US federal government shutdown 2025

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      Out-of-touch Trump talks up economy among sycophants and stars in Miami

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      It was the week in which Republicans took a beating at the polls, the government shutdown became the longest in history, and 42 million people across the country, including 3 million in Florida, saw their federal food aid slashed.But in the alternative reality of Miami, where tickets to an overwhelmingly conservative business conference headlined by Donald Trump cost up to $1,990, and billionaires from Saudi Arabia rubbed shoulders with equally wealthy American tycoons such as Jeff Bezos and Ken Griffin, those events created barely a ripple.Instead, in a gesture that appeared almost to mock the widening disparity between the city’s haves and have-nots, organizers of the America Business Forum cooked up a little treat for attendees: a $50 gift card to spend on food to sustain themselves while they listened to their president congratulate himself for a “golden age” he said his “economic miracle” had delivered.Advocates say the move, along with the high-budget opulence of the conference itself, was an ill-timed insult to more than a half-million Miami-Dade county residents who just saw their own ability to buy essential groceries for their families kiboshed by the gutting of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap).“There’s just a massive cognitive dissonance between what real people are going through, and the elite,” said Larry Hannan, communications and policy director of State Voices Florida, a coalition of more than a hundred non-partisan, pro-democracy and civic engagement groups.“Jeff Bezos does not need a $50 food card. But we saw that with the Great Gatsby theme party last week. They just can’t seem to stop doing things that are shockingly out of touch.“We’ve been through shutdowns before, and while obviously the White House bubble is always somewhat insane, presidents are usually smart enough, they usually know not to flaunt this type of stuff. But this administration does not seem to care.”The president’s hour-long address on Thursday had the flavor of a political rally, with familiar insults for old political foes such as the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, and California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, and a new one: Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected democratic socialist mayor of New York.View image in fullscreenTrump touched on his economic agenda, and lauded a host of speakers from the worlds of politics, sport and business that filled the two-day agenda, created largely by Francis Suarez, mayor of the city of Miami, to showcase south Florida and its investment opportunities.Lionel Messi, the Argentina soccer star and World Cup winner, provided celebrity glitz from sporting circles, along with tennis champions Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams. A conversation between Suarez and María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader and democracy activist who last month won the Nobel peace prize that Trump coveted, was well received on day one.Yet overall it was a curious and unmistakably politically charged event with a field of Trump sycophants on the stage, loudly cheered by a crowd of mostly younger and affluent supporters of the president in the audience, some blending business suits with his trademark red Make America Great Again (Maga) caps.How else to explain the presence of Javier Milei, the rightwing president of Argentina, the country whose shaky economy Trump helped shore up last month with a $20bn currency swap lifeline? Or that of Saudi Arabians Fahad AlSaif, head of its $925bn Public Investment Fund, and Reema Bandar Al-Saud, Riyadh’s ambassador to the US, touting their country as ripe for investment while the Trump family’s financial ties and influence there come under greater scrutiny?Then there was Gianni Infantino, head of Fifa, international soccer’s governing body, dropping hints that Trump is in line for the organization’s first peace prize, an unwanted new award that observers see created specially for the president as consolation for his Nobel snub.Other speakers, including Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JP Morgan; Adam Neumann, founder of WeWork and Flow; and Griffin, the hedge-fund manager and Republican donor; have all previously praised, worked with or voted for Trump, offering more than a suggestion of a politically skewed lineup.Suarez, unsurprisingly, saw it differently.“We wanted it to be a sort of a cross-section from different verticals, right?” he told the Guardian.“We got in a room. We said, ‘Hey, what are the leading voices?’ People from different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different genders … sports, business, politics, technology, things that touch everyone’s lives.”He pointed to discussions of upcoming, money-spinning notable events in Miami, including the Formula One grand prix, next year’s G20 economic summit at Trump’s Doral golf resort, and games during the 2026 World Cup, which he called “a generational opportunity”.“Our hope is that Miamians are transformed by the experience,” Suarez said. “We want them to leave thinking, ‘I can be on that stage.’”View image in fullscreenThe advocates of State Voices Florida, however, believe many Miamians are more focused right now on other issues, especially soaring housing and food costs. Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis rejected a call from Hannan’s group and others to declare an emergency over Snap benefits and tap state reserves to fund urgent food distribution.“Any civics teacher would tell you it’s his job to look after the people of Florida, and he’s doing the exact opposite,” Hannan said, noting the juxtaposition of a conference of billionaires taking place in the same county in which almost 25% of households rely on Snap benefits to survive.“There just seems to be this detachment at the top. I don’t think the answer is electing a Democrat or electing a Republican, I just think we have to have more empathy for people who are struggling in this state.”Empathy was in short supply in Miami from Trump, a president not known for ever taking responsibility during a crisis.“The radical left Democrats are causing millions of Americans who depend on food stamps to go without benefits,” he said, blaming the out-of-office opposition party for the government shutdown.“I just want to have a country that’s great again. Is that OK?” More

