What we're covering
• Day 30 of the shutdown: Food stamp benefits could halt for millions of Americans this weekend due to the government shutdown. Meanwhile, federal workers across the country are going unpaid and finding it increasingly hard to make ends meet.
• Still talking: Although senators are leaving DC, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he expects members to continue talking over the weekend. Thune previously noted that there was an uptick in bipartisan talks this week.
• Meeting with Xi: Donald Trump is back in the US after meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea, with the US president saying they came to an agreement on “almost everything,” including tariffs and rare earth minerals.
DC and Ohio announce food aid plans with SNAP benefits set to expire
Leaders in Ohio and Washington, DC, announced plans today to provide food assistance as funding for food stamps is set to lapse on Saturday.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, will use city funds to assist those enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
Meanwhile, in Ohio, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order to give up to $18 million in emergency relief benefits to Ohioans that rely on SNAP, along with $7 million to food banks in the state.
In a statement announcing the assistance plan, DeWine blamed Democrats for the ongoing shutdown and called on them to support the House-passed continuing resolution to reopen and fund the government.
Other states have announced similar measures: New Mexico, Minnesota, Washington and West Virginia have committed millions in funding to support relief programs, while Virginia is setting up its own food assistance system for residents who receive SNAP benefits.
Here's how Americans say they are — and are not — feeling the shutdown's impact
Thirty days into this government shutdown, it’s worth noting that most Americans are not directly feeling the effects.
We have been reporting today on those who are feeling the strain, including government employees who are going unpaid and travelers facing increasing air travel delays. And a huge deadline looms this weekend, when food stamp recipients could see their benefits halted.
But while the shutdown has caused a fair amount of anxiety for others in the country, it has not yet touched most Americans’ daily lives in tangible ways.
A look at the numbers: In a recent poll conducted by Yahoo and YouGov, about one-third of American adults, 34%, said they had not been impacted at all by the shutdown.
Overall, 32% of Americans said they felt it through increased stress or uncertainty; 31% said their cost of living had gone up; and 24% said they worry about their access to health care or health insurance.
Anxiety isn’t nothing, as CNN’s Brianna Keilar writes in this report about the life of military families in the age of shutdowns.
But fewer Americans said their lives had been directly affected. Less than one-fifth, 18%, said services they rely on have been disrupted. A similar 17% said benefits they rely on have been disrupted. Ten percent said a government office they tried to call or visit was closed.
Less than 10% said they had travel disrupted or were unable to visit a park or memorial, or had been laid off or furloughed without pay.
And 11% said they had been impacted for another, unlisted reason.
With Republican and Democratic leaders dug in, it’s fair to expect this shutdown will not end until people start to feel it.
Zachary B. Wolf writes the What Matters newsletter for CNN: Subscribe here.
Senators are leaving DC as the government shutdown looks like it will stretch into November
Senators are departing Washington, DC, for the weekend while millions of Americans are at risk of losing critical food aid and little progress is being made to end a government shutdown that has now lasted 30 days – and looks like stretching into next week.
Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis blamed Democrats for the impasse and told reporters that it would be a “waste of time” if lawmakers stayed in Washington to try to work out a deal. Meanwhile, Democratic senators are sticking to their demands as a major federal worker union urges lawmakers to immediately reopen government. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman lambasted fellow Democrats for not getting their “sh*t together” with SNAP food benefits on the line.
GOP leadership: House Speaker Mike Johnson rejected the idea of passing a bill that would reopen a significant part of the government through next year, saying that Congress needs to pass full funding. Senate Majority Leader John Thune also said he’s not open to it, but said he expects senators to continue talking over the weekend, after previously noting that there was an uptick in bipartisan talks this week.
Democratic leadership: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused the administration and Republicans in Congress of committing “policy violence” against the American people. He blamed Republicans for cuts to Medicaid, food insecurity programs and the refusal to extend the Obamacare tax credits, which Democrats have demanded be addressed in any bill to reopen the government.
