Morning Report is The Hill’s a.m. newsletter. Subscribe here.
In today’s issue:
▪ Trump returns to third-term flirtation
▪ Key GOP senator’s shutdown proposal
▪ SNAP benefits set to end
▪ First lady distances from East Wing demo
President Trump rallied American troops aboard the U.S.S. George Washington on Tuesday as part of his tour through Asia.
Trump addressed the soldiers from the aircraft carrier docked south of Tokyo for almost an hour, during which he praised Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and touted the military no longer being “politically correct.”
“I’m going to tell you how great our country is and how well we’re doing, because a year and a half ago, we had a different country than we do right now. Now we’re the most respected country in the world,” he said.
During his speech, the president defended his push to send National Guard troops to U.S. cities and his administration’s recent strikes on boats carrying alleged drug traffickers in the Carribean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
“They said, ‘No, that was just fishing,’ ” Trump said of his critics. “Submarines don’t go fishing.”
The president spoke in front of fighter jets surrounded by military members in a rally-like atmosphere. A large banner hung behind him read “Peace through strength.”
Trump on the aircraft carrier docked at the Yokosuka Naval Base also invited to the podium new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the country’s first female head of government, and praised her for the accomplishment.
Takaichi similarly praised Trump for his efforts in trying to bring peace to the Middle East and ending the fighting between Cambodia and Thailand earlier this year.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later told reporters that Takaichi would nominate Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, which he’s openly sought.
Trump also achieved a key goal of his trip as he and Takaichi signed a deal to increase cooperation on processing critical minerals and rare earth materials. The agreement states that the countries will provide financial support for mining projects within six months.
The deal’s timing is significant as it comes two days after the U.S. signed agreements with Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia declaring cooperation on critical minerals. And it comes ahead of a much-anticipated meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday.
Critical minerals have been a focus for Trump since China announced it was tightening restrictions on the exports of them earlier this month. The issue will likely come up during Trump’s meeting with Xi in South Korea.
Despite the critical minerals deal, The New York Times reported there were little signs of a major breakthrough in ongoing trade negotiations between U.S. and Japanese officials.
Trump on Tuesday also separately met with Takaichi at the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo.
“I want to just let you know, anytime you have any question, any doubt, anything you want, any favors you need, anything I can do to help Japan, we will be there. We are an ally at the strongest level,” Trump said.
And amid speculation that Trump may meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his Asia trip, the president greeted families of Japanese citizens who had been abducted by North Korea.
Trump has left open the possibility of meeting with Kim, but White House officials said there are no plans for a meeting before Trump returns to the U.S. later this week.
The next leg on Trump’s trip will be to travel to South Korea ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Trump is expected to meet with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, but he will skip the main sessions of the summit.
This is also where Trump will meet with Xi.
TRUMP THIRD-TERM TALK TICKS UP: The president made one of his most direct statements hinting at seeking a possible third term in office on Monday, building on months of speculation.
“I haven’t really thought about it. We have some very good people as you know … but I have the best poll numbers that I’ve ever had,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to Japan, adding that he “would love to do it.”
Trump pointed to Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as possible candidates and a potentially strong ticket, as he has done before, but he said “you’ll have to tell me” when asked to clarify if he was ruling out a bid himself.
Trump has often flirted with the idea of a third term despite the Constitution’s prohibition on candidates being elected more than twice. He told NBC News in an interview in March that he was “not joking” when talking about the possibility of running for a third term.
But he’s also walked it back on other occasions, telling CNBC in August that he would “probably not” run in 2028.
The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution is clear about the prohibition on presidents running for a third term — in place for more than 70 years following former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s unprecedented four terms in office.
“No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of President more than once,” the amendment reads.
But that hasn’t stopped Trump from repeatedly leaving the door open. He posted an AI-generated video earlier this month showing him tossing a “Trump 2028” hat to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
The hats appeared on Trump’s desk during a meeting he held with congressional leaders last month, which Jeffries called “the strangest thing ever.”
While some Trump allies have brushed off the speculation as unserious, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon has been consistent that he expects Trump to serve a third term, The Hill’s Brett Samuels reports.
Bannon told The Economist in an interview released last week that there is a “plan” for Trump to get around the 22nd Amendment and serve another term. He didn’t elaborate on what the plan entails but said it would be laid out at the “appropriate time.”
“Trump is going to be president in ‘28, and people ought to just get accommodated to that,” he said.
On previous occasions, Democrats have pushed back against Trump’s comments, arguing they are part of his wider attempts to expand the power of the executive.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) introduced a resolution in February reaffirming the Constitution’s limit on no one being elected to more than two terms in response to Trump’s comments. That resolution, and a measure from Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) calling for amending the Constitution to allow Trump to seek a third term, seem unlikely to pass.
