US government shutdown nearing record for the longest in history as Trump delays food benefits to millions
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics.
Republicans are claiming that the US president, Donald Trump, is “desperate” to end the government shutdown, which has now entered its 33rd day, as lawmakers struggle to find common ground on previously bipartisan issues such as food aid and health care.
The last shutdown, which started in December 2018 and was brought about by disagreements over money to fund a wall along the US-Mexico border, lasted 35 days – the longest in American history.
Republicans have only 53 Senate seats, meaning they need at least seven Democrats or independents to reopen the federal government. But in repeated votes since federal agencies shut on 1 October, just three Democrats have been willing to support funding legislation.
Trump continues to exert an iron grip on the shutdown, which sees Democrats and Republicans stuck over passing a spending plan that would reopen federal agencies. He is resisting political and even federal court pressure to ease the burden on vulnerable Americans while protesting that he has no power to end the impasse.
“I mean, the Republicans are voting almost unanimously to end it, and the Democrats keep voting against ending it,” Trump told 60 Minutes in an interview on Sunday. “You know, they’ve never had this. This has happened like 18 times before. The Democrats always voted for an extension, always saying, ‘Give us an extension, we’ll work it out.’”
Two federal court judges ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must use $5bn in contingency funds to keep paying food assistance Snap benefits for up to 42 million low-income Americans. The payments stopped Saturday under the shutdown, posing the risk of hunger for millions of people.
As my colleague Ed Pilkington reports in this story, despite the two court orders, it remains unclear when or whether the administration will restart the payments. Trump has said he is waiting for clarification from the federal judges on where the money should come from.
Stay with us as we bring you the latest developments from Washington.
Key events
Donald Trump has said he feels bad for the British royal family after King Charles stripped his brother Andrew of his title as prince amid the continuing fallout over Andrew’s connections with the late, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Sunday evening, Trump was asked about King Charles’s decision to strip his brother of his peerages and the title of prince.
“It’s a terrible thing that’s happened to the (royal) family,” the US president said. “That’s been a tragic situation. It’s too bad. I feel badly for the family.”
Andrew was accused by Virginia Giuffre of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager and claims she was trafficked by Epstein to have sex with the royal. Andrew has strenuously denied the allegations.
Pressure is building on Andrew to give evidence before a powerful US congressional committee. Members of the House Oversight Committee have called for the former prince to reveal what he knew about the actions of Epstein.
Trump’s planned weapons tests won’t include ‘nuclear explosions’, US energy secretary says
The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, has said the weapons testing that Donald Trump ordered last week will not include nuclear explosions.
“I think the tests we’re talking about right now are system tests. These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call noncritical explosions,” Wright told Fox News yesterday.
“So you’re testing all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry, and they set up the nuclear explosion,” Wright added.
Wright, whose agency is responsible for testing, said the planned testing involves “all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry and they set up the nuclear explosion.”
The confusion over Trump’s intention started minutes before he held a critical meeting in South Korea with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump took to his Truth Social platform and appeared to suggest he was preparing to discard a decades-old US prohibition on testing the nation’s nuclear weapons.
His comments sparked fears that the US could be preparing to restart full-scale nuclear blasts for the first time since the early 1990s.
As we mentioned in the opening summary, two federal judges have ruled that the government cannot suspend food aid used by about 42 million low-income Americans during the shutdown.
Here is more on the story, courtesy of my colleague Lauren Gambino:
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has said insufficient funds exist to pay full benefits, as issuing food stamps costs the public purse between $8.5bn and $9bn every month.
The Trump administration contends the agency lacks authority to pay them until Congress passes a spending bill that will ending the enduring government shutdown, which began on 1 October.
Trump lambasted the decisions on Friday, writing on Truth Social that he does “NOT want Americans to go hungry just because the Radical Democrats refuse to do the right thing and REOPEN THE GOVERNMENT”.
“I have instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible. It is already delayed enough due to the Democrats keeping the Government closed through the monthly payment date and, even if we get immediate guidance, it will unfortunately be delayed while States get the money out,” he wrote.
“If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding, just like I did with Military and Law Enforcement Pay.”
US government shutdown nearing record for the longest in history as Trump delays food benefits to millions
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics.
Republicans are claiming that the US president, Donald Trump, is “desperate” to end the government shutdown, which has now entered its 33rd day, as lawmakers struggle to find common ground on previously bipartisan issues such as food aid and health care.
The last shutdown, which started in December 2018 and was brought about by disagreements over money to fund a wall along the US-Mexico border, lasted 35 days – the longest in American history.
Republicans have only 53 Senate seats, meaning they need at least seven Democrats or independents to reopen the federal government. But in repeated votes since federal agencies shut on 1 October, just three Democrats have been willing to support funding legislation.
Trump continues to exert an iron grip on the shutdown, which sees Democrats and Republicans stuck over passing a spending plan that would reopen federal agencies. He is resisting political and even federal court pressure to ease the burden on vulnerable Americans while protesting that he has no power to end the impasse.
“I mean, the Republicans are voting almost unanimously to end it, and the Democrats keep voting against ending it,” Trump told 60 Minutes in an interview on Sunday. “You know, they’ve never had this. This has happened like 18 times before. The Democrats always voted for an extension, always saying, ‘Give us an extension, we’ll work it out.’”
Two federal court judges ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must use $5bn in contingency funds to keep paying food assistance Snap benefits for up to 42 million low-income Americans. The payments stopped Saturday under the shutdown, posing the risk of hunger for millions of people.
As my colleague Ed Pilkington reports in this story, despite the two court orders, it remains unclear when or whether the administration will restart the payments. Trump has said he is waiting for clarification from the federal judges on where the money should come from.
Stay with us as we bring you the latest developments from Washington.
Source link
