Trump administration says it will partially fund Snap food aid benefits– live

8.35pm GMT Watchdog for federal housing regulator set to be ousted - report The inspector general for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is being removed from his role, according to Reuters. Citing three unnamed people familiar with the matter, the outlet reports that Joe Allen is being removed from his role overseeing the office responsible for rooting out waste, fraud and abuse at the FHFA. Reuters also noted that the website for the FHFA’s Office of Inspector General listed the position as “currently vacant”. It was unclear when the website was updated. In recent weeks, the agency’s leader, Bill Pulte, has made himself known as a loyal supporter of Donald Trump’s efforts to target those he sees as political adversaries. He’s accused Federal Reserve governor, Lisa Cook, of mortgage fraud, and pushed the justice department to investigate New York attorney general Letitia James – who recently plead not guilty after being indicted on two charges of bank fraud, and making false statements to a financial institution. In response, Elizabeth Warren – the top Democratic senator on the banking committee – issued a statement today. “What happened to the watchdog overseeing his agency? What does Pulte have to hide as he continues to use his role to investigate President Trump’s perceived political enemies while failing to lower housing costs for the American people?,” the lawmaker representing Massachusetts said. 8.11pm GMT On election eve, New York mayoral candidates traverse the city As election day inches closer, candidates to be New York City’s next mayor spent the day traversing the city with eleventh-hour pitches to voters. Democratic nominee, and frontrunner, Zohran Mamdani, former governor Andrew Cuomo who is running as an independent, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, all spent a jam-packed weekend attending campaign events and getting as much face time with New Yorkers as possible. A reminder that early voting, which ended on Sunday, saw a record high turn out throughout the city. My colleague, Anna Betts, has been covering the latest on the ground. You can read more of her reporting below. Related: New York mayoral candidates campaign across city in final push before election Updated at 8.11pm GMT 7.45pm GMT The city of Miami’s mayor Francis Suarez is weighing in on Tuesday’s mayoral race in New York, with none-too-complimentary comments about Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate and frontrunner. Suarez, a Republican, was speaking to reporters this lunchtime ahead of the two-day America Business Forum in Miami on Wednesday and Thursday, which Donald Trump will attend. “New York seems to be on the precipice of electing a Democratic socialist, a young charismatic leader. But we’ve been to that movie before, here in Miami,” said Suarez, the termed-out, eight-year mayor whose successor will also be elected on Tuesday. “In this city we’ve had young charismatic leaders that promised us, you know, ‘Give us all your businesses, give us all your property, we’ll make everybody equal’. And they did. They made everybody equally poor, equally miserable and equally repressed,” he said. Suarez says the impact on Miami if Mamdani is elected will be significant, and he predicts an exodus from New York. “There’s going to be a 20, 30, maybe even 40% spike in demand and in real estate prices here in Miami, it’s an inevitable consequence,” he added. “I don’t have a border, you know, I can’t prevent people from coming.” Trump is the headline speaker at the conference, which features luminaries from the worlds of politics, business and sport. They include sports stars Lionel Messi, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams; Javier Milei, the far-right president of Argentina; Steve Witkoff, Trump adviser and Middle East envoy; and María Corina Machado, winner of the 2025 Nobel peace prize that Trump was angling for. Updated at 7.54pm GMT 7.22pm GMT As is customary during these dueling press conferences throughout the shutdown, each party continues to blame the other for failing to reopen the government. Jeffries just called Donald Trump the “puppet master” of the Republican party, and said that GOP lawmakers refuse to negotiate due to their ongoing deference to the president. 7.18pm GMT Top House Democrat holds press conference on day 34 of government shutdown Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, is now speaking to reporters at the US Capitol. A reminder that the lower chamber is still out of session as the government shutdown enters its 34th day. 6.20pm GMT Further to that, the Trump administration said $600m would be used to fund states’ administrative costs in administering Snap benefits, leaving $4.65bn that will be obligated to cover 50% of eligible households’ current allotments. The partial payments are unprecedented in the program’s history. A USDA official warned in a court filing that at least some states, which administer Snap benefits on a day-to-day basis, would need weeks to months to make system changes that would allow them to provide the reduced benefits. US district judge in Rhode