Government shutdown becomes longest in history
WASHINGTON — The federal government shutdown became the longest in history on Tuesday, Nov. 4, after Congress failed for a 14th time to pass a new appropriations bill. Arguments in the Senate over healthcare spending have created an impasse that has lasted 40 days, leaving 670,000 federal employees on furlough and another 730,000 working without pay for more than five weeks.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced on Thursday, Nov. 6, that there will be a 10% reduction in flights across 40 national airports as a result of air traffic controller staffing shortages.
“We are seeing signs of stress in the system, so we are proactively reducing the number of flights to make sure the American people continue to fly safely,” Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford stated in the Nov. 6 memo. “The FAA will continue to closely monitor operations, and we will not hesitate to take further action to make sure air travel remains safe.”
Reuters reports that nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 security screeners have been working without pay since the shutdown began on Oct. 1. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that flight cancellations could surpass 20% if the shutdown continues to impact air traffic controller capacity.
Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits remain paused in many states due to the extended shutdown. Some states, like California, were able to distribute benefits this week under a district court order for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pay for SNAP using money from contingency funds. However, on Friday, Nov. 7, the Supreme Court placed a temporary pause on the district court order, leaving the future of SNAP benefits uncertain until the government reopens.
As a result, the administration is warning states to “immediately undo any steps” taken to distribute full benefits, threatening financial consequences from the USDA for states that go against this order.
The Senate convened for a Sunday session on Nov. 9, voting 60 to 40 to advance a bill that would reopen the government. Eight senators in the Democratic caucus joined 52 Republicans to pass the measure. The measure must be debated and passed again in the Senate, approved by the House of Representatives, and signed by President Trump to end the government shutdown.
AFSCME 3299 announces upcoming strike
LA JOLLA, Calif. — On Thursday, Nov. 6, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 3299 announced that the union was planning to strike on Nov. 17 and 18, a two-day strike projected to be the largest ever across the University of California system.
“Our members have had enough of UC’s serial elitism, tone deafness and blatant disrespect for the workers who make this institution run, and that’s why they will strike at every UC campus and Medical Center on November 17th and 18th,” AFSCME 3299 President Michael Avant said.
The strike was announced via an Instagram post.
Over 65,000 workers are anticipated to attend, including approximately 40,000 workers from AFSCME 3299 and 25,000 nurses represented by Certified Nurses Association, who will be joining in solidarity. Workers will be walking out of their workplaces and withholding their labor until their demands are met or the strike concludes.
AFSCME 3299’s demands for a fair contract include market-competitive wages, housing benefits, affordable health care, and job security.
This strike is part of an ongoing series of strikes that began in 2024, which are intended to renegotiate the unions’ contracts with the UC. Picket times and locations for all 10 UC campuses will be announced this week.
California issues November CalFresh benefits
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Approximately 5.5 million Californians who rely on food aid from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program started seeing funds load onto their electronic benefit transfer cards on Friday, Nov. 7, following two court orders that ruled it was unlawful for the Trump administration to withhold funding for the program. In response, the administration pulled $4.6 billion available from the Department of Agriculture’s emergency fund and $9 billion from other funding allotted for child nutrition programs to pay for SNAP benefits for November.
Following a lawsuit filed by California and 22 other states, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston ordered the USDA on Oct. 31 to either use contingency funds to provide partial SNAP benefits or fully fund the program for November. In a separate court order on Thursday, Nov. 6, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island required the USDA to fully fund November SNAP benefits by using contingency funds and any other available sources of funding.
On Tuesday, Nov. 4, President Donald Trump posted on the social media platform Truth Social, claiming Democrats are responsible for the delay in SNAP benefits.
“[SNAP benefits] will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before,” the post read.
On Oct. 31, the administration initially said it would comply with Talwani’s ruling but that it only had enough money in the reserves to pay 65% of the maximum benefits awarded to recipients and that payments could take weeks to reach recipients’ accounts. In the Nov. 6 case, a coalition of cities and nonprofit organizations challenged the administration for only offering to partially fund the program. Under a partial funding plan, households that typically receive less than the maximum amount of benefits per month would be awarded little aid in November.
As of Saturday, Nov. 8, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s emergency appeal to block McConnell’s court order and continue withholding SNAP funds. States including California, New York, Massachusetts, and Oregon began distributing full benefits on Friday, Nov. 7, but payments did not proceed in states where benefits were scheduled to be distributed from Nov. 8 to 10.
Until the appeals court rules on whether the district court ruling stands, the full funding order is on hold.
Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor of New York City
NEW YORK — On Tuesday, Nov. 4, Zohran Mamdani was elected the 111th mayor of New York. Mamdani began his political career when he was elected to the New York State Assembly for the 36th District in 2020. The democratic socialist mayor-elect is known for focusing his campaign on housing affordability and public transit. At 34 years old, Mamdani will become the city’s youngest mayor in more than a century.
Mamdani will be inaugurated on Jan. 1, 2026. During his run for mayor, he advocated for a freeze on payments for rent-stabilized apartments, free public buses, universal childcare, creating a city-owned grocery store to decrease grocery prices, and an increase in the city’s minimum wage. Mamdani has also expressed his plan to increase taxes on New York’s wealthy residents and corporations. A tax hike would need the approval of the state legislature and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has already stated she would not support it. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie endorsed Mamdani and expressed support for the tax hike as a step toward affordability in New York.
With approximately 50.4% of the votes, Mamdani defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — running as an Independent — who received 41.6% of the votes, and Republican Curtis Sliwa, who earned 7.1%. More than 2 million New Yorkers voted in the mayoral election.
Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, and moved to New York City when he was 7 years old. Born to parents of Indian descent, he will be the city’s first South Asian mayor.