More furloughs: The Department of Veterans Affairs announced an increase in the number of its employees who are furloughed during the government shutdown. That’s nearly 37,000 VA employees or 8% of the VA’s total workforce who are now “furloughed or continue working without pay”, the VA said.
White House roundtable: Vice President JD Vance led a roundtable focused on the shutdown’s impact on aviation. As Thanksgiving approaches, airlines are pleading with Congress to pass a continuing resolution to reopen the government, so air traffic controllers and TSA agents get paid.
Reporting contributions to this post come from CNN’s Alayna Treene, Adrienne Vogt, Ted Barrett, Elise Hammond, Brian Todd, Camila DeChalus, Britney Lavecchia, Alison Main, Manu Raju, Casey Riddle, Logan Schiciano and Morgan Rimmer.
Vance and Duffy warn Thanksgiving travel "could be a disaster" if shutdown barrels on
Vice President JD Vance and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Thursday that Americans could face a travel “disaster” as Thanksgiving approaches next month without an end in sight to the government shutdown.
Their comments came after Vance hosted a roundtable of aviation, travel and union leaders at the White House, during which they aired their concerns with the current state of the industry and worked out potential, temporary solutions to ease the strain on Federal Aviation Administration employees who are being forced to work without pay to ensure Americans can fly safely, two White House officials told CNN.
“Look it could be a disaster. It really could be, because at that point you’re talking about people have missed three paychecks. They’ve missed four paychecks. How many of them are not going to show up for work?” Vance said.
“That’s going to lead to massive delays. We want people to be able to get home for Thanksgiving. We want people to be able to travel for business,” he continued.
Duffy chimed in adding, “Our traffic will be snarled, but it will be a disaster in aviation.”
Barrasso rails on Senate Democrats amid flight delays as shutdown drags on
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso railed on Senate Democrats refusal to vote for the GOP stopgap bill to reopen the government, as flight delays hit Reagan National Airport as senators left for the weekend.
“Flights are being delayed because the Democrats continue to play a very dangerous political game. It’s costly. Americans are suffering as a result of it. I don’t worry about my flight, I worry about the flights of thousands and thousands of people,” he said.
“That is a sign of a party that is way off the rails. We need to make sure that the flying public is protected, and we need to make sure that the best way to do that is to pay these folks and open the government.”
Asked if he’s seeing any reason for optimism as the shutdown drags on, Barrasso argued that Democratic senators are focused on the politics of the shutdown, rather than its consequences.
“I’m not sure what’s going to move these Democrats. They don’t seem to be concerned with any of this other than paying homage to the far-left part of their party,” said Barrasso.
Here's the latest on where air traffic control staffing shortages are being reported today
The Federal Aviation Administration has again reported air traffic control staffing problems today.
We are updating this report as we get more details throughout the day.
Here’s a look at where things are at around 4:35 p.m. ET:
- Controllers who handle flights approaching and departing New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport will be short-staffed from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET.
- The New York Route Traffic Control Center located on Long Island will have a shortage until midnight ET.
- The terminal radar approach control (TRACON) responsible for Orlando, Florida, approach traffic will be short-staffed from 6 p.m. ET to midnight. Delays at Orlando International Airport will average more than four hours because of the shortage, according to the FAA.
- The Denver tower in Colorado will experience shortages from 8 p.m. ET to midnight.
- The air traffic control facility responsible for California’s Inland Empire will be down people until 8 p.m. ET.
- Airport delays of an average of 90 minutes are being reported at Reagan National Airport outside Washington, DC, according to an FAA advisory. Passengers are also seeing delays averaging a little more than 20 minutes at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. Both situations are due to staffing shortages.
According to the FAA, 294 staffing problems have been reported since the start of the shutdown 30 days ago.
Controllers are considered essential staff and must work during the shutdown, despite not being paid. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says some have called in sick in protest while others are taking time to work other jobs.
Thune expects discussions over potential off-ramps to end shutdown to continue over the weekend
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that he expects senators to continue talking over the weekend, after previously noting that there was an uptick in bipartisan talks this week.