Island John McConnell and another judge in Boston, US district judge Indira Talwani, said on Friday the administration had the discretion to also tap a separate fund holding about $23bn. Patrick Penn, deputy under secretary for food, nutrition, and consumer services at the USDA, said in a court filing the agency was carefully considering using those funds but determined they must remain available for child nutrition programs instead of Snap. Updated at 6.22pm GMT 5.41pm GMT Per my last post, the administration laid out the US Department of Agriculture’s plan in a filing in federal court in Rhode Island at the direction of a judge who had last week ordered it to use emergency funds to at least partially cover November’s Snap benefits. The justice department said the USDA is complying with US district judge John McConnell’s order and “will fulfill its obligation to expend the full amount of Snap contingency funds today”. But while the administration said it would fully deplete the $5.25bn in contingency funds, it would not use other funding that would allow it to fully fund Snap benefits for 42 million Americans, which cost $8bn to $9bn per month. 5.16pm GMT Trump administration to use emergency funds to pay partial food aid benefits The Trump administration has said in a court filing that it plans to partially fund food aid for millions of Americans after two judges ruled last week that it must use contingency funds to pay for the benefits in November during the government shutdown. This is per a snap updated from the Reuters news agency and I’ll bring you more on this as we get it. Updated at 5.17pm GMT 4.48pm GMT Per that last post, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer quipped on social media today. “Maybe I should file a complaint with the FCC against the Trump White House for editing his unhinged 60 Minutes interview,” the top Democrat wrote on X. “It will use the exact same language Trump lodged against Vice President Harris.” 4.40pm GMT The CBS News program 60 Minutes heavily edited down an interview with Donald Trump that aired on Sunday night, his first sit-down with the show in five years. Trump sat down with correspondent Norah O’Donnell for 90 minutes, but only about 28 minutes were broadcast. A full transcript of the interview was later published, along with a 73-minute-long extended version online. The edits are notable because, exactly one year before Trump was interviewed by O’Donnell at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday he had sued CBS over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which he alleged had been deceptively edited to help her chances in the presidential election. While many legal experts widely dismissed the lawsuit as “meritless” and unlikely to hold up under the first amendment, CBS settled with Trump for $16m in July. As part of the settlement, the network had agreed that it would release transcripts of future interviews of presidential candidates. At the beginning of Sunday’s show, O’Donnell reminded viewers that Paramount settled Trump’s lawsuit, but noted that “the settlement did not include an apology or admission of wrongdoing”. Related: CBS News heavily edits Trump 60 Minutes interview, cutting boast network ‘paid me a lotta money’ Updated at 4.40pm GMT 4.36pm GMT Ahead of election day across the country, my colleague Carter Sherman, has been covering how reproductive rights will be back on the ballot in this off-cycle year. Carter notes the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia could have sweeping consequences for abortion access in two states that have become havens for women fleeing abortion bans. In Pennsylvania, what should have been a relatively sleepy judicial-retention election has evolved into the most expensive race of its kind in nearly 50 years, largely due to heated fighting over abortion. With voters weighing whether to keep three Democratic justices on the state supreme court, advocates fear that liberals may lose control of the bench and, ultimately, lose abortion access in the purple state. Read more of her reporting here. Related: Abortion is on the ballot in three US states, from supreme court to governor 4.17pm GMT As Trump decries filibuster, Johnson continues to defend it as important 'safeguard' When asked by reporters about the president’s insistence for lawmakers to abolish the filibuster, Mike Johnson said that he had spoken to Donald Trump over the weekend and shared his thoughts with him. “I hear my Senate Republican colleagues, some of the most conservative people in Congress, who say it’s an important safeguard. It prevents us, it holds us back from the Democrats’ worst impulses,” Johnson said. “What would the Democrats do if they had no filibuster impediment, no speed bump at all?” The House speaker added that he speaks “frankly and honestly” with the president and noted that he was very “passionate” about this issue. “I think what you see in this, this, this debate we’re having on our own side is a reflection of the anger that we feel, the real desperation that we feel, because we want the government to be reopened,” Johnson said. Updated at 4.20pm GMT 3.40pm GMT House speaker says that issuing Snap