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      US airlines cancel flights after aviation agency directive to cut air traffic

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      Reductions in flights will begin at 40 major US airports from Friday to help address air traffic controller shortage safety concerns as a result of the government shutdown.The Associated Press published a list including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago airports after airline regulators identified “high-volume markets” where the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says air traffic must be reduced by 4% by 6am ET on Friday, a move that would force airlines to cancel thousands of flights and create a cascade of scheduling issues and delays. United, Southwest and Delta airlines on Thursday evening began cancelling flightsOn Thursday evening, Delta said it will be cancelling 170 flights on Friday and “fewer” on Saturday because it is a lighter travel day. Southwest said it will cancel 120 flights for Friday and United said it plans to cut 4% of its flights Friday through Sunday.The FAA has said flights are being reduced to maintain air traffic control safety during the ongoing federal government shutdown, now the longest recorded and with no sign of a resolution between Republicans and Democrats to end the federal budget standoff, now in its 37th day. Experts predict hundreds if not thousands of flights could be canceled. The cuts could represent as many as 1,800 flights and upwards of 268,000 seats combined, according to an estimate by the aviation analytics firm Cirium.The affected airports covering more than two dozen states include the busiest ones across the US – including Atlanta, Charlotte, Denver, Dallas/Fort Worth, Orlando, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco. In some of the biggest cities – such as New York, Houston and Chicago – multiple airports will be be affected.All three airports serving the Washington DC area – Washington Dulles international, Baltimore/Washington international and Ronald Reagan Washington national – will be affected, inevitably causing delays and cancellations for lawmakers as well as other travelers.Scott Kirby, the United Airlines CEO, said in a statement the goal of regulators “is to relieve pressure on the aviation system so that we can all continue to operate safely. That is the FAA’s highest priority, and ours as well. No matter what environment we’re operating in, we will not compromise on safety.”Kirby added the airline “will continue to make rolling updates to our schedule as the government shutdown continues so we can give our customers several days’ advance notice and to minimize disruption”.Delta Air Lines said it would comply with the directive and “expects to operate the vast majority of our flights as scheduled, including all long-haul international service, and will work to minimize customer impact while keeping safety our top priority”.Delta also said it would provide additional flexibility to customers to change, cancel or refund their flights, including basic economy fares, without penalty.The flight reductions, according to ABC News, will start at 4% on Friday and increase to 10%. The flights affected by these reductions are scheduled during the hours of 6am to 10pm.The likely airspace shutdown comes two weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday – typically the busiest travel period of the year – and raises pressures on lawmakers to reach a deal to end the shutdown.Air traffic controllers, already in short supply, have been working unpaid since 1 October, with many working mandatory overtime and others taking second jobs, according to Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary, who said the cuts would be to “alleviate the pressure”.“Many of the controllers said, ‘A lot of us can navigate missing one paycheck. Not everybody, but a lot of us can. None of us can manage missing two paychecks,’” Duffy said on Wednesday. He accused Democrats of being responsible for any “mass chaos” that ensues even though the shutdown is the result of both Republicans and Democrats refusing to agree to a deal.In a statement, American Airlines said most customers would be unaffected and long-haul international travel would remain as scheduled, and that customers could change their flight or request a refund. “In the meantime, we continue to urge leaders in Washington to reach an immediate resolution to end the shutdown,” the statement said, adding thanks to “to the air traffic controllers, TSA officers, CBP officers and other federal employees who are working right now without pay”.The agency’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO) is responsible for the scheduling and safety of more than 44,000 flights and more than 3 million airline passengers daily across more than 29m square miles of airspace.The government shutdown has left shortages of up to 3,000 air traffic controllers, according to the administration, in addition to at least 11,000 more receiving zero wages despite being categorized as essential workers.Bryan Bedford, the FAA administrator, said the flight reductions are intended to keep the airspace safe during the shutdown.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“I’m not aware in my 35-year history in the aviation market where we’ve had a situation where we’re taking these kinds of measures,” Bedford said. “We’re in new territory in terms of government shutdowns.“Our sole role is to make sure that we keep this airspace as safe as possible. Reduction in capacity at 40 of our locations. This is not based on light airline travel locations. This is about where the pressure is and how to really deviate the pressure,” Bedford added.Geoff Freeman, the US Travel Association president and CEO, said in a statement that the government shutdown was “forcing difficult operational decisions that disrupt travel and damage confidence in the US air travel experience”.Aviation expert John Nance told ABC that regulators were “probably trying to do their best” to prevent any reduction in the margins of safety. “We’re facing the potential of almost a shutdown of the national airspace … You cannot continue to operate this in a way that ignores the diminution of safety. This is an incredibly serious situation.”From Friday to Sunday evening, at least 39 air traffic control facilities reported potential staffing limits, according to an Associated Press analysis of operations plans shared through the Air Traffic Control System Command Center. The figure, which is probably an undercount, is well above the average for weekends before the shutdown.During weekends from 1 January to 30 September, the average number of airport towers, regional control centers and facilities monitoring traffic at higher altitudes that announced potential staffing issues was 8.3, according to the AP analysis. But during the five weekend periods since the shutdown began, the average more than tripled, to 26.2 facilities.The shutdown may also have other consequences, including slowing the investigation in a UPS cargo plane crash on Tuesday in Louisville that killed at least 12 people.“At a minimum, the shutdown will certainly slow down the investigation,” said Matt Stoddard, an Atlanta-based transportation attorney, in a statement to the Guardian. “National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators must interact with other parts of government and those other departments’ responses will certainly be slowed.”The Associated Press contributed reporting

