Morning Report is The Hill’s a.m. newsletter. Subscribe here.
In today’s issue:
▪ Shutdown pain to affect more Americans
▪ Trump set for meeting with Xi
▪ AOC’s stock tied to Mamdani
▪ Hurricane Melissa batters Caribbean
The effects of the nearly monthlong government shutdown are about to be felt outside Washington, D.C., as dwindling funds impact tens of millions of people.
The funding lapse certainly has had some notable consequences for many people since it began at the start of the month.
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed or required to continue working without pay. Some of them have even faced the risk of losing their jobs entirely as President Trump‘s administration has sought to use the shutdown to ramp up federal layoffs. (A federal judge blocked Trump’s efforts to lay off thousands amid the shutdown on Tuesday; a battle over the legality of the president’s move continues.)
Delays have grown at airports as shortages among air traffic controllers are felt, while national parks and Smithsonian Institution museums have been closed.
But The Hill’s Mike Lillis reports millions more Americans are about to be impacted directly if a deal to reopen the government isn’t reached by the end of the week.
“The D-Day moment, which hits this weekend, is poised to wallop groups as varied as military troops, patients on ObamaCare, kids in Head Start, and low-income families on food stamps,” Lillis writes.
The low-income families who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) may be the hardest hit, as they’re currently set to not receive their November benefits on Saturday. The benefits for October were distributed ahead of the shutdown, but no additional money has been allocated for November.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has emergency funds for SNAP, but it reversed its position last week by saying that they are intended for situations like natural disasters and not the current shutdown.
Democrats have argued that withholding the funds is illegal, but the department doesn’t seem poised to distribute them to states to continue funding SNAP. That could result in 40 million Americans losing that source of income to cover their grocery costs.
Meanwhile, the open enrollment window for Americans to choose their insurance plans next year through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) also opens on Saturday, and it may be too late to shield the public from the sticker shock of higher prices.
The Hill’s Nathaniel Weixel reports how the debate over expiring ACA subsidies, which Democrats have made a central point of their shutdown argument, has put Republicans on the defensive over health care. While the party is united in criticizing the law, no clear plan to address rising premiums if the subsidies expire has been publicly presented.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said Republicans are working on an alternative health care plan, but Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called him out Tuesday for not providing details about it.
“Apparently I have to go into a SCIF to find out the Republican healthcare plan!!!” Greene wrote on social platform X, referring to secure areas where classified government material is reviewed.
The military’s 1.3 million service members are also looking at the first of the month for their next paycheck. Vice President Vance told reporters that military members will be paid, as Pentagon officials have identified $8 billion in unspent research, development and tech funds to pay the troops.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that the Pentagon has enough unobligated funding to pay troops through October, but funding will run out by the time they’re supposed to be paid on Nov. 15.
▪ Axios: “Fresh Republican shutdown divisions erupt in private call.”
The way out? The way out of the shutdown as it completes its fourth full week is still unclear.
The Hill’s Brett Samuels reports how the White House isn’t in a rush to negotiate a deal to end it, as Trump and his top aides feel Democrats don’t have a good way out.
“If you’re the White House, there is zero benefit to bending. Zero. It doesn’t make sense for him ever to get involved in this situation,” said one source close to Trump World.
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, are resisting pressure from the country’s largest federal workers union, which called for Congress to immediately pass a “clean” continuing resolution to reopen the government.
It shows how outside pressure has so far failed to get the parties to budge from their positions on the shutdown.
A least one measure in the interim is showing signs of hope, however, as Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) offered Democrats a proposal to pay all federal workers, including those deemed essential and those furloughed, while the shutdown continues. This is a variation of what Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) proposed last week with widespread Democratic support.
Senate Republicans discussed Johnson’s proposal at a luncheon on Tuesday.
The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports that Senate Democrats are taking a close look at the proposal as they seek to ease the impact of the four-week shutdown on federal workers. But Democrats have a hard decision to make, as Johnson’s offer wouldn’t restrict Trump’s ability to carry out layoffs during the shutdown.
