Shutdown stalemate hits 28-day mark as Trump continues Asia diplomacy tour

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks with reporters in the hallway outside his office on Tuesday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson says he doesn’t see a path to amending the US Constitution so Donald Trump could seek a third term and suggested the president is “trolling” Democrats.

The Republican leader said he has before spoken with Trump on the issue, and acknowledged that any change would be well after the president was out of office.

“It’s been a great run. But I think the president knows, and he and I have talked about, the constrictions of the Constitution, as much as so many of the American people lament that,” said Johnson, who is a constitutional lawyer, in response to a question about his comfort-level with the president floating a 2028 bid.

“The Trump 2028 cap is one of the most popular that’s ever been produced. And he has a good time with that, trolling the Democrats, whose hair is on fire about the very prospect,” he continued.

Johnson said he spoke with Trump this morning while the president is overseas in Japan.

He added that he does not see a way to amend the Constitution, noting that it would be a lengthy and arduous process.

“I don’t see a way to amend the Constitution, because it takes about 10 years to do that, as you all know, to allow all the states to ratify … what two-thirds of the House, three-fourth of the states would approve. So I don’t, I don’t see the path for that.”

Trump on Monday continued to entertain the idea of running for a third term, telling reporters that he’d “love to do it.”

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang at the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang plans to meet with President Donald Trump in South Korea on Wednesday during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Huang said today at the chipmaker’s GTC AI conference in Washington, DC.

Nvidia said in August it was seeking clarity from the White House on how it could restart sales of its advanced AI chips to China, after agreeing to pay the US government 15% of its revenue from China sales.

AI chips have become a key point of leverage for the US in its trade talks with China. Trump is expected to discuss trade with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea this week.

Senate Democrats again blocked Republicans’ stopgap funding bill from advancing in a 54 to 45 vote.

Republicans need 60 votes to advance the bill that would fund the government through late November.

Three senators in the Democratic caucus voted with most Republicans. They were:

• Catherine Cortez Masto;

• John Fetterman;

• Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.

GOP Sen. Rand Paul voted against advancing the measure.

Senators are now voting on a short-term government funding proposal from the Republican Party.

The House-passed stopgap bill would fund the government through November 21. It does not address Democrats’ health care demands.

It needs 60 votes to advance, meaning Republicans would need Democrats to sign on.

US Customs and Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino arrives at a federal court in Chicago, on Tuesday.

The Border Patrol chief overseeing the immigration enforcement surge in Chicago said he does not wear a body camera, despite regularly participating in operations covered by a judge’s restraining order.

Judge Sara Ellis told federal officials 12 days ago that agents must wear body cameras and have them turned on when encountering protesters in Chicago, as much as is practical. At a hearing four days later, a Customs and Border Protection commander told Ellis that every agent on duty had a body camera.

But Gregory Bovino, who leads Operation Midway Blitz, told Ellis that while the “vast majority” of his agents wear body cameras, he does not yet wear one himself and has not been trained on it. Bovino agreed to the judge’s request to work toward getting his own camera by Friday.

“I would like you to do your best to ensure everybody who is under this Midway Blitz operation that they all have body-worn cameras,” the judge said. “And I think it actually goes a long way to ensuring that everything is happening the way it’s supposed to.”

Plaintiffs have accused Bovino of violating the restraining order, alleging he was seen on an October 23 video throwing a tear gas canister into a crowd. The Department of Homeland Security said Bovino had been hit in the head beforehand, but that was not visible in publicly released videos.

The judge told Bovino that using body cameras will benefit his agents, who say their responses have been proportional to attacks by protesters.

“Cameras are your friends. If you are conducting enforcement activities in the street, and there is a threat, the body-worn camera is going to pick that up,” Ellis said. “And all I have to do is look at the video. So I would very much appreciate that you do everything you can to ensure all agents have them, know how to use them and are turning them on.”

At multiple airports across the country, air traffic controllers are handing out leaflets asking travelers to ask their representatives to end the government shutdown.

CNN’s Pete Muntean breaks down the travel woes:

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Air traffic controllers miss first full paycheck

Air traffic controllers are set to miss their first full paycheck today as the US government shutdown drags on. CNN's Pete Muntean reports on how the shutdown could affect air travel.

01:24 • Source: CNN

Air traffic controllers miss first full paycheck

01:24

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy attends a press conference at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 24.

Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned of “longer-term implications” for the federal government shutdown, noting if it continues, it could impact holiday travel.

Separately, at a news conference at LaGuardia Airport, Duffy said 44% of travel delays at US airports on Sunday were due to staffing shortages of air traffic controllers. On Monday, he said 24% of the delays were due to shortages, which vary by location.

According to FlightAware, 8,811 delays were reported in the US on Sunday and 7,416 on Monday.

Duffy identified Los Angeles International Airport and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as problem areas.

Remember: Air traffic controllers have been calling out of work, causing staffing shortages across the country. Controllers, like Transportation Security Administration workers, are considered essential but are working without pay. Today marks the first day controllers will not receive a full paycheck since the shutdown began.

This post has been updated with additional remarks from Duffy.

A worker places an Electronic Benefit Transfer sign outside a grocery store in the Bronx borough of New York, on October 24.

GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville argued food stamp benefits being at risk is a bigger concern for Democratic-led cities, rather than his own state, despite the Alabama Department of Human Services saying those benefits are “vitally important to more than 750,000 Alabamians.”

“I think Democrats get a little bit tight right now. It’s their constituents, a lot of them in some of these inner cities, that need SNAP to survive, and they’re getting a lot of calls, and pressure is going to be put on them,” he said.

Pressed on whether he is personally concerned about SNAP for his constituents, the candidate for Alabama governor said, “I mean, you know, there’s a lot of people, the sick, the elderly, a lot of people that need SNAP. Those people need to be taken care of. A lot of those — and some of them, in my state, we don’t, we don’t have as much as some, because we’re not that populated. But we need to make sure we take care of the people that actually need SNAP.“

Tuberville said he isn’t getting “as many” calls as his Democratic colleagues on the issue and argued that too many people use the program.

“We got 42 million people on SNAP. I think that’s the problem, young men that are on SNAP that should be working. But I think the evaluation of all that will come to light, and hopefully we can cut back on the expenses of the American people, of people not working,” he said.

Shari Jablonowski, a recipient of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, told CNN she is worried that her family might go hungry if she loses access to food stamps.

Jablonowski is a retired widow, and the only income she has is her Social Security benefits and her husband’s pension. She says some of her children live with her to help make ends meet, but it’s not enough.

Remember: Millions of Americans could soon lose access to the crucial food assistance program amid the federal government shutdown. The US Department of Agriculture has said it does not have the money to pay $8 billion in food stamp benefits for November.

She also expressed concern for her oldest son, who is at risk of being kicked off his insurance provided by Medicaid, which would prevent him from getting needed medication.

Jablonowski said that lawmakers on Capitol Hill did not think the shutdown through and are putting American families, like hers, in a precarious situation.

“You all get paid. We don’t. We’re counting on that. And you took it away. And now my kid’s insurance could stop at the end of the year. You didn’t think that through either. That’s heartbreaking,” she said.

Vice President JD Vance speaks to members of the media at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on October 23.

Vice President JD Vance is expected to talk to Republican senators about a range of issues when he attends today’s GOP policy lunch, with a focus on the government shutdown and upcoming votes to block the administration’s tariffs policies, according to a source familiar the plans.

Senate Republican leaders believe this is a critical week for Democrats as pressure grows on them to end the shutdown. They point to federal workers not getting any more pay, food stamps running out of money and calls from key government labor unions to accept a “clean” funding bill that doesn’t include a remedy to the Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies question.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune pointed to Democrats pushing measures to fund food stamps and pay all federal workers as indicative of what happens in shutdowns.

Thune said so-called “rifle shot” bills under discussion would fund various federal workers and programs even as the government would remain largely shuttered.

“We’re going to have a discussion with our members today and talk about it as a conference. But I think, as you’ve probably been observing and reading, there’s not a high level of interest in doing carve outs,” he said.

Senators will vote for the 13th time today on a GOP bill to fund the government. Democrats are expected to block it again

Vance will also work to prevent potential defections from GOP senators on three different votes that could begin as early as today on Democratic resolutions to block President Donald Trump’s tariffs. One is to block his order on global tariffs and the other two are aimed at his orders on Canada and Brazil.

House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks during a press conference on Tuesday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson indicated to reporters today that he still doesn’t believe the president needs to get involved in negotiating an end to the government shutdown.

He continued: “This is a congressional problem and crisis that has been created by the Democrats because they’re playing partisan games, and there’s nothing the president can do.”