      This article was amended on 6 November to correct the number of days the US government has been shut to 37 and update the name of the agency managing US airspace to Federal Aviation Administration. More

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      US judge orders Trump administration to fully fund Snap benefits in November

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      A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration Thursday to find the money to fully fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) benefits for November.The ruling by US district judge John J McConnell Jr gave the Trump administration until Friday to make the payments through Snap, though it is unlikely the people that rely on it will see the money on the debit cards they use for groceries that quickly.“The defendants failed to consider the practical consequences associated with this decision to only partially fund Snap,” McConnell said. “They knew that there would be a long delay in paying partial Snap payments and failed to consider the harms individuals who rely on those benefits would suffer.”The Trump administration said last month that it would not pay benefits at all for November because of the federal shutdown. Last week, two judges ordered the government to pay at least partial benefits using an emergency fund. It initially said it would cover half, but later said it would cover 65%.The plaintiffs want the benefits to be fully funded.The US Department of Agriculture said last month that benefits for November wouldn’t be paid because of the federal government shutdown. That set off a scramble by food banks, state governments and the nearly 42 million Americans who receive the aid to find ways to ensure access to groceries.The program serves about one in eight Americans and is a major piece of the nation’s social safety net. It costs more than $8bn per month nationally. More

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      List of US airports cutting flights on Friday due to federal government shutdown

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      The Federal Aviation Administration is forcing airlines to cut 10% of their flights at 40 of the busiest airports across the US to reduce pressure on air traffic controllers during the ongoing federal government shutdown and ensure that flying remains safe.The cuts will start to take effect on Friday. Travelers should check with their airlines to see if their flight has been cut. Here is a list of airports affected:1. Anchorage international in Alaska2. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta international in Georgia3. Boston Logan international in Massachusetts4. Baltimore/Washington international in Maryland5. Charlotte Douglas international in North Carolina6. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky international in Ohio7. Dallas Love Field in Texas8. Ronald Reagan Washington National in Virginia9. Denver international in Colorado10. Dallas/Fort Worth international in Texas11. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne county in Michigan12. Newark Liberty international in New Jersey13. Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood international in Florida14. Honolulu international in Hawaii15. Houston Hobby in Texas16. Washington Dulles international in Virginia17. George Bush Houston intercontinental in Texas18. Indianapolis international in Indiana19. John F Kennedy international in New York20. Harry Reid international in Las Vegas21. Los Angeles international in California22. LaGuardia in New York23. Orlando international in Florida24. Chicago Midway international in Illinois25. Memphis international in Tennessee26. Miami international in Florida27. Minneapolis/St Paul international in Minnesota28. Oakland international in California29. Ontario international in California30. Chicago O‘Hare international in Illinois31. Portland international in Oregon32. Philadelphia international in Pennsylvania33. Phoenix Sky Harbor international in Arizona34. San Diego international in California35. Louisville international in Kentucky36. Seattle/Tacoma international in Washington37. San Francisco international in California38. Salt Lake City international in Utah39. Teterboro in New Jersey40. Tampa international in Florida More