▪ The Hill: Which states have the most SNAP recipients?
▪ Time: Shutdown freezes funds for federal heating program.
Smart Take with Blake Burman
Vice President Vance visited Capitol Hill Tuesday to meet with Republican senators and revealed that the White House has a plan to pay troops at the end of this week. However, a different topic of conversation emerged in the closed-door meeting as well: President Trump’s potential plan to import Argentine beef.
I spoke with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who acknowledged it to be a “topic of conversation” in the room. “Republican senators from particularly beef states definitely let the vice president understand what their ranchers are telling them,” Johnson told me.
Trump is potentially going to announce a deal (or framework of a deal) with China later this week involving soybean purchases. That could ease some concerns in the agriculture community. But keep in mind, some senators used part of this high-profile meeting to express concerns about something different. It shows one of the challenges the president will face from within his own party once he returns home from his trip across Asia.
Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.
3 Things to Know Today
1. The White House fired all six members of the Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal agency that advises on architectural developments in Washington, D.C., and is expected to oversee the construction of Trump’s ballroom. A White House spokesperson said new members “more aligned” with Trump’s policies will be appointed.
2. Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre engaged in a contentious interview with a New Yorker reporter over her recently released book and her reasoning for leaving the Democratic Party.
3. Elon Musk has launched a competitor to Wikipedia called Grokipedia in response to his own and other conservatives’ argument that the online encyclopedia has a left-wing bias.
Leading the Day
TRUMP-XI MEETING: Trump’s much-anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to take place Wednesday night.
Trump’s meeting will take place while he’s in South Korea on the last leg of his Asian trip, during which he also traveled to Japan to sign a critical minerals deal with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
The Hill’s Laura Kelly reports that Trump will have three main goals in his meeting with Xi: advancing a trade deal, securing U.S. access to Chinese critical minerals and finalizing a deal for the Chinese sale of TikTok. Meanwhile, Xi’s goals consist of reducing or eliminating U.S. tariffs and avoiding additional export restrictions on sensitive U.S. technology.
Relations between Trump and Xi took a hit after Beijing enacted additional restrictions on the export of rare earth materials and critical minerals. Both are integral for the U.S.
But Trump projected optimism ahead of his meeting.
“That’s a big, big meeting, and I think it’s going to work out very well, actually. I think it’s going to be great for everybody,” Trump said at a dinner with business leaders Tuesday in Tokyo.
The meeting will be the first time that Trump and Xi will meet face-to-face in six years.
It comes after Trump reached deals with other countries in the region including Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, hoping to improve ties with nations pulled into China’s orbit. But some critics argue that Trump is entering the meeting from a position of weakness, saying he’s antagonized partners with his tariffs and threats of withdrawing U.S. security safeguards, Kelly reports.
Other key issues that may come up are the status of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as Chinese territory, and the release of Americans unjustly detained in China.
▪ The Wall Street Journal: “Trump, Xi to discuss lowering China tariffs for fentanyl crackdown.”
▪ Reuters: Investors turn to history as a guide ahead of China trade talks.
TRUMP ON KOREAN CONFLICT: Trump told South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok on Wednesday that ending the conflict between North and South Korea is “common sense.”
Trump made the remark during a bilateral meeting with the prime minister while on his Asian trip. It also comes amid speculation that Trump will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the trip, though nothing has been scheduled.
“I know you’re officially at war, but we will see what we can do to get that straightened out,” he told the prime minister.
Trump also received South Korea’s highest decoration, though he and the South Korean leader didn’t announce any breakthrough trade deal that each desired. The president has made reaching trade deals a key part of his Asian trip.
RULING OUT THIRD TERM? Trump seemed to rule out seeking a third term in office after saying earlier this week that he’d “love” to run again.
The president told reporters aboard Air Force One while flying to South Korea that the Constitution is “pretty clear” he’s not allowed to run again.
