Summary
Thanks for reading the US politics live blog. We’re pausing the blog for now, and here is a look back at our top stories:
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The US government shutdown hit its 29th day, with no indication Democrats and Republicans were close to an agreement to restart funding.
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Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, called Trump “heartless” after his administration determined it could not continue a crucial food aid program because of the shutdown.
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John Thune, the Republican Senate majority leader, blocked a bill to continue federal food aid from passing the chamber, arguing Democrats should vote to reopen the government instead.
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The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan forecaster, predicted the shutdown would negatively impact the economy, but much of its damage would be reversed when the government reopens. Nonetheless, anywhere between $7bn and $14bn in real GDP will be lost.
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Donald Trump continues his trip through Asia, with the White House confirming a meeting with China’s Xi Jinping on Thursday. That prompted Democratic senators to write to Trump, asking him “not to negotiate away” national security measures targeting Beijing.
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Two federal prosecutors were suspended after saying “a mob of rioters” attacked the Capitol on January 6.
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The Federal Reserve made a quarter-percentage-point cut to its interest rates, while warning of “elevated inflation” and an uncertain economic outlook.
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Las Vegas may be the site of the proposed midterm political convention Trump wants Republicans to hold ahead of next year’s pivotal legislative elections, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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Demonstrators in South Korea staged “No Trump” protests as the US president visited the city of Gyeongju for events around the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
Key events
Polls show voters remain sour on Trump, policies
New polling indicates voters across the country are downbeat on Donald Trump, and, in the battleground state of Wisconsin, skeptical his policies can lower their cost of living.
A survey of 1,000 American adults conducted earlier this month by the University of Massachusetts Lowell and YouGov found Trump’s approval rating is at 42%, and 65% of respondents believe the country is on the wrong track. The numbers were similar to data from April 2024, when the question concerned Joe Biden’s performance as president – a sign of long-term dissatisfaction with governance across the country across parties.
“These numbers are not particularly strong for the Trump administration, especially considering we’re in the first year of his second term,” said Rodrigo Castro Cornejo, a political science professor and associate director of the university’s Center for Public Opinion.
In Wisconsin, Marquette University Law School found that inflation and the cost of living was the top concern of the 846 registered voters surveyed, with immigration in second and health insurance third. There was, however a partisan split over the top issue: for Republicans, it was immigration, while Democrats and independents were most concerned about inflation.
When it came to Trump, 57% of those surveyed in Wisconsin thought his policies would cause prices to rise, 30% believed they will cause it to fall and 12% think they will have no effect. There was a substantial partisan split here, too, with Republicans more likely to see him as effective against inflation, and Democrats much less so.
Democratic senators urge Trump ‘not to negotiate away’ national security in meeting with Xi
With Donald Trump set to meet China’s president Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday (which will be 10pm on Wednesday in Washington DC), Democratic senators have asked him to protect the national security of the United States and its allies in what are expected to be high-stake trade talks.
“Ahead of your meeting with President Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday, we write to urge you not to negotiate away America and our allies’ national security,” reads the letter signed by 12 Democratic senators, including minority leader Chuck Schumer.
Saying that the Chinese Communist Party “poses a fundamental threat to US national security, economic prosperity, and global leadership”, they note that there has previously been bipartisan support for “export controls and investment screening mechanisms on critical technologies” being sent to China.
“We are deeply disturbed by your recent statements and actions, which indicate that you are all too willing to sacrifice these vital national security tools for empty promises and illusory ‘wins,’” the senators write.
They urge Trump not to relax restrictions on Chinese investments in the United States, allow a Treasury program that ensures US firms don’t help China develop sensitive technology to continue and to not agree to any statements that indicates the US “opposes” the independence of Taiwan.
“America’s export controls, investment safeguards, and our longstanding security partnerships must not be on the negotiating table,” the Democrats said.
Amid the logjam in Congress over reauthorizing government funding, two dozen states have sued the Trump administration over its plan to pause Snap on 1 November. Here’s more on their case filed yesterday, from the Guardian’s Lauren Gambino:
A coalition of more than two dozen states on Tuesday sued the Trump administration over its decision to suspend food stamps during the government shutdown.
The lawsuit, co-led by New York, California and Massachusetts, asks a federal judge to force the US Department of Agriculture to tap into emergency reserve funds to distribute food benefits to the nearly 42 million families and children who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap). The USDA has said no benefits will be issued on 1 November.
