing claims, on the other hand, continue to surge. There are now 30,145 federal workers counted as “continuing claims” in tonight’s data release. That’s up from 20,594 in the prior week.
However, as with recent weeks, some states’ data is missing. In recent weeks, three to four states have had missing data, and again tonight Michigan and the U.S. Virgin Islands’ data is not included in this file. That means the total count could be slightly incomplete, and the actual totals could remain unknown until federal workers are back in the office to fix these databases.
Trump touts cost of Walmart’s Thanksgiving meal to vindicate his policies — ignoring a key detail
In the wake of Republicans’ heavy election losses on Tuesday, Trump has responded to voters’ growing concerns by insisting the economy is actually experiencing a “golden age.”
As tangible proof, he has pointed to the cost of Walmart’s Thanksgiving meal bundle, which is roughly 25% less expensive this year than it was last year.
“Grocery prices are way down, and Walmart just announced that the cost of their standard Thanksgiving meal — this is the greatest, their greatest,” Trump said in a speech to the American Business Forum yesterday, adding: “It is 25% lower than one year ago. That’s a big deal.”
Trump is right — but the 2025 Thanksgiving bundle is also smaller than the 2024 package.
This year’s package, at less than $40, contains 23 items; last year, there were 29. The missing items this year include onions, celery, sweet potatoes, chicken broth, poultry seasoning, muffin mix, marshmallows, whipped topping and pecan pie.
Latino voter shifts in Tuesday’s elections alarm some Republicans
Republicans have spent a year cheering Trump’s gains among Latino voters in November 2024. Now, Democrats’ big wins among Latino voters this week have some Republicans sounding the alarm.
“This is a wake-up call for the GOP,” Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., told NBC News.
Democrats’ double-digit victories in governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia, as well as wins in other elections in New York City and California, were driven in part by high levels of support among Latino voters.
Latino voters supported the Democratic candidates this year by at least double-digit margins, according to NBC News exit polling. Latino men, who broke for Trump last year, according to the 2024 exit polls, favored the Democrats in each of the races where exit polling was conducted on Tuesday.
Senate Democrats say they are unified as shutdown talks look likely to spill into the weekend
Senate Democrats met for over an hour behind closed doors in the Capitol today to discuss a way forward to end the government shutdown, and all left saying some version of it being a good and productive meeting.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who has advocated for Democrats to hold the line on their shutdown demands, told reporters that “these have been really good, organic discussions in the conference,” and that the caucus wants to “stay together and unified, and we had a really good conversation about how to do that.”
“I think everybody understands the importance of what happens, what happened on Tuesday and wants us to move forward in a way that honors that,” Murphy added of this week's elections.
Several Republican senators also told us they expect to be here over the weekend, anticipating votes on government funding bills. That would come in the form of another vote on the House-passed short-term funding bill as soon as tomorrow, a Senate GOP leadership aide said.
“I think they’re trying to work towards a vote tomorrow, maybe through the weekend. I’m pro [staying] through the weekend,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said.
Asked if she’s expecting to be here tomorrow and through the weekend, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., just said, “Yep.”
Judge orders Trump administration to deliver full SNAP benefits to states by tomorrow
A federal judge in Rhode Island has ordered the Trump administration to deliver SNAP payments in full to states by tomorrow.
The order, which U.S. District Judge John McConnell issued this afternoon, followed two weeks of chaos and confusion about the fate of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, during the government shutdown.
McConnell ruled last week that the Trump administration had to distribute benefits as soon as possible, in response to a lawsuit filed by the progressive legal advocacy group Democracy Forward.
Supreme Court allows Trump to enforce passport restrictions targeting transgender people
The Supreme Court today allowed the Trump administration to enforce a policy aimed at limiting transgender rights that would restrict sex designations on passports to “male” and “female” based on sex assigned at birth.
The justices granted an emergency request filed by the administration, which is seeking to reverse a policy introduced during the Biden administration that allowed people to put “X” as a gender marker or self-select male or female.
“Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth—in both cases, the Government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment,” the court said in the unsigned order.
The three liberal justices on the conservative-majority court dissented.