contingency funds is 'not as easy as hitting go send on a computer' Mike Johnson has said that issuing payments to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) beneficiaries in the midst of the shutdown is “not as easy as hitting go send on a computer”. In recent days, two federal judges ordered the administration to use the program’s contingency funds to pay to Snap recipients. Today, Johnson said this was more complicated than it looked. “It costs over $9bn to fund Snap for a month, and we only have, I think it’s $5.2bn in the contingency fund. So you have a big shortfall,” he said. “You got to go through and recalculate partial payments to the 42 million recipients of the program.” Johnson noted that the president was not appealing against the rulings from the respective judges. “He wants that to be done,” Johnson said. “But he doesn’t see the mechanism to do it. So you have treasury, you have USDA, you have the other agencies involved that are working overtime, literally around the clock over the weekend, trying to figure out how to do this. But everybody needs to know, it’s not the full amount, assuming they could get this done and processed.” Updated at 3.41pm GMT 3.19pm GMT Johnson says 'extremism on the left' is the direct cause of American suffering Throughout today’s press conference, Mike Johnson has continued to blame Senate Democrats for shuttering the government for 34 days. He, and many congressional Republicans, have claimed that the reason that lawmakers on the left have consistently rejected the House-passed funding bill is due to pressure from the progressive wing of the Democratic party. “They fear that personally for their own political future,” Johnson said today. “And they care more about that than they care about Snap benefits flow into hungry families, about air traffic controllers being paid so they can keep the skies safe, border patrol, troops and all the rest … It is extremism on the left that is the direct cause of American suffering right now.” 3.02pm GMT In a short while, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson will hold a press conference, on the 34th day of the government shutdown. We’ll bring you the latest lines, particularly when it comes to reopening the lower chamber, as the shutdown is poised to be the longest on record (likely to beat the 35 days during Donald Trump’s first administration). 2.43pm GMT Trump says that he would reluctantly prefer Cuomo to win NY mayoral race In an interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes, Trump said that he’s “not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other”, but he would rather see the former governor win against the progressive frontrunner and state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani to be the next mayor of New York City. “If it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you,” Trump said. Early voting in the closely watched mayoral race ended on Sunday. More than 735,000 New Yorkers cast their ballots ahead of Tuesday’s election. Updated at 3.18pm GMT 2.20pm GMT Supreme court set to decide whether Trump's sweeping tariffs are legal Looking ahead, on Wednesday, the supreme court will hear arguments on whether Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries are legal. It’s set to be one of the most consequential rulings on the expanse of Trump’s presidential power in his second term. My colleague, Eduardo Porter, has this helpful breakdown on the question at the heart of this case. A dozen states have challenged the president’s contention that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 gives him the power to impose tariffs on imports from every country in the world to defend the nation from a several “threats” facing the US. Eduardo notes: Justices will focus much of their attention on whether IEEPA authorizes the president to levy a tariff – a word that is not mentioned in the text of the law and is, moreover, a form of taxation, over which, per the constitution, Congress has exclusive power. IEEPA gives the president authority “to deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States, if the president declares a national emergency with respect to such threat”. Yet as the plaintiffs noted, using this “to impose immense and ever-changing tariffs on whatever goods entering the US he chooses, for whatever reason he finds convenient to declare an emergency, the president has upended the constitutional order and brought chaos to the American economy”. Rather than solving national emergencies, Trump is using emergency powers to manufacture one. Read Eduardos’ full analysis here. Related: The president who cried tariffs: will the US supreme court challenge Trump’s trade war? 1.45pm GMT Trump continues to push for eliminating filibuster, despite Republican pushback The president has, once again, called for lawmakers to abolish the filibuster, as the government shutdown continues, and is set to enter its 34th day. A reminder that this is the 60-vote threshold needed in the Senate to end debate on a bill, and a bring the legislation to the floor for a vote. “TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, NOT JUST FOR THE SHUTDOWN, BUT FOR EVERYTHING ELSE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social late Sunday. “REMEMBER, THE DEMOCRATS WILL DO IT IMMEDIATELY, AS SOON AS THEY GET THE CHANCE. OUR DOING IT WILL NOT GIVE THEM THE CHANCE.” The president repeated his wishes in an interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes. “The Republicans have to get tougher. If we end the filibuster, we can do exactly what we want. We’re not gonna lose power,” he told Norah O’Donnell. Congressional Republican leaders have said there is no intention to scrap the procedural measure. House Speaker Mike Johnson called it the “safeguard” in the upper chamber. 