“I think there will be, yeah, I’m sure they’re going to be discussions. We got members on both sides who are continuing to dialogue,” he said.
Asked if he had started speaking with rank-and-file Democrats after saying yesterday that he’d speak with them soon, Thune said, “I don’t have anything to report on that. But again, like I’ve said before, when they’re willing to produce
the votes to open up the government, we’re going to talk.”
Thune also expanded on the president’s message that he is willing to meet with Democrats after the shutdown ends to discuss health care subsidies, emphasizig that he cannot promise them a specific outcome from those conversations.
“Once the government’s open, I think, as you know, the president does like to negotiate, and I don’t know what, where that would lead, I can’t predict that — and that’s what I told the Democrats here, that I can’t guarantee an outcome or result,” he said. “What I can promise them is a process, and they would get their vote, and they can have their vote by a date certain, which I think is, you know, initially, this is what a lot of them were asking for.”
Democrats have insisted on an agreement to save the expiring enhanced health care subsidies, not the opportunity to vote on the issue.
Pressed on whether he thinks the shutdown could end in the next week or two, Thune told reporters, “I’m always optimistic. Aren’t you?”
Senate leaves town with critical food aid on track to dry up for millions this weekend
The Senate has left town for the weekend with no measurable progress toward a deal to reopen the government, with impatience inside the Capitol skyrocketing with millions at risk of losing critical food aid the shutdown.
Senators will not return until Monday, which will mark day 34 of the shutdown — one day shy of the longest-ever shutdown.
Key senators of both parties took part in some private meetings on Thursday to discuss potential off-ramps to the 30-day shutdown, including how to get both parties to support a deal on long-term appropriations bills. But lawmakers involved in those talks offered no more clarity about whether it could indeed end the standoff.
Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona described the state of discussions as constantly changing, saying the talks will take a turn, and then it “changes back… sometimes in a good way” — but offered no substantial details.
Frustration is mounting on both sides about the lack of solution, particularly as millions of Americans who rely on federal food aid are on the verge of seeing their benefits dry up, as well as other major effects on programs like Head Start educational centers.
Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis told reporters it would be a “waste of time” if lawmakers stayed in Washington over the weekend to try to work out a deal to reopen the government, blaming Democrats for the impasse.
“We’ve been here every week, even we’ve worked weeks when we were supposed to not be here. We have bent over backwards, voted 13 times to try to open the government with current funding,” Lummis told reporters on Capitol Hill.
CNN’s Camila DeChalus and Morgan Rimmer contributed.
Trump’s nuclear testing announcement is causing alarm. Here’s what some officials are saying
President Donald Trump vowed today to begin testing US nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China, heralding a potentially major shift in decades of US policy at a time of growing tensions between the world’s nuclear-armed superpowers.
Here’s some of what we’ve heard from officials about the move:
United Nations spokesperson Farhan Haq told CNN a nuclear explosive test should never be allowed, citing risks that he says are “already alarmingly high.”
“All actions that could lead to miscalculation or escalation with catastrophic consequences must be avoided,” Haq said.
Robert Floyd, executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, also warned against the tests.
“Any explosive nuclear weapon test by any state would be harmful and destabilizing for global non-proliferation efforts and for international peace and security,” Floyd said.
The treaty prohibits all nuclear explosions anywhere in the world, by anyone, and for all time. Nearly every country supports the treaty, with 187 nations including the US signing it, and 178 formally ratifying it, according to the Vienna-based organization.
However, the treaty is not binding without 44 key countries ratifying it — and the US is the only country in North America and Western Europe not to have done so.
Take a closer look at Trump’s announcement here:
President Donald Trump announced the United States' intention to restart testing nuclear weapons "on an equal basis" with Russia and China. CNN's Nic Robertson looks at the history of nuclear weapons testing in the US and explains what that would mean politically.
CNN’s Simone McCarthy, Brad Lendon, Betsy Klein and Tori B. Powell contributed reporting.