Jury acquits D.C. ‘sandwich guy’ charged with chucking a sub at a federal agent
Jurors showed no appetite for the Justice Department’s case against “sandwich guy,” the D.C. resident who chucked a Subway sandwich at the chest of a federal officer, finding him not guilty today after several hours of deliberations.
The jury — which feasted on sandwiches for lunch on Thursday, according to a person familiar with jury lunches — deliberated the charges for several hours yesterday and today before delivering the verdict.
Sean Dunn, a former Justice Department paralegal, faced a single misdemeanor count after a federal grand jury rejected more serious charges over the incident, which took place in the nightlife area of U Street in August.
Trump says he was 'angry' with Republicans over economic messaging
Trump said that last night he was "angry" with Republicans over the party's messaging on affordability after Democrats won key races in New Jersey, Virginia and New York earlier this week.
"We are the ones that have done a great job of affordability, not the Democrats and yet, we just lost a couple of elections," he said.
"I was angry last night with the Republicans. They say you don't talk about this stuff. Nobody talks about it," he added. "We should be talking about it because [Democrats] talk about affordability, they don't have affordability."
White House event resumes after attendee collapses
The White House event on lowering the costs of weight loss drugs has resumed after an attendee collapsed, prompting administration officials to pause the event and usher reporters out of the room.
Trump briefly addressed the incident, saying that the person "got a little bit lightheaded" and was fine.
A source familiar with the incident told NBC News that the person who collapsed is OK now.
Senate to vote on war powers resolution over U.S. military actions on Venezuela
The Senate will vote at 5 p.m today on a war powers resolution that would block the use of the U.S. armed forces to engage in hostilities within or against Venezuela unless that action has been authorized by Congress.
The resolution, which needs a simple majority to pass, has been introduced by Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
The Senate failed to advance a similar resolution related to strikes in the Caribbean Sea in a 48-51 vote Oct. 8. Paul and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, were the only Republicans to vote for that measure.
Source confirms Kazakhstan expected to join Abraham Accords
Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is expected to announce during a meeting with Trump today that his country will join the Abraham Accords, according to a senior administration official.
The Abraham Accords refer to the agreements reached during the first Trump administration to normalize relations between Israel and some Arab countries.
Defense lawyer in 'sandwich guy' case says it should be declared a mistrial
Jurors in the trial of D.C. “sandwich guy” Sean Dunn have asked for a definition of “bodily harm” and “injury,” an indication that at least some of them are skeptical of the federal misdemeanor charge in a case where federal grand jurors initially rejected a felony charge
Lawyers spent a while discussing what instruction to give jurors, and U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols said he would tell them the phrase “bodily harm” carries the same meaning as “injury,” and that the jury should keep deliberating.
“I have never defined for the jury ‘bodily harm’ one way or another,” Nichols said, adding that the jury had asked “a good question.”
The defense said a mistrial was warranted because a definition of “bodily harm” was not given during jury instructions.
“Changing the rules after the game has already ended is not fundamental fairness, it punishes the team that actually followed the rules,” a defense attorney argued.
Nichols said he didn’t think there was enough for a mistrial, but he would hear those arguments after a verdict.
Jurors in the “sandwich guy” trial are being served sandwiches for lunch, a source familiar with today’s juror lunches tells NBC News.
Thune says he can guarantee a vote on ACA subsidies, but not an outcome
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters he can't give Democrats any assurances that an extension of Obamacare subsidies will pass after the shutdown has ended — something he has stressed previously as Democrats have demanded action on the health care premium tax credits.
Thune said he spoke to Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and told them he can only assure them that they will get a vote in the Senate.
“I made this very clear to them, I can’t guarantee them an outcome,” Thune said, “I can guarantee them a process, and they can litigate the issue, get the vote on the floor. And you know, I presumably they have some way of getting a vote in the House at some point, but I can’t speak for the House.”
Senate Democrats are holding their weekly policy lunch this afternoon, where they are expected to discuss any potential compromise to unlock the funding impasse.
“Hopefully they’ll come out of there with 10 or more that are willing to vote to open the government," Thune said.