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      Snap cuts are leaving one in eight Americans hungry. Here’s how you can help

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      As the US government shutdown continues, nearly 42 million people face a threat to their food supply. Funding for the Snap program – commonly known as food stamps – expired on Saturday, leaving recipients’ fate uncertain. “It comes down to paying for my medications and my bills or buying food for myself and for my animals,” a Missouri veteran told the Guardian. A California resident described being “housebound because I need a couple of spinal cord surgeries so this is really gonna hurt me because I cannot work, and thereby earn money to put food on the table”.Last week, a judge blocked the Trump administration from suspending benefits entirely. But on Monday, the administration said it would provide those enrolled in the program with only half of what they usually receive. Now, food banks are struggling under the weight of “unprecedented demand”, said Linda Nageotte, president and chief operating officer of Feeding America, a network of food banks across the US. “One in eight people in our country right now don’t have enough to eat, and if you’re one of the seven who does, it’s time for you to activate.”If you are directly affected by the Snap cuts, you can find a nearby food bank here. Otherwise, here’s how you can lend a hand.Donate to food programsThanks to relationships with retailers, farmers and other food industry sources, “the cost per pound for food when a food bank is sourcing it is really, really, really low,” Nageotte said. “We can provide far, far more meals’ worth of food with $1 than you could if you took that same dollar and went to the grocery store.”With that in mind, you can donate funds to larger organizations such as Feeding America or New York City’s City Harvest, or to a local site. In the US, you can find a food bank near you via Feeding America, via the website FoodFinder, or via a quick Google search for food assistance programs in your area. Another option is FindHelp.org, which identifies a huge number of aid programs, including food assistance.You can also host your own food drive. Check in with a local bank to learn what is most needed and then encourage friends, family or co-workers to donate canned goods and other non-perishable items. Or you can help at a food bank near you by volunteering.“We need donations of money. We need donations of food. We need people who can volunteer and help us sort and pack boxes so that they can quickly be distributed to neighbors who need them. And we need folks who want to lift their voice and advocate” for a reopening of the government and full Snap funding, Nageotte said.Mutual aid programs also offer support – the Mutual Aid Hub is a good place to start. Or you can contribute to local community fridges (here are some examples in New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles), which provide free food for neighborhoods.Support your neighbors directlyPerhaps there’s someone in your area who needs a hand paying for food or going to the grocery store. If so, you might offer to be a “grocery buddy” who goes shopping with a neighbor, or pitches in needed funds or a gift card. The phenomenon has grown during the shutdown, with people posting in neighborhood forums and Facebook groups to volunteer, CNN reports.You might also see whether your local school has a “backpack” meal program that helps ensure kids can eat outside school hours. Or you could organize and schedule a Meal Train, building a team of people to ensure a friend is getting regular meals. And if you enjoy Italian food, neighborhood ties, or Garfield the cat, you might consider becoming a volunteer chef in a lasagne-based program aiming to build close-knit communities.View image in fullscreenA bit of inspirationFaced with neighbors in need, people across the US are taking action.In the San Francisco Bay Area, restaurants are offering free meals; a pasta maker is giving free food to anyone who uses the not-so-secret code word. A Minneapolis breakfast spot is giving out pancakes to anyone who wants them, while a museum is providing free admission to Snap recipients, among many similar efforts across the city. Outside Boston, restaurants are banding together to donate a portion of their gift card sales to a food-recovery non-profit. In Los Angeles, Jimmy Kimmel has opened a food donation center.Others are busy contacting their representatives, demanding an end to the shutdown and the hunger crisis. Feeding America and 5Calls offer templates to help you do the same.“I’ve been in this work for over 30 years, and if there is one thing that is true when there is a crisis, it is that the best of humanity shows up in full force,” Nageotte said. More

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      US to cut airline traffic by 10% due to shutdown, Trump transport chief says

