BREAKING: Trump administration asks for emergency pause on judge’s order to fully fund SNAP
An FAA order cutting back on flights at 40 major airports to ease pressure from the shutdown kicks in today.
President Donald Trump pardoned former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and his former chief of staff, Cade Cothren.
Casada, a Republican, was sentenced in September to 36 months in prison after being convicted on 17 charges, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Cothren, the aide, received a shorter sentence.
Casada confirmed the pardon in a statement to NBC affiliate WSMV in Nashville, saying, “Yes the president called me today and granted me a full pardon. I am grateful of his trust and his full confidence in my innocence through this whole ordeal.”
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The Trump administration is asking the First Circuit Court of Appeals for an emergency stay — or pause — of U.S. District Judge John McConnell’s order requiring it to fully fund SNAP by today by using other funding sources.
“This Court should allow USDA to continue with the partial payment and not compel the agency to transfer billions of dollars from another safety net program with no certainty of their replenishment,” it writes.
“To the extent they require USDA to expend funds beyond the SNAP contingency fund, the Court should stay the district court’s orders of October 31 and November 6 pending appeal and grant an immediate administrative stay.”
The Senate is scheduled to convene at noon today and while roll call votes are expected, it’s unclear whether there will be votes aimed at ending the government shutdown.
There have been discussions about a potential plan to end the shutdown in the Senate that could involve a vote on the House-passed CR for a 15th time. If that legislation receives the 60 votes needed to begin consideration of the bill, Republicans could amend it with a new short-term spending bill, as well as a package of three full-year appropriations bills.
If this plan were to proceed, it’s not clear how an assurance that a vote on Obamacare fixes would be included in the agreement. And of course, even if this effort succeeds in the Senate, the House would also need to vote on it before it’s sent to the president’s desk.
Former Sen. John E. Sununu’s comeback attempt in New Hampshire has Democrats there warning about a tougher-than-expected Senate race that could complicate the party’s effort to flip control of the chamber next year.
Sununu — a Republican who served one Senate term two decades ago and whose younger brother, Chris Sununu, was more recently the state’s popular four-term governor — jumped into the race last month.
The GOP establishment quickly rallied around Sununu in a primary that also includes Scott Brown, who served as an ambassador in Trump’s first term and as a senator from neighboring Massachusetts in the early 2010s.
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Building a nuclear-powered submarine in the South Korean-owned Philly Shipyard is not “realistic,” a South Korean official said, after Trump said it would be built in Philadelphia.
Trump, who visited South Korea last week, made the remark on social media after saying he had given the U.S. ally approval to build a nuclear-powered submarine, which would make it one of only a handful of countries to possess one.
South Korean national security adviser Wi Sung-lac told lawmakers yesterday that South Korea, one of the world’s biggest shipbuilding countries, would “move forward with a practical and cost-effective nuclear submarine program that aligns with efficiency and necessity.”
“The Virginia-class submarine is an American model that we have no need to pursue — it costs over 5 trillion won,” or $3.4 billion, he said. “Instead, we intend to develop a much more affordable submarine suited to our own operational requirements, and we plan to build it here in Korea.”
Investing in submarine facilities at the Philly Shipyard, which South Korea’s Hanwha Group bought last year for $100 million, “would not be realistic,” Wi said.
Trump is set to host Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the White House today for a bilateral lunch.
The president is welcoming his U.S. ally after the Trump administration recently sanctioned Russia’s two largest oil companies. Hungary is among the European countries that purchase Russian oil and Trump noted last week that Orbán has asked for an exemption from sanctions on Russian oil.
“We haven’t granted one, but he’s a friend of mine,” Trump told reporters last week.
In September, Trump was asked to address Orbán on his refusal to stop buying Russian oil.
“Well, he’s a friend of mine. I have not spoken to him, but I have a feeling if I did, he might stop, and I think I’ll be doing that,” he said at the time.
GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik is launching a run for governor in New York, blaming Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul for the state’s high cost of living and tying the governor to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
Stefanik’s 2½-minute launch video focuses largely on affordability. And while Stefanik is a staunch ally of Trump, her campaign video does not make any references to the president.
“There’s no question: New York is facing an affordability crisis,” a narrator says in Stefanik’s launch video, which also features commentators calling Hochul the “worst governor in America.”
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A routine journey to the skies may result in long lines and a change of plans as airlines abide by a Federal Aviation Administration order to cut flights by 4% in high traffic airports starting today.
The cuts are building up to a 10% reduction in capacity at 40 locations, designed to ease pressure points and address fatigue among air traffic controllers as the government shutdown drags on.
Read the full story here.
NBC News