1.22pm GMT Donald Trump has no public events scheduled today, per the official White House schedule. However, he’ll take part in two virtual campaign events for the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, in an attempt to assert some influence over these pivotal elections while the Democratic candidates push ahead in the polls (although the race looks tighter in New Jersey). On Sunday, the president weighed in on Truth Social, questioning why residents in either state would vote for either Mikie Sherill or Abigail Spanberger. “They want transgender for everybody, men playing in women’s sports, High Crime, and the most expensive Energy prices almost anywhere in the World? VOTE REPUBLICAN for massive Energy Cost reductions, large scale Tax Cuts, and basic Common Sense! Under President Trump, ME, Gasoline will come down to approximately $2 a Gallon, very soon,” he wrote. 12.48pm GMT My colleague Lauren Gambino has filed this report on the California proposition to redraw its congressional district boundaries. Here is an extract from her story: California’s Proposition 50 began as a warning from the nation’s largest blue state to its largest red one: don’t poke the bear. But when Texas moved ahead with a rare, mid-decade gerrymander, pushed by Donald Trump as Republicans seek to shore up their fragile House majority in the midterm elections, California made good on its threat. Now, California voters appear poised to approve a redistricting measure placed on the ballot in August by Democrats and the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, who have cast it as a chance to check Trump’s power … Proposition 50 asks voters to temporarily scrap the state’s independently-drawn congressional district lines in favor of new maps carved up to help Democrats win five additional safe seats – a tit-for-tat response to Texas, where Republicans secured five new, friendlier districts earlier this year … Early returns and polling suggest the ballot measure is on track for a comfortable victory. Though it can be difficult to predict turnout in an off-year special election, several recent surveys showed it passing by more than 20 points. Updated at 1.22pm GMT 12.19pm GMT Tuesday is election day in several states. It will be an early indication of how voters feel in the first year of the second Trump administration. Both Democrats and Republicans will be carefully watching the outcomes in the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, the high-profile mayoral contest in New York and the electorally significant redistricting referendum in California, where Democrats have asked voters to approve redrawing the state’s congressional map. Updated at 1.22pm GMT 12.19pm GMT Trump says Maduro’s days are numbered but ‘doubts’ US will go to war with Venezuela Donald Trump has sent mixed signals about potential US intervention in Venezuela, playing down concerns of imminent war against the South American nation but saying its leader Nicolás Maduro’s days were numbered. The president’s remarks, made during a CBS interview released on Sunday, come as the US amasses military units in the Caribbean and has conducted multiple strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels, killing dozens. Asked during the 60 Minutes program if the US was going to war against Venezuela, Trump said: “I doubt it. I don’t think so.” However, when asked if Maduro’s days as president were numbered, he replied: “I would say yeah. I think so, yeah.” Maduro, who faces indictment on drug charges in the US, has accused Washington of using drug trafficking as a pretext for “imposing regime change” in Caracas to seize Venezuelan oil. More than 15 US strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific have killed at least 65 people in recent weeks, with the latest taking place on Saturday, prompting criticism from governments in the region. Washington has yet to make public any evidence that its targets were smuggling narcotics or posed a threat to the US. You can read the full story here: Related: Trump says Maduro’s days are numbered but ‘doubts’ US will go to war with Venezuela 11.57am GMT Donald Trump has said he feels bad for the British royal family after King Charles stripped his brother Andrew of his title as prince amid the continuing fallout over Andrew’s connections with the late, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Sunday evening, Trump was asked about King Charles’s decision to strip his brother of his peerages and the title of prince. “It’s a terrible thing that’s happened to the (royal) family,” the US president