“It’s too bad,” Trump said.
▪ The Hill: Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) on third Trump term run: ‘Very unlikely, but don’t ever close the book on President Trump’
▪ The Hill: Speaker Johnson says he’s talked to Trump about third term: ‘I don’t see the path’
FIGHTING RENEWS IN GAZA: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed the Israeli military to carry out “forceful” strikes in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday as he accused Hamas of violating the terms of the ceasefire that’s been in place for more than two weeks.
The Israeli military carried out another round of strikes Wednesday, killing at least 81 people, according to local hospitals. It declared the ceasefire back in place after completing the strikes.
The strikes mark just the latest instance of violence since the two sides agreed to halt fighting and exchange the remaining hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Last week, Israel said Hamas militants opened fire on its troops in Gaza, killing two soldiers. Israel called it a violation of the ceasefire and launched a series of strikes across Gaza.
After that exchange, both sides recommitted to the peace agreement and the ceasefire resumed. But the most recent incident marks another threat to an already fragile peace deal that the Trump administration has been trying to hold together.
One outstanding issue from the original peace agreement has been the return of the bodies of deceased hostages in Gaza. Israel expected them to be returned along with the living hostages, but Hamas has said it would take time to track them down.
Hamas as of Tuesday returned 15 bodies of the 28 remaining at the time the ceasefire began.
The group returned body parts of an Israeli hostage on Monday that Israel said belonged to a hostage returned earlier on in the conflict. Netanyahu’s office called this a “clear violation” of the deal.
An Israeli military official told The Hill that Hamas shot at Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers in the city of Rafah on Tuesday.
Trump has repeatedly expressed optimism about the deal holding together but also warned Hamas against violating the ceasefire, saying that the group would be wiped out if necessary. The administration has sent Vance, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to Israel since the ceasefire began to try to keep the peace in place.
Trump hasn’t publicly responded to the latest strikes, but he warned Hamas over the weekend to return more bodies of deceased hostages, saying he would be watching closely over the next 48 hours.
“Hamas is going to have to start returning the bodies of the deceased hostages, including two Americans, quickly, or the other Countries involved in this GREAT PEACE will take action,” he said in a post on Truth Social.
▪ Sky News: Israel says one of its soldiers killed in Gaza
BIDEN AUTOPEN: House Republicans called on the Justice Department to launch an investigation into former President Biden’s use of the autopen, hoping to undo some of his actions as president.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a report Tuesday concluding its investigation into Biden’s mental acuity and his use of the autopen for executive actions.
“My team has already initiated a review of the Biden administration’s reported use of autopen for pardons,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X on Tuesday.
She called the material from House Republicans “extremely helpful.”
Presidents across multiple administrations have used the autopen to sign actions they have authorized, but House Republicans argue that Biden was “cognitively impaired” and his staff didn’t document a chain of command on decisions.
But the report doesn’t point to a specific incident in which the investigators could show the autopen was used without Biden’s approval.
When & Where
The president is in South Korea wrapping up a full day of events.
The Senate willmeet at 10 a.m.
The House is out.
Zoom In
EYES ON AOC: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is facing a critical moment as she’s thrown her weight behind New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, marking a test of her political influence in the Big Apple and among Democratic voters.
Mamdani is the clear favorite to win New York City’s mayoral race next week as he leads comfortably in polling against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who’s running as an independent, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. But Mamdani is still receiving less than majority support in most polling, and Ocasio-Cortez has campaigned hard for him as the race reached its last few weeks.
As Ocasio-Cortez is eyeing a run for Senate or even the White House in 2028, The Hill’s Amie Parnes reports that Mamdani’s success or failure in both campaigning and governing could be critical to her own.
“I’d say she has more at stake maybe even than Mamdani because of what she’s competing for,” said one Democratic strategist.
“If he has major wins, she’ll have major wins. But if he flops, Republicans will inevitably tie her to him. And that could hurt her,” the strategist said.
