What we're covering
• SNAP recipients in limbo — again: The Supreme Court last night let the Trump administration pause full SNAP food aid benefits for now, leaving recipients once again scrambling to make ends meet. The shutdown is likely to continue into next week, deepening concerns about damage it could do to the overall economy.
• Travel disruptions: Staffing problems at air traffic control facilities are causing delays across the country today, even as airlines are implementing an FAA-mandated 4% cut in flights at 40 major airports. Over 1,700 flights have been canceled from Friday through Sunday.
• What’s next?: Airlines will be required to gradually increase those cuts over the next week, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warning flight reductions could increase to 20% if the shutdown doesn’t end soon. Are you impacted? Tell us about it. Track cancellations here.
Major airline carriers forced to cancel over 600 flights today
Working to comply with the Federal Aviation Administration mandate to cut 4% of flights at 40 major airports across the country, major US carriers today again have had to cancel a number of their flights.
Here’s the breakdown of cancellations by airline:
- American Airlines: “About” 220 flights, according to a statement
- United: 168 flights
- Delta: 158 flights, according to a statement
- Southwest: “Just under” 100 flights
Delays reported due to staffing problems at air traffic control facilities across the country
Thirteen reports of staffing problems at the Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control facilities have prompted delays across the country today, even as airlines cut 4% of their flights at 40 major airports.
The control tower at Newark Liberty International Airport is short-staffed until 1 p.m. ET this afternoon.
The FAA says delays for flights headed to there average about 50 minutes.
TRACONs, which handle flights arriving or departing at airports, do not have their full complement of controllers this morning in Houston, Atlanta, Detroit, and Chicago.
Air Route Traffic Control Centers, which manage incoming flights at higher altitudes, are currently experiencing staffing shortages in Newark, Jacksonville, New York, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Washington DC and Houston.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport are seeing delays for planes departing for at least an hour, according to the FAA.
Nearly 1,900 flights in the United States have been delayed today, according to FlightAware.
Not every staffing shortage results in a delay, as controllers can reroute flights, but sometimes there is no choice but to slow down planes to maintain safety.
Jeffries: Trump administration has "weaponized hunger" by delaying payment of SNAP benefits
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN this morning that the Trump administration has “weaponized hunger” after it successfully lobbied the Supreme Court to issue an administrative stay on a lower court order to fully fund food stamp benefits for November.
The Supreme Court’s response came late last night, temporarily pausing a lower court ruling that ordered the Trump administration to cover full food aid benefits for tens of millions of Americans in November.
When asked about Senate Democrats’ offer to end the shutdown in exchange for a one-year extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, Jeffries called it a “good-faith” effort. He said House Democrats haven’t had an “opportunity as a caucus to sit down and evaluate the specifics of the proposal.”
As the Senate convenes today for a rare weekend session, Majority Leader John Thune has already labeled the one-year extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits a “nonstarter” for negotiations to end the shutdown.
Cut in flights implemented to "space the planes apart," former DOT inspector general says
The idea behind the FAA-mandated 4% cut in flights because of the government shutdown is to “space planes further apart” in the air, former Inspector General for the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo told CNN’s Victor Blackwell this morning.
“This, believe it or not, is bringing, or trying to maintain, safety,” she affirmed.
Schiavo said a recovery to normal schedules is possible by Thanksgiving should the shutdown come to an end within the next week, but noted another variable that may impact air travel instead: weather.
“Some bad weather is coming, and that always messes up the system,” she added.
Senate will return to session today, but is unlikely to vote to reopen government
The Senate will return to session today, but it appears unlikely lawmakers will take any votes to reopen the government.
“We’re here, and we’ll see if something comes together that we can vote on. It remains to be seen,” Majority Leader John Thune told reporters yesterday, shortly after the chamber failed to adopt a Republican-led measure to pay certain federal workers during the shutdown.
Thune said discussions and conversations among members continue.