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      The transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, and the FAA administrator, Bryan Bedford, said on Wednesday the federal government would be reducing airline traffic by 10% at 40 “high volume markets” beginning on Friday if the government shutdown does not end by then.The announcement did not specify which 40 airports would see the reduction and said that a complete list would be announced on Thursday with cuts likely at the nation’s 30 busiest airports, including those serving New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Dallas. The reduction will affect cargo, private and passenger traffic.Reuters reported that the cuts would begin at 4% on Friday, escalate to 5% Saturday and 6% at Sunday, before reaching 10% next week, and that international flights were to be exempted from the initial cuts. Aviaion analytics firm Cirium estimated that the cuts would reduce as many as 1,800 flights and over 268,000 airline seats.The comments come after Duffy warned earlier this week that the US may close portions of its airspace if the shutdown, now on its record-breaking 36th day, does not end.Duffy and Bedford repeatedly framed the decision as a pre-emptive, safety and data-driven measure. Bedford said that air traffic was currently operating safely, but that the FAA was concerned about widespread reports of fatigue from flight controllers.“As we slice the data more granularly, we are seeing pressures build in a way that we don’t feel, if we allow it to go unchecked, will allow us to continue to tell the public that we operate the safest airline system in the world” Bedford said.“Many of these employees, they’re the head of household,” Duffy said. “When they lose income they are confronted with real-world difficulties on how they pay their bills.”The 10% reductions are aimed at reducing the stress on air traffic controllers, who have been working throughout the shutdown without pay.Duffy said that the FAA was offering cash bonuses to retiring air traffic controllers to stay on staff, and that the FAA academy was increasing recruitment in efforts to ease the shortage.View image in fullscreenBedford said that the FAA would be meeting with airline representatives to discuss how to implement the traffic reduction. Bedford and Duffy said that there was potential for further action if the shutdown continued, and if it was deemed necessary for passenger safety. He did not offer specifics when asked about how to ensure that routes or airlines would not be disproportionately affected, or how smoothly the FAA expected the reduction to go, given that the agency estimates it handles more than 44,000 flights and 3 million passengers per day.The air traffic reduction is expected to exacerbate the flight delays and long security wait times that have plagued American airports since the shutdown began.“I’m not aware in my 35-year history in the aviation market where we’ve had a situation where we’re taking these kind of measures,” Bedford said. “We’re in new territory in terms of government shutdowns.”The shutdown, which began on 1 October, has since left shortages of up to 3,000 air traffic controllers, according to the administration, in addition to at least 11,000 more receiving zero wages despite working as essential workers over the last two weeks. The FAA is already short roughly 3,500 positions from targeted staffing levels.Duffy said that the controllers received a partial payment at the onset of the shutdown and “a big fat zero” for their checks two weeks ago, and could expect the same tomorrow.Troubles with the American air traffic control system did not begin with the shutdown – a 2023 study found that 20 of the nation’s 26 most critical airports had staffing levels below the 85% minimum level, and communications outages this spring at Newark’s Liberty Airport brought national scrutiny to the issue, as well as the collision of a military helicopter and passenger jet that killed 67 people outside of Washington DC’s Reagan National airport.Stocks of major US airlines dipped around 1% in extended trading. The announcement comes just weeks before Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season, and some of the busiest travel of the year.On Wednesday morning, the shutdown entered its 36th day, becoming the longest in United States history. Duffy’s tweets announcing the 10% reduction in staffing came on the heels of a post he made with AI-generated art blaming congressional Democrats for the shutdown.Reuters contributed reporting More

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      US Senate rejects funding package for 14th time with shutdown in 35th day