Trump spent 41 hours flying on Air Force One during three-country Asia trip
President Donald Trump spent more than a day and half flying on Air Force One this week during his three-country trip to Asia, according to the pool reporters who traveled with the president.
The pilot told reporters aboard the plane that they had traveled for 41 hours total on this trip, covering 20,027 miles.
The president traveled to South Korea, Japan and Malaysia during his trip, which included a high-stakes face-to-face meeting with China’s leader Xi Jinping.
Airlines chipping in to help federal aviation workers
Several US airlines are offering meals to federal aviation employees who are working without pay during the government shutdown. Many of the federal workers will begin to miss entire paychecks.
Here’s what some of the airlines are saying:
- United Airlines is “donating meals for air traffic controllers and other federal workers whose pay is delayed. We appreciate the hard-working federal employees who are keeping the air travel system running. These meals are generally taking place at our hub airports,” it told CNN in a statement.
- Delta Air Lines confirmed to CNN that they have begun to offer meals to some federal workers. “Within the strict rules established for employees of federal government agencies, Delta teams have arranged for a limited number of meals for transportation sector workers,” it said.
- Southwest Airlines said members of its teams are doing what they can to support their aviation colleagues. Those efforts have ranged from “donating thousands of dollars through Go Fund Me campaigns to providing food and drinks for air traffic controllers, TSA agents and other federal workers,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
- American Airlines told CNN, “We’re grateful to the air traffic controllers, TSA officers and CBP officers who continue to ensure safe travel for our customers — even as they go unpaid during the government shutdown.” The airline also said it is “committed to supporting them in meaningful ways, including providing meals to federal employees.”
CNN has reached out to other domestic carriers to see if they have any similar outreach to impacted federal workers.
Texas food bank says it's experiencing a higher demand for assistance than during the Covid pandemic
Loss of food assistance and missed paychecks is causing the need for food banks to skyrocket as the government shutdown stretches on, the president of the North Texas Food Bank told CNN today.
More than a million federal government employees are missing paychecks as the government shutdown is now in its 30th day. Many will missed their first full paycheck, while others will feel the loss early next week, depending on their agency.
Additionally, funding for SNAP food aid is set to lapse on Saturday — another sector of people who may need to start relying on food banks.
“People are really desperate to know where they can get access to this additional food,” Cunningham said, adding that the bank is anticipating a nearly 60% increase in the number of people needing its resources.
The North Texas Food Bank packages and distributes food to about 400 food pantries and community organizations in the area, according to its website.
Cunningham said “no food bank has the resources to be able to meet that deficit” caused by loss of SNAP benefits in particular. She said they put in a request to the Texas governor for additional funds that would be used to purchase food from farmers and local producers.
But, states have been told that they won’t be reimbursed by the federal government if they use emergency funds to keep food banks and other assistance going, Cunningham said, which has been a challenge.
Jeffries says resuming nuclear tests would be “massive breach of international treaties"
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Thursday criticized President Trump’s call to resume nuclear weapons testing, warning the move could violate long-standing international agreements.
“It appears that the resumption of nuclear testing would be a massive breach of international treaties that have been in place for decades,” Jeffries said.
He added, “It’s just another example of Donald Trump and Republican policies going too far, being divorced from reality, and that Donald Trump and Republicans are not focused on the main thing that the American people want us in the Congress to address,” he said, seeking to draw a contrast with what he said was Democrats’ focus on Americans’ cost of living and health care.
The Democratic leader also reiterated Thursday he hasn’t received an intelligence briefing or an explanation from the administration on the legal justification for its strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea.
Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Thursday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has briefed the Gang of Eight – the GOP and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate and their intelligence committees — on the boat strikes.
Jeffries noted Thursday he doesn’t consider Rubio’s briefing as one from the US intelligence community.
Trump is back in the US after his whirlwind Asia tour
President Donald Trump landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland a short time ago after wrapping up this week’s Asia tour.