said. “That’s been a tragic situation. It’s too bad. I feel badly for the family.” Andrew was accused by Virginia Giuffre of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager and claims she was trafficked by Epstein to have sex with the former prince. Andrew has strenuously denied the allegations. Pressure is building on Andrew to give evidence before a powerful US congressional committee. Members of the House Oversight Committee have called for the former prince to reveal what he knew about the actions of Epstein. Updated at 12.02pm GMT 11.31am GMT Trump's planned weapons tests won't include 'nuclear explosions', US energy secretary says The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, has said the weapons testing that Donald Trump ordered last week will not include nuclear explosions. “I think the tests we’re talking about right now are system tests. These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call noncritical explosions,” Wright told Fox News yesterday. “So you’re testing all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry, and they set up the nuclear explosion,” Wright added. Wright, whose agency is responsible for testing, said the planned testing involves “all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry and they set up the nuclear explosion.” The confusion over Trump’s intention started minutes before he held a critical meeting in South Korea with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump took to his Truth Social platform and appeared to suggest he was preparing to discard a decades-old US prohibition on testing the nation’s nuclear weapons. Updated at 12.03pm GMT 11.18am GMT As we mentioned in the opening summary, two federal judges have ruled that the government cannot suspend food aid used by about 42 million low-income Americans during the shutdown. Here is more on the story, courtesy of my colleague Lauren Gambino: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has said insufficient funds exist to pay full benefits, as issuing food stamps costs the public purse between $8.5bn and $9bn every month. The Trump administration contends the agency lacks authority to pay them until Congress passes a spending bill that will ending the enduring government shutdown, which began on 1 October. Trump lambasted the decisions on Friday, writing on Truth Social that he does “NOT want Americans to go hungry just because the Radical Democrats refuse to do the right thing and REOPEN THE GOVERNMENT”. “I have instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible. It is already delayed enough due to the Democrats keeping the Government closed through the monthly payment date and, even if we get immediate guidance, it will unfortunately be delayed while States get the money out,” he wrote. “If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding, just like I did with Military and Law Enforcement Pay.” A rally for Snap in Boston, Massachusetts, on 28 October 2025. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters 10.44am GMT US government shutdown nearing record for the longest in history as Trump delays food benefits to millions Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics. Republicans are claiming that the US president, Donald Trump, is “desperate” to end the government shutdown, which has now entered its 33rd day, as lawmakers struggle to find common ground on previously bipartisan issues such as food aid and health care. The last shutdown, which started in December 2018 and was brought about by disagreements over money to fund a wall along the US-Mexico border, lasted 35 days – the longest in American history. Republicans have only 53 Senate seats, meaning they need at least seven Democrats or independents to reopen the federal government. But in repeated votes since federal agencies shut on 1 October, just three Democrats have been willing to support funding legislation. Trump continues to exert an iron grip on the shutdown, which sees Democrats and Republicans stuck over passing a spending plan that would reopen federal agencies. He is resisting political and even federal court pressure to ease the burden on vulnerable Americans while protesting that he has no power to end the impasse. “I mean, the Republicans are voting almost unanimously to end it, and the Democrats keep voting against ending it,” Trump told 60 Minutes in an interview on Sunday. “You know, they’ve never had this. This has happened like 18 times before. The Democrats always voted for an extension, always saying, ‘Give us an extension, we’ll work it out.’” Two federal court judges ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must use $5bn in contingency funds to keep paying food assistance Snap benefits for up to 42 million low-income Americans. The payments stopped Saturday under the shutdown, posing the risk of hunger for millions of people. As my colleague Ed Pilkington reports in this story, despite the two court orders, it remains unclear when or whether the administration will restart the payments. Trump has said he is waiting for clarification from the federal judges on where the money should come from. Stay with us as we bring you the latest developments from Washington.