Trump says administration is ‘only’ going to make permanent cuts to ‘Democrat programs’
Trumps says that “we will be making cuts that are permanent and we’re only going to cut Democrat programs, I hate to tell you”.
“We’re only cutting Democrat programs,” he repeats. “We’ll be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren’t popular with Republicans, frankly, that’s the way it works.”
Key events
The president of Finland, Alexander Stubb, has arrived at the White House. Donald Trump will hold a bilateral meeting with the Finnish leader shortly.
Judge Perry has called a recess and has asked the lawyers representing Illinois and the administration to be back in the courtroom by 5:30pm EST. We’ll bring you more as it happens.
Federal judge in Chicago hears arguments on deployment of national guard
Meanwhile, in the midwest, a federal judge is hearing arguments in a very similar case in Chicago.
Judge April Perry, a Biden appointee, will deliberate on whether to block the president’s deployment of troops to the windy city as protests outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) facilities continue.
Earlier this week, she declined to issue a temporary restraining order after the state of Illinois filed a lawsuit against the administration, instead she gave the federal government two days to respond and scheduled today’s hearing.
We’re not sure when Perry will issue her ruling, but as we’ve been reporting, hundreds of national guard troop from Illinois and Texas arrived in Chicago this week and have stayed put.
House-passed funding bill fails to pass the Senate for seventh time
The Senate has rejected, for the seventh time, a House-passed bill to keep the government funded until 21 November – leaving no end in sight for shutdown as it enters its ninth day.
The upper chamber voted 54-55 on the funding extension, failing to meet the 60-vote threshold, with the same three Democratic and Independent senators voting “yes” and breaking ranks with the party.
Republican senator Rand Paul, of Kentucky, continued to vote “no”, while senator Ted Cruz, of Texas, did not vote.
Per my last post, it’s worth remembering that this case is now at the appellate court after the administration appealed the decision by a Trump-appointed lower court judge, Karin Immergut. Last week, Immergut blocked the president from federalizing and deploying the national guard, saying the president’s reasoning was “simply untethered from the facts”.
Appeals court deliberates Trump’s deployment of national guard troops to Portland, Oregon
A short while ago, a three-judge panel on the ninth circuit court of appeals wrapped a hearing to decide whether to allow Donald Trump’s deployment of national guard troops to Portland, Oregon.
A reminder that late Wednesday, the appeals court ruled that the troops could stay federalized, but stopped short of saying Trump had the power to deploy them.
Today, the judges, two of whom were nominated by Trump, heard arguments from Oregon officials who say that the White House has completely mischaracterized and exaggerated the protests outside an immigration in Portland as a “rebellion”, in an attempt to legally justify its use of the military. Meanwhile, lawyers for the administration have described the scenes as lawless and uncontrolled.
Today’s cabinet meeting was dramatically shorter than the president’s last one, which he held in August. That went on for more than three hours, whereas today’s came in just over an hour.
Administration will be able to help farmers once shutdown is over, says agriculture secretary
During the president’s cabinet meeting, Brooke Rollins, Trump’s agriculture secretary, said that “we’ve got to get the government reopened” so that the administration can begin to help America’s farmers. She insisted, however, that they aren’t just struggling because of the steep retaliatory tariffs imposed by China, amid the ongoing trade war that kicked off when Trump returned to the White House this year.
Instead, Rollins blamed the previous administration. “We inherited a slew of issues,” the agriculture secretary said, listing the increase in cost of labor and goods that farmers need under Joe Biden. “We have to change this hamster wheel of government. We’ve got to ensure that the farmers have the market to sell.”
Trump says that Netenyahu is ‘more popular than five days ago’
The president has said that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netenyahu, is “much more popular today” than he was five days ago, when asked about his ability to stay in power following the first phase of the peace deal between Israel and Hamas.
Trump had “some extraordinary phone calls and meetings”, Rubio adds, that made the deal possible.
A turning point was Trump’s meeting with Arab and Muslim countries on the sidelines of the UN summit a few weeks ago, Rubio adds, to get those countries behind his plan.