Asked if the Senate would stay in session this weekend or during what is supposed to be a weeklong Veterans Day recess next week, Thune said, “If there’s a path forward to vote, whether that’s today, tomorrow, Saturday, we’ll stay and do that.”
RFK Jr. teases new dietary guidelines that will 'change the food culture'
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at the White House event that the Trump administration plans to soon roll out new dietary guidelines “that are going to change the food culture in this country."
"They’re going to change the kind of food the military gets," he said. "They’re going to change the kind of food that our children get. We’re releasing those into December."
Kennedy also said that the president's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition is going to get more Americans, particularly children, into physical activity.
Trump strikes deal to lower cost of weight loss drugs
Trump said at his White House event that his administration has reached an agreement with drugmakers Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly to lower the cost of their blockbuster GLP-1 weight loss drugs, Wegovy and Zepbound, respectively.
Under the deal, the monthly out-of-pocket cost of the drugs could range from $50 to around $350, depending on the dosage and insurance coverage, a senior administration official said.
Currently, Zepbound and Wegovy carry list prices above $1,000 a month, although both companies have introduced lower cost options for patients paying in cash and purchasing the drugs directly through their websites. To further expand access, Costco recently announced it would sell Wegovy and Ozempic for $499 for people who paid cash, while Walmart launched a similar arrangement with Lilly’s Zepbound.
People whose insurance covers the drugs usually pay much less than the list price. However, many insurers do not cover them.
Speaker Johnson says he won't promise a vote on extending ACA subsidies
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he would not make any promises on holding a floor vote on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies — a demand of Democrats in the impasse over reopening government.
“No, because we did our job, and I’m not part of the negotiation,” Johnson told reporters when asked about the subsidies at his daily news conference. “The House did its job on Sept. 19. I’m not promising anybody anything.”
Johnson insisted an extension of the subsidies “was never possible or appropriate for that to be handled on a CR, on a short-term stop-gap funding measure.”
The speaker also downplayed the Democratic wins in the elections Tuesday, saying if those had instead been in "Louisiana, Alabama and Texas, you’d have a totally different narrative, right? Or any — name any red state. It just so happened that those were the blue states. That was the blue outcomes.”
Man collapses at White House event, White House says he's OK
A man collapsed at Trump's White House event to announce an agreement to lower the cost of weight loss drugs, prompting White House officials to immediately end the event and escort the press out of the room.
After reporters were ushered out, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that "a representative with one of the companies fainted."
"The White House Medical Unit quickly jumped into action, and the gentleman is okay," she said. "The Press Conference will resume shortly."
An Eli Lilly spokesperson later said in a statement that, "Today at the White House press conference, one of the guests became overwhelmed by the events of the day and had a brief medical situation. He is receiving the best medical care."
Schumer says Tuesday's elections were a 'political torpedo' for Trump and Republicans
Speaking from the Senate floor, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that Trump and Republicans should heed the “political torpedo" of Tuesday's election results and launch talks with Democrats on reopening government.
"We want to have negotiations. It's been long enough," Schumer said. "Look, if Republicans were smart, they would get the message after Tuesday that their do-nothing strategy isn't working."
NBC reported earlier this week that a small bipartisan group of senators continues to hold talks on how to end the shutdown. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters that she feels like "some progress" is being made toward reopening the government.
“Over the weekend, the staff has worked very hard. Members have worked very hard," Collins said earlier this week. "I personally have talked to both House and Senate members about a path forward."
Collins made clear, however, that Republicans and Democrats have not gotten close to a deal yet.
"Democrats are bringing their specific language forward for the first time, and it just feels better this week," Collins said. "Now, who knows? It could all fall apart again, and I don’t mean to imply there’s an agreement.”
Trump visits fewer states, favoring foreign travel, so far at this point in first term
So far in his second term, Trump has visited the same number of foreign countries as he has states for policy events.
The president visited 14 states for policy events or emergency-related travel, and also 14 countries, including Italy, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Japan and South Korea — this despite his strong criticism of globalism in the past.
His domestic trips include travel to North Carolina related to Hurricane Helene, Nevada for an economic policy speech, Alabama, for a commencement speech, and New York for the United Nations General Assembly. He also traveled to Alaska for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the war in Ukraine.