During the trip, Trump held a high-stakes meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea — their first face-to-face meeting of Trump’s second term. Trump indicated the two came to an agreement on “almost everything,” including key trade issues.
Now the president returns to the US government shutdown, which shows little signs of abating.
We’ll be watching for any developments on the ongoing legal battle over his administration’s refusal to use emergency funds to extend food stamp benefits, which could halt for millions of Americans this weekend due to the shutdown.
Democratic Sen. Kelly warns Trump's push to test nuclear weapons "benefits the Chinese"
Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly warned that President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US will begin testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China could spur China to do the same.
“This benefits the Chinese,” Kelly told CNN, adding, “we know our systems are reliable. If they start testing again, they could build greater reliability into their strategic forces - all legs of it.”
“It’s best to keep the temperature down if we’re not expanding our arsenal of weapons,” he added.
Trump made the announcement before his meeting with Chinese Leader Xi Jinping, heralding a potentially major shift in decades of US policy at a time of growing tensions between the world’s nuclear-armed superpowers.
“They haven’t tested in decades. We don’t have a need to test our nuclear weapons. We can model this stuff, and we also have enough data from the hundreds - maybe up to a thousand - tests that we’ve already done,” Kelly said.
The Arizona Democrat, who sits on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees, told reporters he was “kind of concerned” that Trump saw the news that Russia had tested a new nuclear-capable Burevestnik cruise missile and a nuclear-powered torpedo this week and confused it with a test of actual nuclear warheads.
Airlines call on Congress to reopen government ahead of holiday travel period
With just a few weeks until what could be one of the busiest Thanksgiving air travel periods ever, airlines are pleading with Congress to pass a continuing resolution to reopen the government, so air traffic controllers and TSA agents get paid.
Immediately after a White House roundtable with Vice President JD Vance and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said “it is time to pass a clean CR,” or continuing resolution, which is a short-term funding bill that allows government to function when regular annual spending has not been approved.
“Let’s get a clean CR and get that negotiation done behind closed doors, without the pressure,” he said.
Earlier, Delta Air Lines released a statement calling to “immediately pass a clean continuing resolution to reopen the government so that our air traffic controllers, TSA and CBP officers charged with the safety and efficiency of our national airspace can collect the paychecks they deserve.”
Democrats are staying resolute on their demands despite union’s plea to reopen government
Democratic senators made clear that they’re sticking to their demands as a major federal worker union urges lawmakers to immediately reopen government and as many Americans are set to enroll in health care insurance starting over the weekend.
Here’s what some are saying as the shutdown drags with still no end in sight:
- Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, responding to a question about the American Federation of Government Employees’ desire the government to reopen immediately, said while he’s not against a clean continuing resolution, he wants assurances that any funding bill passed will not be torn up by President Donald Trump so he can “immediately start firing people.”
- Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland suggested that the Trump administration had used the threat to fire federal workers as a form of “extortion” and “blackmail” on the AFGE to force them into making a statement this week. He said the administration shouldn’t be given a “blank check” to control the federal workforce.
- Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada: “We want a vote to extend the ACA tax credit so people don’t fall off the cliff,” Rosen said, explaining that extending the subsidies would “help us build a framework” to move forward.
Meanwhile, while some rank-and-file Democrats attempt to work through a dual-track negotiation over health care issues and a long-term deal to fund key agencies, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts wouldn’t say whether she’s open to the latter to get at least some parts of the government running but referenced the looming November 1 opening of ACA enrollment. “I have people who are sitting at home in Massachusetts right now looking at their new health care premiums and trying to decide between health care and rent,” she said.
GOP senator says staying over the weekend to try to hash out deal to end shutdown would be “waste of time”
Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis told reporters Thursday that it would be a “waste of time” if lawmakers stayed in Washington over the weekend to try to work out a deal to reopen the government, blaming Democrats for the impasse as the shutdown is now in its 30th day.