But it demonstrates how Democrats are taking Trump’s words seriously as he floats taking a step that on its face is unconstitutional and as he pushes for more power for the White House.
▪ The Hill: “Trump confirms secondary physical test included MRI, cognitive test.”
▪ CNN: “Why Trump needs to keep the third-term talk going.”
▪ Axios: These presidents considered third terms before they were banned.
FIRST IN THE HILL: A coalition of Senate and House Democrats are demanding answers over President Trump’s decision to greenlight the unrestricted export of American-made firearms, saying the move risks empowering criminal and terrorist organizations the administration is battling in the Western Hemisphere, according to letters obtained exclusively by The Hill.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) led a group of lawmakers, buoyed by a coalition of nongovernmental organizations, writing to the administration on Monday over its decision to rescind export restrictions on U.S.-made small arms, which were originally put in place under the Biden administration to combat the illicit gun market.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Rubio have until Nov. 4 to answer a list of detailed questions sent by the lawmakers, probing the administration’s decision-making process to rescind the rule.
The Trump administration, explaining its decision late last month, said that American firearms manufacturers estimated that the regulatory restrictions would cost them “hundreds of millions of dollars per year in lost sales,” and that the rule “imposed unnecessary regulatory burdens.”
Read more here from my colleague Laura Kelly.
Smart Take with Blake Burman
It’s crunch time in the New York City mayor’s race, with only a week left until election day. GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa is facing pressure to drop out of the race to potentially boost the chances of Andrew Cuomo, who’s running as an independent against Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani. However, Sliwa told me he’s already voted for himself and he won’t drop out. “I give people an alternative choice in this election,” he said. “So why would I want to drop out?”
The Republican candidate also told me he hopes the leader of his party, President Trump, doesn’t move forward with threats to withhold some federal funds if Mamdani wins. “Don’t hurt the city because you don’t like the mayor. But it is incumbent upon Zohran Mandami, if he should win, he’s got to take a different track with Donald Trump,” Sliwa said Monday night.
We have seen Trump take on the second- and third-largest cities in America so far in his administration. Come next Tuesday evening, we will see how his relationship with the largest city, and his hometown, potentially morphs in the months ahead.
Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.
3 Things to Know Today
1. The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to let the president refire the head of the U.S. Copyright Office after a divided federal appeals court allowed her to stay in the role.
2. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has set a Jan. 16 deadline for states to submit their proposals to be part of the early primary calendar for the 2028 election. It comes after the DNC shook up their early primary schedule for the 2024 race, moving South Carolina to be first instead of Iowa.
3. Hurricane Melissa is set to plow through Jamaica and then the Bahamas after becoming a rare, powerful Category 5 storm. It could become the strongest hurricane to ever hit Jamaica since record-keeping began in the 1850s.
Leading the Day
SHUTDOWN SNAP PRESSURE: Pressure is building on both parties to reach an agreement to reopen the government as millions of Americans are set to lose access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits at the end of the month.
Many low-income Americans rely on SNAP to afford the cost of groceries on a monthly basis. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released guidance on Friday saying that it won’t use contingency funding for SNAP if the shutdown continues beyond the end of this week, despite Congress allocating the funding for emergency situations.
The rollbacks could cause more than 40 million Americans to receive less assistance or no assistance with grocery bills. October SNAP benefits weren’t affected by the shutdown because the funding from the federal government was sent ahead of the start of the month, but the November benefits will be the first ones at risk.
The Hill’s Sarah Fortinsky has five takeaways as SNAP funding is set to run out in days.
Democrats respond: Democrats slammed the USDA’s move and called on the department to tap into reserve funds for the program. The department argued in a memo that the contingency fund is designed to respond to unforeseen events like natural disasters and not shutdowns, which in this case it alleges was caused by the Democrats.
The USDA said spending the money on SNAP benefits would be illegal. That contradicts a since-deleted shutdown plan that the department prepared earlier this year saying it’s legally required to pay SNAP benefits during a shutdown, Fortinsky reports.
Legislation has been introduced in both houses of Congress to keep SNAP benefits paid throughout the shutdown until regular appropriations or stopgap measures can take over, but states in the meantime are scrambling to cover the shortfall.
States have encouraged SNAP recipients to turn to local food banks if their benefits pause, while some have said they’ll tap into state funds to cover them for now.
Pressure building: The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports how the pending SNAP shortfall, along with federal workers and military servicemembers going without pay for potentially an extended period of time, is adding pressure on lawmakers to end the shutdown, now almost four weeks long.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing federal workers, said “it’s time” for Congress to immediately pass a clean continuing resolution (CR) to reopen the government.
“No half measures, and no gamesmanship,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a release. “Put every single federal worker back on the job with full back pay — today.”
AFGE represents more than 800,000 workers in almost every federal agency, according to its website.