A law enforcement officer points a crowd control weapon at a protester in East Side, Chicago, on October 14.

A federal judge in Chicago told a Border Patrol official she is concerned her order restricting the use of tear gas and crowd control munitions against protesters and journalists may have been violated.

“At least on the videos that I see, knowing that I’m not there, it’s difficult for me to see that the force being used is necessary to stop an immediate and serious threat of harm to a person,” Judge Sara Ellis told Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol chief overseeing the immigration crackdown in Chicago.

Ellis opened the hearing by reading from parts of her order that put limits on agents’ use of force in the Chicago area and cited Department of Homeland Security policies that support it.

“Using riot control weapons that may impact other people who are not posing an immediate threat, you can’t do it,” unless that person is posing an immediate threat, she said as Bovino sat on the witness stand.

“Kids dressed in Halloween costumes walking to a parade do not pose an immediate threat to the safety of a law enforcement officer or others. They just don’t,” Ellis said, apparently referencing a reported tear-gassing incident in the Old Irving Park neighborhood Saturday as a Halloween parade for children was getting underway.

Ellis said her order requires that protesters be specifically warned before tear gas is deployed.

“A warning does not consist of saying, ‘Get back’ or ‘Get out of here,’” Ellis said.

Some flights to Denver International Airport are delayed as much as an hour this morning, as two new air traffic controller staff shortages were reported in the 10 a.m. ET Federal Aviation Administration operations plan.

The Denver control tower is short-staffed until 3 p.m. ET and the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center, which handles flights at higher altitudes, has a staffing issue until 1 p.m. ET.

A ground stop is possible later today, the FAA said.

The TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) facility that handles flights approaching and departing Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is also short-staffed until noon. An earlier warning about a staffing problem impacting flights headed to Newark has been allowed to expire.

Controllers missed their first full paycheck since the start of the shutdown today. A partial paycheck, for hours worked before the shutdown, was paid two weeks ago.

There have been 276 reports of staffing shortages since the shutdown started on October 1, more than four times the number seen for the same dates last year.

President Donald Trump arrives at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, on Monday.

Several Senate Democrats are insisting this morning the shutdown won’t end until Donald Trump gets involved in negotiations – underscoring the lack of trust they have in Senate Republicans’ ability to negotiate without the president’s sign off.

Sen. Mark Kelly said, “I think they – Republicans follow his lead, his direction. They do not do anything without his permission, so I do not think it could be solved without him.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal agreed. “The solution here is readily and easily available if the president will simply exercise leadership to bring the two sides together — and compromise is not a four letter word, we can do it,” he said.

Both criticized the administration’s announcement that SNAP funds would dry up starting November 1.

“Donald Trump is trying to make this shutdown as cruel as possible. He is trying to, in effect, magnify the cruelty and pain coming from this shutdown without intervening in any way to end it, and it exemplifies the worst in his character, which is retributive and mean and stupid, because ultimately, people will suffer unnecessarily,” Blumenthal declared.

Blumenthal was also pressed on the largest federal workers’ union calling for Democrats to accept the GOP-backed stopgap funding bill.

Blumenthal said his party is not just “making a point,” and that workers he is hearing from want Democrats to secure health care subsidies.

“When I talk to federal workers in my state, as I did this weekend, they urge me to please reopen the government, and at the same time, they say, ‘Hang tough. We need that health care,’” he said.

USBP Chief Patrol Agent of the El Centro sector Greg Bovino gathers with federal agents in the Cicero neighborhood of Chicago, during an immigration raid on October 22.

One of the most polarizing figures in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement in Chicago is expected to be in the hot seat soon.

Gregory Bovino, the California-based Border Patrol chief who has been put in charge of the crackdown in Chicago, was ordered by US District Judge Sara Ellis to testify at Chicago’s federal courthouse today after plaintiffs in a case challenging the use of intense crowd control techniques and munitions accused Bovino of violating Ellis’ restraining order.

That order requires blocks agents from using tear gas and less-lethal munitions on protesters unless there is an “immediate threat to safety” and the targets are given a warning.

In a court filing, the plaintiffs say Bovino was seen on video throwing tear gas into a crowd “without justification.” The DHS responded that “rioters” had struck Bovino in the head and were given “multiple warnings to back up.”

Due to the alleged violations, the plaintiffs – which include a coalition of local journalists – are asking Ellis to prohibit any further use of tear gas against protesters, even with a warning.