“We’ve been here every week, even we’ve worked weeks when we were supposed to not be here. We have bent over backwards, voted 13 times to try to open the government with current funding,” she said, adding, “staying another weekend hoping the Democrats would come to the table is gonna be a waste of time.”
Senate Democrats have blocked a GOP proposal to reopen the government over a dozen times as they demand negotiations to extend health care subsidies. Republicans say they will only negotiate once the government is open.
One Democratic lawmaker blamed Republicans for the fact that senators are not staying over the weekend to continue talks.
“I’m not in the majority, it’s the majority’s decision whether or not we adjourn. Another great question is where the heck is the House – they haven’t been here in a month,” Delaware Sen. Chris Coons told reporters.
Separately, GOP Sen. Mike Rounds dismissed Democrats’ push for President Donald Trump to get involved in negotiations, telling CNN’s Manu Raju, “the straightforward program on this is, is very simple, open government up.”
Even if Trump did sit down with congressional leadership upon his return from Asia, Rounds argued, “it doesn’t change anything,” insisting that the government needs to open before negotiations can begin, including on full-year appropriations.
CNN’s Alison Main, Casey Riddle and Logan Schiciano contributed.
VA announces more employees furloughed as a result of shutdown
The Department of Veterans Affairs on Thursday announced an increase in the number of its employees who are furloughed during the government shutdown.
Nearly 37,000 VA employees are now “furloughed or continue working without pay”, the VA said in a news release. That represents almost 8% of the VA’s total workforce of about 470,000 employees.
Last week, the Department said more than 35,000 of its employees were furloughed or forced to work without pay.
Asked by CNN the reason for the increase, VA Press Secretary Peter Kasperowicz said that advance funding for the VA’s general administration budget expired this week, so nearly 2,000 more employees were added to the ranks of those furloughed or not being paid.
The VA also outlined how the shutdown is impacting veterans, including more than 900,000 veterans who are unable to get assistance from the GI Bill Hotline, which has been shut down.
The agency said more than 100,000 enrolled veterans cannot get services in its Veteran Readiness and Employment program, which helps veterans with service-connected disabilities obtain employment, because employees running that program have been furloughed.
Fifty-six regional VA benefits offices are closed, the agency says, and more than 16,000 service members who are preparing to leave the military cannot receive transition briefings, because a contract to provide those briefings is not operational during the shutdown.
The VA said 157 VA cemeteries across the country cannot do ground maintenance or place permanent headstones. Burials will continue at those cemeteries during the shutdown, the VA said.
Because it received some advance appropriations from Congress, some of its critical services remain operational, the VA said.
All VA medical centers and outpatient clinics remain open. Doctors and nurses are still working. Suicide prevention services are still available.
Education, disability and pension payments are continuing, but VA Secretary Doug Collins said some of those benefits are being administered by employees who are not being paid.
Noem rejects Pritzker’s request to pause immigration operation during Halloween
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said at a news conference Thursday that Operation Midway Blitz will continue through the Halloween weekend, rejecting Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s request to pause the controversial federal immigration operation.
Pritzker called for a pause after families attending an annual children’s Halloween parade in Chicago’s Old Irving Park neighborhood last Saturday were caught in a chaotic scene. During a news conference earlier Thursday, Pritzker said witnesses reported that federal agents armed with automatic weapons swept through the area, pushed elderly residents to the ground, and fired tear gas, forcing the parade’s cancellation.
“No child in America should have to go trick-or-treating in fear that they might be confronted with armed federal agents and have to inhale tear gas. I honestly can’t even believe that I have to make this plea,” Pritzker said.
In a letter to Noem and Homeland Security leadership on Wednesday, Pritzker requested a suspension of all federal operations over the Halloween weekend.
Noem dismissed the request as “shameful” during a news conference in Gary, Indiana, which focused on federal efforts to target undocumented motorists using state-issued commercial driver’s licenses.
“We’re absolutely not willing to put on pause any work that we will do to keep communities safe,” she said.
Since its launch in September, Operation Midway Blitz has resulted in more than 3,000 arrests, according to the DHS.