Key GOP senator’s proposal: Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson (R) said he’s offered Democrats a proposal to pay all federal workers, including essential and furloughed federal employees, while the government remains shut down.
Johnson has been the lead Senate Republican negotiator on a bill to pay key federal workers during the shutdown, so the offer from him is notable. He told The Hill that he believes Senate GOP leadership supports the offer, but it will be discussed in detail at the Senate Republican policy luncheon on Tuesday.
Johnson emphasized that the proposal wouldn’t limit Trump’s authority on “managing the workforce” during the shutdown, meaning it wouldn’t prevent Trump from laying workers off or restructuring the federal workforce.
Date to watch: This Saturday, Nov. 1, is the day Americans will be able to log onto the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange to choose their insurance plans for next year.
Federal subsidies for health care through the ACA, which are set to expire at the end of the year, have been key to Democrats’ argument about reopening the government. They’ve mostly refused to support the House-passed CR, which doesn’t include an extension of the subsidies.
Democrats have pointed to Nov. 1 as critical because Americans who rely on these subsidies will see higher premiums for their insurance when they’re picking their plan on the exchange.
Insurers’ rates were submitted earlier this year, so any deal to extend the subsidies won’t change the rates, but a deal to extend them could still blunt the financial impact. The potential impact of a loss of subsidies will vary by state.
The Hill’s Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi have what you need to know about ACA open enrollment.
▪ The Hill: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) says Republicans working on health care plan.
▪ Politico: Six ways the shutdown is about to get worse.
MELANIA DISTANCES HERSELF FROM EAST WING PROJECT: First lady Melania Trump has reportedly sought to distance herself from the demolition of the White House’s East Wing to make room for the president’s much-desired ballroom.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the first lady has expressed concerns about tearing down the East Wing and told associates it isn’t her project. White House officials said they will rebuild East Wing offices, which included space for the first lady and her staff.
The demolition of the wing, completed on Thursday, has received widespread attention over the past few days as the administration calls it a “bold, necessary change.” Meanwhile, critics and historians have decried it as undermining the White House’s symbolism and history and for a lack of transparency around the process.
“President Trump is a builder at heart. Make no mistake: the newly improved East Wing and brand new ballroom will make the People’s House more useful and beautiful for generations of presidents, and Americans, to come,” Davis Ingle, a White House spokesperson, told the Journal.
The administration has defended the project and its $300 million price tag by noting that it’s being privately funded, including through donations from major companies such as Google, Apple and Amazon. Critics have also expressed concern about private companies having a role in funding renovations of the White House.
▪ CNN: What was lost from the East Wing.
▪ NPR: How Americans feel about the East Wing demolition.
INDIANA REDISTRICTING ADVANCING: The possibility of Indiana joining the redistricting battle took a step forward on Monday when Gov. Mike Braun (R) called a special session of the state Legislature to redraw the state’s congressional map ahead of next year’s midterms.
The decision from Braun came after months of intense lobbying from the White House and multiple visits from Vance to the state to encourage state GOP lawmakers to support passing a new congressional map. Braun had for months expressed hesitation about calling a special session, while several Republicans in the Legislature also weren’t eager to redraw the lines.
But Braun said in a statement that he called the session to “protect Hoosiers from efforts in other states that seek to diminish their voice in Washington and ensure their representation in Congress is fair.”
The session will come after Republican lawmakers in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina passed new maps to likely pick up more seats for the GOP in the midterm elections. California is set to vote on a ballot measure next week that could allow the state Legislature to redraw its map for the rest of the decade and potentially net Democrats up to five additional seats in the House.
Republicans already hold seven of Indiana’s nine House seats, but the party is expected to try to pick up at least one if not two more. A map proposal hasn’t yet been publicly released.
While support for mid-decade redistricting has grown among some skeptical Republicans, whether the GOP has enough votes in the state Senate to pass it is unclear.
If a new map is passed, it could help increase the GOP’s edge in the redistricting battle and make winning back control of the House harder for Democrats.
▪ The Hill: “New York voters file lawsuit to scrap House map over GOP seat.”
▪ Punchbowl News: “Jeffries heads to Illinois to push redistricting.”
When & Where
The president is in Japan wrapping up a full day of events.
The Senate will meet at 10 a.m. EDT.
The House will convene at 1 p.m. for a pro forma session.
Zoom In
SCOTUS’S AFFIRMATIVE ACTION DECISION: The effects of the Supreme Court’s decision striking down affirmative action in higher education are being felt two years later as Black enrollment at selective universities has dropped while Asian American enrollment has risen.
An analysis from The Associated Press of 20 elite colleges showed the implications, with some campuses’ Black populations dropping to as low as 2 percent of their freshman class.
The Hill’s Lexi Lonas Cochran reports how debate is swirling about how schools can increase their numbers and how the Trump administration would respond to any intentional effort to do so.