Trump has visited 15 states this term if the count includes trips for sporting events: Louisiana for the Super Bowl. He has attended 10 sporting events as president, including UFC fights, the Daytona 500 and the LIV golf tournament.
The statistics mark a drop in domestic travel compared to his first term, when Trump visited 27 states at this point in his presidency, suggesting such travel for administrative purposes is less of a priority for him right now than it was in the first year of his first term.
This term, Trump has also spent 22 of the total 41 weekends of his administration in either Mar-a-Lago or at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club:
Thune warns of 'immense' impact on travel if government doesn't reopen
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., implored Democrats this morning to provide the votes to reopen the government, citing impending flight delays announced by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy yesterday.
"That means widespread flight cancellations, supply chain issues, hundreds of thousands of passengers dealing with disruption to travel every day,” Thune said in remarks on the Senate floor.
“The impact this will have will be immense," Thune said. He blamed Senate Democrats for refusing to back a House-passed short-term spending bill favored by Republicans that would extend current funding levels until later this month.
Democrats have been pushing to include an extension of expiring Obamacare subsidies in any short-term funding measure, but Republicans have refused to discuss health care provisions until the government reopens.
Trump jeers Pelosi's retirement as 'a great thing for America'
Trump said today that Rep. Nancy Pelosi's announcement that she plans to retire from Congress at the end of her term "is a great thing for America," Fox News reported.
Fox News' Peter Doocy shared the quote on air from Trump and then a White House X account posted it.
“The retirement of Nancy Pelosi is a great thing for America," Trump said, calling her "evil, corrupt, and only focused on bad things for our country."
“She was rapidly losing control of her party and she was never coming back,” Trump said, according to Doocy. “I’m very honored she impeached me twice and failed miserably twice. Nancy Pelosi is a highly overrated politician.”
Pelosi's office declined to comment.
Planned ICE call center aims to track down unaccompanied migrant minors
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement aims to open a call center that would have a dedicated unit to track down unaccompanied migrant children with the help of state and local police, an agency contracting document said, part of a wider Trump administration effort to find and potentially deport the minors.
The center would aim to feed information from state and local police to federal authorities, including the locations of unaccompanied children, according to the document, which was posted to a government contracting website Tuesday. ICE wants to create a round-the-clock facility that could handle 6,000-7,000 calls per day related to immigration enforcement, it said.
Trump urged China's Xi to free jailed Hong Kong media tycoon
During his meeting last week with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Trump raised the case of Jimmy Lai, a Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy activist who is facing life imprisonment on national security charges, a White House official told NBC News.
Trump had said he would talk to Xi about Lai, 77, who according to his family and rights groups has spent more than 1,700 days in solitary confinement amid a lengthy trial that ended in August. Lai, the founder of the now-defunct pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, and one charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material. A date for the verdict has yet to be announced.
Trump has said he hopes to “save” Lai, and said last year that “100%, I’ll get him out” of China and that it would be “so easy,” drawing a warning from Hong Kong’s top leader not to interfere.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Lai was the “principal mastermind and perpetrator” behind anti-government protests that roiled the Chinese territory for months in 2019.
“The central government firmly supports Hong Kong’s judicial authorities in performing their duties in accordance with the law,” she told reporters in Beijing today. “Hong Kong affairs are China’s internal affairs and brook no external interference.”
Reuters also reported that Trump and Xi had discussed Lai, citing three people briefed on the talks and a U.S. administration official.
Nancy Pelosi, first female speaker of the House, won’t seek re-election to Congress
In a final love letter to San Francisco, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who made history as the nation’s first female speaker of the House and twice served in that top job, announced in a video message today that she will not seek re-election in 2026.
“I will not be seeking re-election to Congress. With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative,” Pelosi, 85, said in her video message to San Francisco voters, interlaced with sweeping imagery of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Coit Tower and other landmarks, as well as photos that captured her storied political career.
The powerful California Democrat led her party in the House for two decades — from 2002 to 2022 — serving as a crucial ally for Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and orchestrating the opposition to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump.