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      The US federal government shutdown was poised to move into record-breaking territory on Tuesday after the Senate rejected for the 14th time a funding package already passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.With the shutdown now in its record-equalling 35th day, frantic behind-the-scenes talks were under way to bring the standoff to a close amid expressions of alarm from Democrats and Republicans alike about its disruptive effects on millions of Americans.The shutdown threatened services such as the federal food stamps program and has seen employees furloughed or working unpaid. It will exceed the 35-day closure that occurred during Donald Trump’s first presidency, in 2018, if it continues past midnight tonight.With concerns over its impact mounting, the Trump administration moved on Monday to provide emergency funds that would keep the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) operating at 50% capacity following court rulings stating that it could not legally withhold financial backing. The program provides food aid to 42 million Americans and costs around $9bn a month.But Trump, who has hitherto made little effort to end the impasse, reopened the fears over Snap on Tuesday, by threatening to hold the program hostage until Democrats capitulate and vote in favour of the government funding package.He wrote on social media that Snap benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”While the Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, Democrats are able to block the bill’s passage thanks to the filibuster, which needs the votes of 60 senators for passage. Trump has urged Republicans to use their majority to scrap the filibuster.The president’s latest threat over Snap seemed to be a sign of growing edginess over a shutdown that he has sought to blame on Democrats but which polls indicate a majority of the public believe is the responsibility of the Republicans and his administration.Unlike the earlier shutdown during his first term, when he fought Congress in 2018-19 for funds to build the US-Mexico border wall, the president has been largely absent from this shutdown debate.Republican and Democratic senators are quietly negotiating the terms of an emerging deal. With a nod from their leadership, the senators are seeking a way to reopen the government, put the normal federal funding process back on track and devise a resolution to the crisis of expiring health insurance subsidies that are spiking premium costs across the country.“Enough is enough,” said John Thune, the Senate majority leader and a South Dakota Republican, as he opened the deadlocked chamber.Labour unions have stepped up pressure on lawmakers to reopen the government.“We’re not asking for anything radical,” the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said. “Lowering people’s healthcare costs is the definition of common sense.”With the House speaker, Mike Johnson, having sent lawmakers home in September, most attention is on the Senate, where party leaders have outsourced negotiations to a loose group of centrist dealmakers from both parties.Central to any solution will be a series of agreements that would need to be upheld not only by the Senate, but also the House and the White House.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionSenators from both parties, particularly the powerful members of the appropriations committee, are pushing to ensure the normal government funding process can be put back on track.“The pace of talks have increased,” said Gary Peters, a Democratic senator from Michigan.A substantial number of senators also want some resolution to the standoff over Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at year’s end.However, the White House is demanding that Democrats vote to fund the government before talks over healthcare can begin. White House officials are said to be in close contact with GOP senators who have been quietly speaking with key Senate Democrats.The loss of federal subsidies, which come in the form of tax credits, are expected to leave many people unable to buy health insurance.Republicans, with control of the House and Senate, are reluctant to fund the healthcare program, also known as Obamacare. However, Thune has promised Democrats a vote on their preferred proposal, on a future date, as part of any deal to reopen government.That’s not enough for some senators, who see the healthcare deadlock as part of their broader concerns with Trump’s direction for the country.Democrats, and some Republicans, are also pushing for guardrails to prevent the Trump administration’s practice of unilaterally slashing funds for programs that Congress had already approved, by law, the way billionaire Elon Musk did earlier this year at the “department of government efficiency”. More

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      Senate Republicans strike down Democratic proposal to fully fund Snap

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      Senate Republicans shot down a Democratic-led attempt to fully fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) benefits on Monday during the government shutdown – a move that heightens uncertainty for the 42 million Americans participating in the country’s biggest anti-hunger program.Jeff Merkley, a Democratic senator, and Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, attempted to pass a resolution via unanimous consent that would have forced the Department of Agriculture to fund Snap benefits for the month of November.But Republican senators objected, with John Barrasso, Senate majority whip, arguing that a solution toward ensuring those benefits lies in reopening the government.“This isn’t lawmaking. It’s a political stunt by the Democrats. The resolution they’re offering is empty,” Barrasso said. “Democrats knew their actions threatened food assistance. They were fully aware of it.”The move comes after the administration announced it will use money from an agriculture department contingency fund to restart Snap food benefits, but the money would only grant partial assistance. The administration said there’s only $4.65bn available in that fund to pay for Snap benefits, which would only cover about half of the $8bn in food assistance payments people receive every month.“Trump is using food as a weapon against children, families, and seniors to enact his ‘make Americans hungry agenda,’” said Merkley in a statement.“It’s unbelievably cruel, but Trump cares more about playing politics than making sure kids don’t starve. Kids and families are not poker chips or hostages. Trump must release the entirety of the Snap funds immediately.”The diminishing funds come as Senate Republican leaders continue their attempts to pass a bill to reopen the government, with 13 tries so far and a clear resolution nowhere in sight.Food banks and pantries across the country are already struggling amid the cuts to federal programs, scrambling to meet the increased demand driven by federal workers who have gone unpaid during the shutdown.Should the shutdown continue past Tuesday, it will be the longest one in history. The previous record was set in 2019, during Trump’s first term, when he demanded that Congress give him the funds to erect a border wall between the US and Mexico. More