“Snap is one of our nation’s most effective tools to fight hunger, and the USDA has the money to keep it running,” the New York attorney general, Letitia James, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “There is no excuse for this administration to abandon families who rely on Snap, or food stamps, as a lifeline. The federal government must do its job to protect families.”
Republican Senate leader calls bill funding food aid during shutdown ‘cynical’
Things just grew heated on the Senate floor after the Democratic senator, Ben Ray Luján, of New Mexico asked the chamber to unanimously pass his bill guaranteeing federal food aid during the shutdown.
John Thune, the Republican majority leader, blocked the bill to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), arguing that Democrats should instead vote to reopen the government.
“Snap recipients shouldn’t go without food. People should be getting paid in this country, and we’ve tried to do that 13 times. You voted no 13 times. This isn’t a political game,” Thune said, referring to the number of votes he has held on the Republican bill to fund the government through 21 November.
Democrats have blocked passage of that bill, because it does not address their health care concerns, including the extension of subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans.
Thune continued to hammer Luján’s bill:
This request is a transparent admission that Democrats want to keep the shutdown for what – another month longer? This bill is a cynical attempt to provide political cover for Democrats to allow them to carry on their government shutdown for the long term.
In response, Luján accused Thune of refusing to compromise:
When you hold power, when you’re the majority, you meet people, you pull them in. You don’t tell folks, you know where my office is. You all have heard me talk about the late governor Bruce King, a cattle farm out in New Mexico. He used to tell us when people can’t figure out what’s going on, you lock them up in a barn and you don’t let them out until they figure out how to get along.
Well, we don’t got a barn. Maybe they’ve got an office around here to sit some people. And there’s a White House. It’s easy to get in – there’s a big hole in it.
More about that big hole:
In the government funding standoff, Democrats are demanding that Republicans support extending tax credits for Affordable Care Act health plans, arguing that they will soon become unaffordable for many enrollees without congressional action. Here’s the Guardian’s Joseph Gedeon with more about just how much prices may rise:
People in the US shopping for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces will face a steep 26% average price increase next year, according to new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation released just days before enrollment begins on 1 November.
The jump represents one of the sharpest rises since the healthcare program launched over a decade ago, with consumers using the federal healthcare.gov platform set to see even steeper hikes of 30% on average. State-run marketplaces are also expected to experience a 17% increase.
But the financial pain for many of the 24 million Americans enrolled in ACA plans, now a record number, could be far worse. Enhanced subsidies that have kept premiums affordable for millions are set to expire at year’s end, which threatens to more than double what many households actually pay out of pocket, according to KFF.
The research from the non-partisan health policy organization found that monthly payments for subsidized enrollees could increase by an average of 114% if Congress fails to extend the enhanced tax credits. The healthcare.gov website, which opened for preview shopping on Tuesday, is already displaying the higher costs that reflect the lapse in assistance.
Federal prosecutors suspended after calling January 6 defendants ‘rioters’
Two federal prosecutors have been put on leave after writing in a court filing that “a mob of rioters” attacked the Capitol on January 6, Reuters reports.
Donald Trump pardoned all those convicted or facing charges over the insurrection at the Capitol on the first day of his second term. Reuters reports that Samuel White and Carlos Valdivia were prosecuting Taylor Taranto on gun charges after he drove to the neighborhood around Barack Obama’s Washington DC home in 2023. Taranto had previously been involved in the January 6 attack, and White and Valdivia noted his presence at the Capitol in a memo where they argued he should face a 27-month sentence on the gun charges.
The story was first reported by ABC News. Here’s more, from Reuters:
Taranto had previously been charged for his role in the 2021 assault on the Capitol and was pardoned in January on Trump’s return to the White House. He was one of nearly 1,600 people pardoned but remained incarcerated on the 2023 gun charges.
Trump and his allies have sought to play down the January 6 violence, decrying the prosecutions as a “national injustice.”
White and Valdivia had asked US district judge Carl Nichols in Washington DC, to impose a sentence of 27 months for Taranto.
They were not provided an official reason for their removal, which was carried out by the executive office for United States attorneys, three of the people said. A justice department spokesperson declined to comment and Reuters could not immediately reach the two attorneys for comment.
The decision to place them on leave marks the latest in a string of personnel actions targeting justice department employees who worked on criminal or civil cases disfavored by Trump and his supporters. More than 200 prosecutors, agents and other personnel have been fired, some of whom worked on two criminal cases against Trump or on cases related to the attack on the Capitol.