Trump and Republicans grapple With Election Day 2025 losses
Following a string of Democratic wins on election night, Trump and Republicans are pointing to the ongoing government shutdown and a lack of focus on affordability issues for the losses. It comes as the Supreme Court is questioning the legality of Trump’s sweeping tariffs. NBC’s Garrett Haake reports for "TODAY."
U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz presents Security Council members with resolution on Gaza peace plan
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz presented the 10 elected members of the Security Council yesterday with a draft resolution on the Gaza peace plan, a U.S. official tells NBC News.
The resolution backs the proposed Board of Peace, an international body to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, and authorizes the peacekeeping forces outlined in Trump’s 20-point peace plan, said a spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the U.N.
Waltz was joined by representatives of Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates in what the U.S. official described as “showing clear regional support.”
The elected members of the Security Council include Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Somalia. It wasn’t immediately clear if the U.S. had shared the draft with permanent members Russia and China, who would be able to veto the resolution’s passage.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the U.S. was working on a possible United Nations resolution to support the proposed international peacekeeping force as part of the U.S. brokered peace agreement, which some countries have said is a requirement for their participation.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly in September that his country was ready to deploy peacekeeping forces to the territory.
“If and when the Security Council and this assembly decide, we are ready to deploy 20,000 or even more of our sons and daughters to help secure peace in Gaza or elsewhere in Palestine as part of a united multilateral force so that the two-state solution, so that peace in both Palestine and Israel, can become real, not just envisioned,” Subianto said.
The FAA is set to start cutting flights to contend with delays, staffing shortages
The Federal Aviation Administration will begin cutting the number of flights in the “high-traffic” parts of the country as the government shutdown grinds on and local airports have reported staffing shortages, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said yesterday.
“There is going to be a 10% reduction in capacity at 40 of our locations,” Duffy said. “This is about where’s the pressure and how do we alleviate the pressure.”
He said the reduction in capacity would start tomorrow.
The development comes as the shutdown has entered its second month and in the wake of a weekend during which dozens of American airports reported hundreds of delays.
House GOP lawmaker says funding could run out this week for program that helps cover heating bills
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., warned in a statement yesterday that a federal program aimed at assisting low-income households with paying their energy bills could run dry “by the end of this week” if the government shutdown persists.
“This is a life-or-death issue, and it is unconscionable not to fund it,” Burchett said. “I am calling on Senate Democrats to reopen the government and stop elderly Americans from being left out in the cold this winter.”
The $4.1 billion Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps pay heating costs during colder months. The program, known by its acronym LIHEAP, serves 5.9 million households, according to the Office of the Administration for Children and Families at the Department of Health and Human Services.
NBC News reported in April that the Trump administration terminated the entire staff that was responsible for providing oversight and technical assistance for the program at HHS.
Trump again encourages Republicans to end filibuster
Trump again encouraged Republicans to do away with the filibuster during a Fox New interview that aired last night.
“I think that if we got rid of the filibuster, we would approve so many good things, common sense things, wonderful things, that it would be hard to beat us. If we don’t, it’s always going to be a slog,” Trump told Fox News host Bret Baier.
“I would say absolutely without question, I have no doubt in my mind, get rid of it, and the Republicans should do it,” he added.
Trump’s effort to terminate the filibuster, in an effort to reopen the government without support from Democrats, hit a roadblock with some Republican lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who said that he would work to ensure the legislative filibuster was kept intact during his leadership.
Trump made a similar plea in a video statement posted on Truth Social tonight.
“It’s now time for the Republicans to play their trump card and go for what’s called the nuclear option. Get rid of the filibuster and get rid of it now,” Trump said.
Partial SNAP benefits for November will be more than previously estimated, Trump official says
An official with the Agriculture Department told a federal court last night that allotments to SNAP beneficiaries for November will be 65% of their normal rate instead of the 50% previously estimated by the Trump administration.
The administration had told a federal judge Monday that it would use more than $4 billion in contingency funds to distribute half of the monthly benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, during the ongoing government shutdown.
The revised figures mean a family of four in the lower 48 states will receive about $646 for the month.
