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The Federal Aviation Administration will begin cutting the number of flights in the “high-traffic” parts of the country as the government shutdown grinds on and local airports have reported staffing shortages, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said yesterday. “There is going to be a 10% reduction in capacity at 40 of our locations,” Duffy said. “This is about where’s the pressure and how do we alleviate the pressure.” He said the reduction in capacity would start tomorrow. The development comes as the shutdown has entered its second month and in the wake of a weekend during which dozens of American airports reported hundreds of delays. Read the full story here. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., warned in a statement yesterday that a federal program aimed at assisting low-income households with paying their energy bills could run dry “by the end of this week” if the government shutdown persists. “This is a life-or-death issue, and it is unconscionable not to fund it,” Burchett said. “I am calling on Senate Democrats to reopen the government and stop elderly Americans from being left out in the cold this winter.” The $4.1 billion Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps pay heating costs during colder months. The program, known by its acronym LIHEAP, serves 5.9 million households, according to the Office of the Administration for Children and Families at the Department of Health and Human Services. NBC News reported in April that the Trump administration terminated the entire staff that was responsible for providing oversight and technical assistance for the program at HHS. Trump again encouraged Republicans to do away with the filibuster during a Fox New interview that aired last night. “I think that if we got rid of the filibuster, we would approve so many good things, common sense things, wonderful things, that it would be hard to beat us. If we don’t, it’s always going to be a slog,” Trump told Fox News host Bret Baier. “I would say absolutely without question, I have no doubt in my mind, get rid of it, and the Republicans should do it,” he added. Trump’s effort to terminate the filibuster, in an effort to reopen the government without support from Democrats, hit a roadblock with some Republican lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who said that he would work to ensure the legislative filibuster was kept intact during his leadership. Trump made a similar plea in a video statement posted on Truth Social tonight. “It’s now time for the Republicans to play their trump card and go for what’s called the nuclear option. Get rid of the filibuster and get rid of it now,” Trump said. An official with the Agriculture Department told a federal court last night that allotments to SNAP beneficiaries for November will be 65% of their normal rate instead of the 50% previously estimated by the Trump administration. The administration had told a federal judge Monday that it would use more than $4 billion in contingency funds to distribute half of the monthly benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, during the ongoing government shutdown. The revised figures mean a family of four in the lower 48 states will receive about $646 for the month. Read the full story here.