“The recent decline in Black student enrollment at elite institutions is not [an] accident,” said Madison Weiss, a senior analyst for higher education policy at the Center for American Progress. “It reflects the very predictable and deeply troubling consequences of dismantling one of our nation’s most effective tools for equity.”
The biggest drop in AP’s analysis was found to be at Columbia University, dropping from a 20 percent Black student population before the ruling to 13 percent in 2025. Harvard University dropped from 18 percent to 11.5 percent, while most others experienced a drop between 2 and 5 percentage points.
Experts said one way to diversify admissions would be to abolish legacy admissions, which have been seen as mostly benefitting wealthy and white applicants, or take a “holistic view” in ensuring that low-income, rural and first-generation students receive fair consideration.
But universities will need to ensure such measures don’t result in a confrontation with the Trump administration, which has made eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs a priority. The White House has targeted different schools’ admissions policies and required them to agree to make sure race isn’t considered in any way that it says violates the law.
▪ Inside Higher Ed: “Trump’s DEI crackdown closes 120 TRIO programs.”
▪ NPR: “How the Trump administration is pressuring universities to fall in line.”
VIRGINA SPLIT TICKET? Split-ticket voting is increasingly rare in these hyper-polarized times, but Virginia Democrats are bracing for it as controversy continues to surround their state attorney general nominee, Jay Jones.
Polls show a tight race between Jones and incumbent Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R), with Miyares leading by 3 points in the Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) polling average. This came in the aftermath of the revelation of several texts that Jones sent in 2022 wishing for violence against then-state House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R) and his family to cause Gilbert to change his political beliefs.
Jones has apologized for the comments and vowed to continue in the race despite some calls for him to drop out. But his campaign is still reeling from the texts, as he had been leading in polling before they came out.
At the same time, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) is the favorite to win Virginia’s gubernatorial race next week against Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. Spanberger leads by more than 7.5 points in the DDHQ average.
This could lead to a split ticket in the commonwealth, which could create headaches for Democrats in Richmond hoping to push back more against the Trump administration with Miyares still in office, The Hill’s Julia Manchester reports.
The situation wouldn’t be unprecedented as Virginia Sens. Mark Warner (D) and Tim Kaine (D) had Republican attorneys general when they served as governor. But it would be one additional factor for Democrats to consider in their plans.
▪ NBC News: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) campaigning for Spanberger in closing stretch.
Elsewhere
MILEI’S REVIVAL: Argentine President Javier Milei is in a much stronger position than he was weeks ago as his party outperformed expectations in his country’s midterm elections and likely secured promised financial support from the U.S.
Milei’s party won more than 40 percent of the vote in the legislative elections, taking 64 of the 127 seats in the lower chamber and 13 of the 24 seats in the upper chamber. That will prevent the legislative branch from being able to overturn his vetoes.
His party’s victory, surpassing expectations that it would only win about 30 percent of the vote, was key as Trump had staked a bailout of Argentina’s economy on the elections.
“If he does win, we’re going to be very helpful,” Trump said when Milei visited the White House earlier this month. “And if he doesn’t win, we’re not going to waste our time.”
The U.S. has finalized a $20 billion currency swap with Argentina’s central bank to boost its crumbling economy and is planning to provide an additional $20 billion through a mix of financing from sovereign funds and private banks.
“I want to congratulate the victor,” Trump told reporters Monday. “And he was a big victor, and he had a lot of help from us. He had a lot of help. I gave him an endorsement, very strong endorsement. … People thought it would be hard to win. And not only did he win, he won by a lot. So, Argentina, that was a great thing.”
Milei thanked Trump for “trusting” the Argentine people and called him a “great friend” of the country.
“Our Nations should never have stopped being allies. Our peoples want to live in freedom. Count on me to fight for Western civilization, which has succeeded in lifting more than 90% of the world’s population out of poverty,” he said in a post on X.
Democrats have denounced the Trump administration’s bailout as an “inappropriate” use of taxpayer funds.
▪ Axios: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promises U.S. won’t lose money on Argentina bailout.
▪ The Guardian: Trump’s bailout threat may have been key to Milei’s victory.
Opinion
Halloween is an immigrant holiday for an immigrant nation, writes The Hill’s Chris Stirewalt.
Britain is looking for a role in Trump’s Middle East peace plan, writes The Hill opinion contributor Eliot Wilson.
The Closer
And finally … It’s official: former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and singer Katy Perry have gone public as a couple.
The two were photographed holding hands over the weekend as Perry celebrated her 41st birthday at a cabaret show in Paris.
Trudeau separated from his ex-wife, Sophie Grégoire, in 2023 and Perry reportedly called off her engagement to actor Orlando Bloom earlier this year.
Trudeau and Perry were spotted having dinner in Montreal in late July, and TMZ published photos of them on Perry’s yacht off the coast of California earlier this month.