Ocasio-Cortez similarly used her political power to boost Mamdani in the primary. She endorsed him shortly before voters went to the polls, and it paid off as Mamdani upset Cuomo to win the Democratic nomination.
If Mamdani wins, it could add to a sense of ascendence among the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, Parnes reported.
At the same time, Republicans are already prepared to tie Mamdani, a democratic socialist, to every Democrat running in next year’s midterms.
The National Republican Congressional Committee unveiled a memo Tuesday detailing plans to “weaponize” his win against Democrats.
▪ ABC7 New York: Record early voting numbers in NYC show shift in who’s turning out
▪ The New York Times: “Is the mayor’s race tightening?”
DEMS’ REDISTRICTING RESPONSE: Democrats are seeking to respond to the steps Republicans have taken to increase their numbers in the midterms through mid-decade redistricting, and they seem poised for success in California.
The ballot measure championed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) seems likely to pass next week. It would allow the state Legislature to redraw California’s congressional lines for the rest of the decade, potentially netting Democrats up to five additional seats in the House.
Public polls have indicated that the measure should comfortably clear the simple majority required for passage. The Hill’s Caroline Vakil reports that it will likely help secure Newsom’s place as Democrats’ chief antagonist to Trump as the governor considers a 2028 presidential bid.
It’s also part of Democrats’ stepped-up efforts to respond to Republican redistricting moves.
The Democratic members of Illinois’s congressional delegation urged state lawmakers on Tuesday to consider implementing a new map. It came a day after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) traveled to the state to discuss passing a new map.
Virginia Democrats are also looking at redistricting, while a lawsuit in New York seeks to throw out the congressional lines there, which could give Democrats another pickup opportunity.
On the Republican side, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R) formally called a special session of the state Legislature on Monday to push for redistricting after months of lobbying from the White House. Republican lawmakers in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina have already approved new maps likely to net the GOP additional seats next year.
▪ Politico: White House targets voting but sits out California’s redistricting measure.
Elsewhere
MELISSA SLAMS CARIBBEAN: Hurricane Melissa weakened to a Category 3 storm as it made landfall in Cuba but is still barreling through the Caribbean with sustained winds of more than 100 miles per hour.
The storm made landfall in Jamaica early on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane, making it one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the island.
It also tied a record for the strongest Atlantic hurricane to ever hit land. At its peak, the storm had sustained wind speeds of 185 miles per hour.
It caused life-threatening storm surge on southern Jamaica of up to 13 feet. Blocked roads and severe flooding were seen across Jamaica.
It’s now moving across Cuba as hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated to shelters. After passing through the island, it’s expected to hit the Bahamas.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned Cuban residents to stay in shelters and preparations in the Bahamas to be “rushed to completion.”
More than a half dozen deaths have been recorded around the Caribbean, but officials have warned that the damage assessment could be slow. Forecasters have warned that intense rain could cause life-threatening flooding and multiple landslides.
The storm is not expected to make landfall in the U.S.
▪ The Weather Channel: Melissa’s dangerous conditions ongoing.
Opinion
We haven’t seen the worst of sports betting yet, and that should concern the feds, writes The Hill opinion contributor Jos Joseph.
No American should go to bed hungry, writes Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) in The New York Times.
The Closer
And finally … Kai Trump, the president’s granddaughter, is set to make her debut at her first Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) event next month.
Trump is a rising amateur golfer and was selected to play in a fall series tournament taking place at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla., from Nov. 10 to 16. She’s the daughter of Donald Trump Jr. and a high school senior at the Benjamin School in Palm Beach, Fla.
She committed to the University of Miami’s women’s golf team. She has competed in several junior and amateur tournaments hosted by the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) and in the Srixon Medalist Tour on the South Florida PGA.
“My dream has been to compete with the best in the world on the LPGA Tour,” Trump said in a statement accepting the invitation. “This event will be an incredible experience. I look forward meeting and competing against so many of my heroes and mentors in golf as I make my LPGA Tour debut.”