Taranto was convicted on gun charges after having “perpetrated a hoax” on 28 June 2023, in which he falsely claimed he would cause a car bomb to drive into the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The next day, after Trump posted Obama’s purported address on social media, Taranto reposted it and began live-streaming himself as he drove into Obama’s neighborhood in Washington DC In the video, he said he was searching for “tunnels” to access private residences. Eventually he parked and walked into a restricted area protected by the US Secret Service where he stated: “Gotta get the shot, stop at nothing to get the shot.”
In a search of his van, law enforcement found two firearms, a stabilizing brace and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
The day so far
Here’s a rundown of what’s been happening today:
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The US government shutdown hit its 29th day, with no indication Democrats and Republicans were close to an agreement to restart funding.
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The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan forecaster, predicted the shutdown would negatively impact the economy, but much of its damage would be reversed when the government reopens. Nonetheless, anywhere between $7bn and $14bn in real GDP will be lost.
-
Donald Trump continues his trip through Asia, with the White House confirming a meeting with China’s Xi Jinping on Thursday.
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The Federal Reserve made a quarter-percentage-point cut to its interest rates, while warning of “elevated inflation” and an uncertain economic outlook.
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Las Vegas may be the site of the proposed midterm political convention Trump wants Republicans to hold ahead of next year’s pivotal legislative elections, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, called Trump “heartless” after his administration determined it could not continue a crucial food aid program because of the shutdown.
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Demonstrators in South Korea staged “No Trump” protests as the US president visited the city of Gyeongju for events around the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
Fed chair Powell says shutdown has hit growth, but effects ‘should reverse’ when government opens
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said that the government shutdown has undermined US economic growth, but restored funding should undo the damage.
“The shutdown of the federal government will weigh on economic activity while it persists, but these effects should reverse after the shutdown ends,” Powell said at his ongoing press conference.
He noted that the shutdown had also delayed the release of some government data the central bank relies on to make its decisions.
Powell also nodded to the economics impacts of Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies, saying: “Job gains have slowed significantly since earlier in the year. A good part of the slowing likely reflects a decline in the growth of the labor force due to lower immigration and labor force participation, though, labor demand has clearly softened as well.”
Here’s more from the Guardian’s Lauren Aratani on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision:
The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Wednesday, the second rate cut this year amid economic turbulence from the federal government shutdown and Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The decision to cut the Fed’s benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to a range of 3.75% to 4% comes at an extraordinary moment for the central bank. The Fed has been under immense pressure from Donald Trump to cut rates despite persistent inflation.
In a statement, the Fed said that the unemployment rate had gone up but remains low. “Job gains have slowed,” the statement reads. “Inflation has moved up and remains somewhat elevated.”
The ongoing federal government shutdown, now one of the longest in US history, has also complicated the Fed’s job. Collection of important economic data has been indefinitely halted as employees at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) are furloughed during the shutdown.
The Fed typically studies BLS data to determine labor market conditions, including the number of new jobs added to the economy and the current unemployment rate. The last jobs report was released in early September, before the shutdown, and gave a relatively bleak snapshot of the jobs market in August. The number of jobs added to the economy in August was down by more than 100,000 since the spring, and unemployment crept up to 4.3% – the highest since 2021.
Though BLS was scheduled to release September’s job market report in early October, it suspended its release once the shutdown started. Private payroll firm ADP reported earlier this month that the private sector cut 32,000 jobs in September, a sign that the job market is continuing to slow.
Federal Reserve slashes interest rate again, notes ‘somewhat elevated’ inflation
The Federal Reserve has voted to slash its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point amid inflation that has remained “somewhat elevated” and an uncertain US economic outlook.
The rate cut comes as the central bank shifts from fighting the inflation that plagued the economy’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and towards bolstering economic growth and the labor market.
“Job gains have slowed this year, and the unemployment rate has edged up but remained low through August; more recent indicators are consistent with these developments. Inflation has moved up since earlier in the year and remains somewhat elevated,” the policy setting Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement released just now, following the conclusion of its regular meeting.
In a sign of the tricky balance the Fed faces between quelling inflation and supporting hiring, the statement noted: “Uncertainty about the economic outlook remains elevated. The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate and judges that downside risks to employment rose in recent months.”
The decision was endorsed by 10 of the committee’s 12 members. Donald Trump’s former top economic adviser, Stephen Miran, dissented, arguing for a cut of a half a percentage point, in line with the president’s desire for lower interest rates. Jeffrey Schmid also did not vote for the decision, preferring not to lower the rate.
