politics

The amended package will still have to be passed by the House and sent to Trump for his signature, a process that could take days

The compromise legislation authorizes government funding through 30 January 2026 and undoes the firings of federal workers that the White House carried out after the shutdown began. It also guarantees retroactive pay for furloughed federal workers and those who stayed on the job during the shutdown, and prevents further layoffs through January. Included in the compromise are three appropriations bill that will authorize spending through the 2026 fiscal year for the departments of agriculture and veterans affairs, among others.

The compromise does not resolved the issue of the Affordable Care Act premiums, which one study forecast would jump by an average of 26% if the tax credits were allowed to expire.

As part of the deal, Thune said he would allow a vote on a bill to deal with the credits by the second week of December. But even if it succeeds, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson has said he will not put such a measure on the floor.

President Donald Trump on Sunday claimed that a “dividend of at least $2000 a person” will be paid to all Americans except for “high-income people,” saying the country is now wealthy as a result of his tariff policies.

“People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS! We are now the Richest, Most Respected Country In the World, With Almost No Inflation, and A Record Stock Market Price. 401k’s are Highest EVER,” the president wrote.

It sounds like a bunch of Democrats want to cave in exchange for no concessions whatsoever. Edit: Bloomberg has more details

Current likely Democratic votes for this:

• Shaheen - NH
• Hassan - NH
• King - ME
• Fetterman - PA
• Peters - MI
• Durbin - IL
• Warner - VA
• Kaine - VA
• Ossoff- GA
• Warnock - GA

If you want to change things, you need to call their DC office NOW, and leave an email if you can't.

Edit 2: enough Democrats joined the Republicans to reopen the government with no real concessions.

The list:

• Durbin
• Hassan
• King
• Cortez Masto
• Kaine
• Shaheen
• Rosen
• Fetterman
• Schumer
• Gillibrand

There was a caucus meeting right before this, so the bulk of the Senate Democrats were likely OK with giving in, even if not willing to vote for it in public

“I used to have about four controllers retire a day before the shutdown. I’m now up to 15 to 20 a day are retiring,” Duffy told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” “So, it’s going to be harder for me to come back after the shutdown and have more controllers controlling the airspace.”

“So, this is going to live on in air travel, well beyond the time frame that this government opens back up.”

Air traffic controllers are set to miss their second consecutive paycheck on Tuesday, with many missing work and taking second jobs. Duffy added that 81 controller staffing shortages were reported at facilities across the country on Saturday, an increase of 20 such instances relative to Oct. 31.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/52742400

How the Senate Democratic leader and his Gang of Eight keep trying to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.

His BlueSky post is here

When people tell me that there’s been no resistance to the Trump administration, I wonder if they’re expecting something that looks like a guerrilla revolution pushing out the government in one fell swoop or just aren’t paying attention, because there has, in fact, been a tremendous amount and variety of resistance and opposition and it’s mattered tremendously.

cross-posted from: https://europe.pub/post/6351921

The Trump administration is telling states not to pay full November food stamp benefits, revising its previous guidance after winning a temporary victory at the Supreme Court on Friday.

USDA’s latest memo, sent Saturday to state directors of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, instructed states to deliver just 65 percent of benefits during the government shutdown and required those who already sent full payments to claw back that money.

“To the extent States sent full SNAP payment files for November 2025, this was unauthorized. Accordingly, States must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025,” the memo notes.

Weird how the Grand Old Pedos were insisting the Dems were going to ban prayer everywhere, yet its Pedo Don who started banning prayer in federal facilities...

According to CNN exit polling, New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill (D) won the support of 68% of Latino voters, while Virginia Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger (D) received 67% support from Latino voters.

The results mark a shift from just one year ago, when the voting bloc helped propel Trump to victory. Republicans say the time is now to course-correct ahead of next year’s midterms.

“Unfortunately Latinos are leaving the Republican Party after giving us a monumental chance in 2024,” said Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) in an video posted on the social platform X after Tuesday’s results. “In New Jersey and Virginia, Hispanics moved back more than 25 points to the Democratic Party.”

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is directing states to “immediately undo” any steps that have been taken to send out full food aid benefits to low-income Americans, following a supreme court order on Friday that temporarily halted a lower court order requiring those payments.

The USDA’s directive, issued in a memo on Saturday, followed a supreme court order granting the Trump administration’s emergency request to pause an order for the USDA to provide full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) benefits during the ongoing federal government shutdown, which is now in its 40th day.

That lower court ruling, issued on Thursday, ordered the Trump administration to fully fund the Snap program for November by Friday, rather than issuing only partial benefits. The ruling led to some of the roughly 42 million Americans enrolled in Snap – commonly known as food stamps – to begin receiving their full benefits on Friday from the states, which issue the payments of federal dollars.

Donald Trump has attended his second extravagant party at Mar-a-Lago in a week as tens of thousands of federal employees go without pay, leaving some of them, and many more Americans, to turn to food banks amid the longest government shutdown in history.

Images of the president were shared by guests on social media Friday at the lavish event which featured a three-course menu of beef filet, truffle dauphinoise, pan-seared scallops and a trio of desserts including “Trump chocolate cake.”

Trump was seen dining at a table surrounded by MAGA supporters, and posing with his thumbs up next to women in ballgowns. The event also featured ice sculptures and an opera performance.

Several federal departments and agencies posted partisan messages on their websites and in out-of-office emails during the shutdown. Democrats believe the posts violate federal law.

A group of Senate Democrats is pushing for an investigation into the Trump administration’s use of federal agency websites and emails to post partisan messages blaming Democrats for the government shutdown.

In a letter obtained by NBC News, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and other Democrats ask the Government Accountability Office to open a probe into whether the political messages violated federal appropriations laws.

The lawmakers point specifically to a rule that prohibits the executive branch from using funds for “purely partisan” purposes. They are asking for more information from the GAO to see if several agencies violated laws that pertain to ethics and partisan political activity.

It's not in Donald Trump's nature to accentuate the negative

at least not when it comes to his own performance or plans

and in the current moment, that has put him at risk of sounding out of touch with Americans who are struggling to make ends meet.

"We had the greatest economy in the history of our country," Trump said of his first term in an interview with Norah O'Donnell for CBS' "60 Minutes" a week ago. "But my second term is blowing it away."

Two days later, voters blew away Republican candidates up and down the ballot in Virginia and New Jersey, results that reinforced NBC News polling showing that the vast majority of voters

about two-thirds

think the president hasn't lived up to his promises to curb inflation and improve the economy. The common watchword for Democratic candidates who won on Tuesday

both progressives and centrists

was "affordability."

White House is manipulating voting system, from redistricting to rule changes, to affect midterms

A year out from the 2026 midterms, with Republicans feeling the blows from a string of losses in this week’s elections, Donald Trump and his allies are mounting a multipronged attack on almost every aspect of voting in the United States and raising what experts say are troubling questions about the future of one of the world’s oldest democracies.

While Democratic leaders continue to invest their hopes in a “blue wave” to overturn Republican majorities in the House and Senate next year, Trump and some prominent supporters have sought to discredit the possibility that Republicans could lose in a fair fight and are using that premise to justify demands for a drastically different kind of electoral system.

This is not the first time Trump has questioned the credibility of US elections -- he did it almost as vigorously in 2016 and 2024, when he won his bids for the White House, as he did in 2020, when he did not -- but now the president's confidants are threatening emergency powers to seize control of a process over which presidents ordinarily have no control.