Here's what's on President Trump's schedule this weekend
President Donald Trump is expected to spend the weekend in Florida — with no public events scheduled. He just arrived at his golf club in West Palm Beach.
He will return to Washington tomorrow to attend the Washington Commanders vs. Detroit Lions NFL game in Landover, Maryland, according to the White House.
The president will return to the White House in the evening.
Democrats offered a plan to stop the shutdown yesterday — but the GOP called it a "nonstarter"
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said yesterday that Democrats would agree to end the shutdown in exchange for one more year of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies — but the proposal was quickly rejected by Republicans.
Schumer’s offer to Republicans included a stopgap bill and three full-year funding bills, as first reported by CNN.
But soon after the proposal was offered up, Majority Leader John Thune rejected it, dismissing the offer as a “nonstarter.”
Thune said he believed the proposal was evidence that Democrats were feeling the heat over their handling of the shutdown.
TSA employee says officers are struggling after second missed paycheck
Aaron Barker, a TSA employee and a leader of the American Federation of Government Employees Union said neither he nor his colleagues are able to make ends meet amid the ongoing government shutdown.
“We are now at the point where today would have been a payday for officers. It’s the second full missed paycheck. So now I have members who are coming — they’re being evicted. Some of them are already evicted. I have one family who I just learned was sleeping in their car with children,” he told CNN’s Victor Blackwell this morning.
Barker said he doesn’t think the reduction in flights will make much of a difference when it comes to impacts on TSA agents.
“It may be a slight decrease in the passenger volume, it would help, but I don’t think it will change much,” he said.
The union leader says if the shutdown doesn’t end soon, “there needs to be some recourse that happens immediately to take care of these officers,” to alleviate the stress they are experiencing over not knowing what will happen to their families or their homes.
Supreme Court lets Trump pause full SNAP payments for now
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson yesterday temporarily paused a lower court order that required the Trump administration to cover full food stamp benefits for tens of millions of Americans in November, siding with the administration on a short-term basis in a legal fight that has quickly become a defining confrontation of the government shutdown.
The upshot is that the Department of Agriculture will not have to immediately honor a lower court order that required it to transfer $4 billion to be spent on the program by the end of the day.
The decision, while temporary, could put at risk the full benefits for millions of Americans who rely on the program to feed themselves and their families.
For context: The order does not resolve the underlying legal questions raised by the case — and the Trump administration has already committed to using contingency funds to partially pay benefits.
Rather, Jackon’s “administrative stay” freezes any additional action by the administration to give an appeals court additional time to review the case.
Jackson is the justice assigned to handle emergency appeals from the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals.
Have you been impacted by the flight reductions? Tell us your story
It’s shaping up to be another messy travel day of flight cancellations and delays to continue as the government shut down drags on.
Have you had to rebook a flight because of the flight cuts? Are you flying out of a chaotic airport today? Do you have future travel plans you’re worried about?
Let us know about your experience:
Uncertainty scrambles travel plans as government shutdown forces flight delays and cancellations
Travelers across the US are facing uncertainty as airlines cancel hundreds of flights after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered reduced traffic at major airports amid shortages in air control staffing due to the government shutdown.
With flight schedules changing at short notice, many passengers are scrambling to adjust their plans. As air traffic controllers and airport workers are stretched thin, some travelers understand why federal employees are calling out.
Kelly Matthews, a frequent traveler from Flat Rock, Michigan, told the Associated Press she canceled most of her upcoming flights. “You can’t expect people to go in to work when they’re not getting a paycheck for the continuation of over a month now,” she said.
“I mean it’s not a matter of them not wanting to do the job — but you can’t afford to pay for gas, your day care and everything else,” Matthew said.
Michele Cuthbert of Columbus, Ohio, expressed concern about possible flight cancellations ahead of her trip to Dallas. “I just don’t want to be stranded at the airport sleeping on a bench,” she told the AP.
The FAA has directed airlines to cut flights by up to 4% at 40 major airports, including hubs in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, and Charlotte, with smaller airports also expected to be be impacted.