The hearing begins at 10 a.m. CT (11 a.m. ET).

The Statue of Freedom atop the US Capitol is seen on October 23.

We’re on day 28 of the government shutdown, and Congress continues to be at an impasse.

Democrats are standing firm on their demand to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, while most Republicans are pushing to punt negotiations and pass a temporary funding bill.

Meanwhile, the Senate is currently in session and is set to vote on a continuing resolution later this morning. Vice President JD Vance is expected to attend today’s Senate GOP lunch, a source familiar tells CNN.

Here’s what else is happening on Capitol Hill today:

National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels speaks at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 24.

As they miss a full paycheck today, air traffic controllers are frustrated and angry with the government on the 28th day of the shutdown, according to the head of their union.

“The frustration level is at an all-time high. The anger is at level 10,” National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) President Nick Daniels told CNN this morning.

The only solution is for the American public to demand lawmakers work out their differences and reopen the government, according to Daniels.

“Every single day that this goes on, tomorrow is now less safe than today,” Daniels said. “We’re supposed to go to work and be 100% of the time. I’m going to work right now, and I’m thinking about, how do I pay my rent? Rent is due in a few days, how to put food on the table, how to put, you know, gas in my car just to show up to work.”

The FAA Air Traffic Control tower at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in Newark, New Jersey, on October 6.

While the president is overseas, we have some updates on the ongoing government shutdown.

The Federal Aviation Administration reported the first staffing shortages of the day, as air traffic controllers missed their first full paycheck since the shutdown began.

The TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) facilities that handle flights approaching and departing Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport are both short-staffed, according to the 8 a.m. ET operations plan.

Newark’s shortage lasts until 10 a.m. ET and Atlanta’s is happening until noon.

Controllers received a partial paycheck two weeks ago for hours worked before the shutdown.

As we head into the Halloween holiday weekend, there have been 274 reports of staffing shortages since the shutdown started on October 1 — more than four times the number seen for the same dates last year.

Not every staffing shortage results in a delay, as controllers can reroute flights, but sometimes there is no choice but to slow planes down to maintain safety.

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.

President Donald Trump, with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, speaks to members of the military aboard the USS George Washington in Yokosuka, Japan, on Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump underscored close relations with Japan’s “new and incredible” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, as he announced fresh investment between the two nations on the latest stop of a roundtrip to Asia.

The two leaders exchanged lavish words of praise in an address to US troops at the Yokosuka Naval Base — after they spent a day strengthening ties in the capital Tokyo.

After a busy visit in Japan, Trump is now headed to South Korea for the final scheduled stop of his Asia tour, where he’s expected to meet with China’s leader Xi Jinping.

If you are just reading up on Trump’s trip today, here’s what you need to know:

US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, left, and Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, right, talk during their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced the commitment of $490 billion in US investments from several Japanese companies, across the nuclear development, engineering and construction services, semiconductors and AI infrastructure industries.

Lutnick credited tariff policies US President Donald Trump implemented for helping to reach the deal.

“These deals are driven by the Japanese Strategic Investment Initiative, which was created by your tariff policy and by your historic trade agreement with Japan,” Lutnick said at the ambassador’s residence in Tokyo. “So that was the underlying reason that we were able to get all these deals done today.”

Trump stood nearby as CEOs of each of the companies took a photograph with the president and held up their investment deals. Some of the companies include Westinghouse, GE Vernova, Bechtel, Softbank, Toshiba, Entra1, The Carrier Corporation, Kinder Morgan, Mitsubishi Electric, TDK, Fujikura and Murata Manufacturing Company.

Lutnick said Hitachi is also invested but hadn’t decided on a number yet.

“All they have to do is throw in an extra 10 (billion dollars) and we’ll get there,” Lutnick said.

Last month, the White House announced a trade agreement framework with Japan that included $550 billion commitment in investments “towards critical industries of importance” to the United States’ national and economic security. The US and Japan agreed that Japanese imports would be taxed at a 15% tariff rate through that trade agreement.

Trump briefly spoke at the end of the investment announcements, referencing the investment from Toyota and projecting another announcement from a company soon.

“We have just heard that Toyota is going to be contributing $10 billion,” Trump said. “They are doing it, I think, because of the November 5 election and because of the tariffs.”

“We have another company that’s going to be contributing at least $10 billion, and I’ll give you that name later,” he added.