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House Set to Vote on Bill That Could End Longest-Ever Shutdown

admin - Latest News - November 12, 2025
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As airports across the United States face delays and cancelations, some lawmakers are struggling to get back to Washington for a House vote on a bill that would end the government shutdown. The vote, while expected to pass, will still be tight as House Democrats still unhappy with a deal hatched by moderates in the Senate are telling their members to vote no. NBC’s Ryan Nobles reports for TODAY.



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November 25, 2025
Nov. 25, 2025, 6:40 AM ESTBy Evan BushAs we age, the human brain rewires itself. The process happens in distinct phases, or “epochs,” according to new research, as the structure of our neural networks changes and our brains reconfigure how we think and process information.For the first time, scientists say they’ve identified four distinct turning points between those phases in an average brain: at ages 9, 32, 66 and 83. During each epoch between those years, our brains show markedly different characteristics in brain architecture, they say.The findings, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that human cognition does not simply increase with age until a peak, then decline. In fact, the phase from ages 9 to 32 is the only time in life when our neural networks are becoming increasingly efficient, according to the research. During the adulthood phase, from 32 to 66, the average person’s brain architecture essentially stabilizes without major changes, at a time when researchers think people are generally plateauing in intelligence and personality. And in the years after the last turning point — 83 and beyond — the brain becomes increasingly reliant on individual regions as connections between them begin to wither away. “It’s not a linear progression,” said Alexa Mousley, a postdoctoral researcher associate at the University of Cambridge, who is the study’s lead author. “This is the first step of understanding the way the brain’s changing fluctuates based on age.” How AI is transforming healthcare across the country03:59The findings could help identify why mental health and neurological conditions develop during particular phases of rewiring.Rick Betzel, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Minnesota who was not involved in the research, said the findings are intriguing, but more data is needed to support the conclusions. The theories may not hold up to scrutiny over time, he said.“They did this really ambitious thing,” Betzel said of the study. “Let’s see where it stands in a few years.” For their research, Mousley and her colleagues analyzed MRI diffusion scans — which are essentially images of how water molecules move within the brain — from about 3,800 people from age 0 to age 90. The goal was to map the neural connections across the average person’s brain at different stages in life. In the brain, the bundles of nerve fibers that transfer signals are encapsulated in fatty tissue called myelin. Think of it like wiring or plumbing. Water molecules diffused in the brain tend to move in the direction of these fibers, rather than across them, meaning researchers can infer where the neural pathways are located. “We can’t crack open skulls … we rely on non-invasive approaches,” Betzel said of this type of neuroscience research. “What we’re trying to figure out is where these fiber bundles are at.” Based on the MRI scans, the new study maps the neural network of an average person across a lifespan, determining where connections are strengthening or weakening. The five “epochs” it describes are based on the neural connections the researchers observed. The first phase is from 0 to age 9, they suggest. The brain rapidly increases in gray and white matter; it prunes extra synapses and restructures itself. From ages 9 to 32, there is an extended period of rewiring. The brain is defined by rapid communication across the entire brain and efficient connections between different regions. Most mental health disorders are diagnosed during this time period, Mousely said: “Is there something about this second era of life, as we find it, that could lead people to be more vulnerable to the onset of mental health disorders?”From 32 to 66, the brain plateaus. It’s still rewiring itself, but less dramatically and more slowly. Then, from 66 to age of 83, the brain tends toward “modularity,” where the neural network is divided into highly connected subnetworks with less central integration. At age 83, connectivity declines further. Betzel said the theory described in the study likely jives with people’s lived experiences with aging and cognition. “It’s intuitively something we gravitate towards. I have two kids and they’re really young. I think all of the time, ‘I’m getting out of my toddler era,’” Betzel said. “Maybe the science ends up being there. But are those the exact right ages? I don’t know.” In the ideal version of a study like this, he added, the researchers would have MRI diffusion data for a large group of people, each of whom were scanned during every year of life from birth to death. But that wasn’t possible because the technology wasn’t available decades ago. Instead, the researchers combined nine different data sets containing neuroimaging from previous studies and attempted to harmonize them. Betzel said each of those data sets varies in quality and approach, and the effort to make them correspond with one another could wash away important variability, ultimately leading to bias in the results. Nonetheless, he said the authors of the paper are “thoughtful” and skilled scientists who did their best to control for that possibility. “Brain networks change over the lifespan — absolutely. Is it discrete such that there are five exact change points? I’d say stay tuned. It’s an interesting idea.”Evan BushEvan Bush is a science reporter for NBC News.
October 4, 2025
Oct. 4, 2025, 12:00 PM EDTBy Natasha Korecki, Jonathan Allen and Carol E. LeeFormer President Barack Obama has stepped up his criticisms of the Trump administration in recent weeks, weighing in more forcefully and frequently than he did at the start of the president’s second term.It is an intensification that Democrats welcome at a moment when they lack party leadership, even as some say his trademark caution is still getting the better of him.In the last three weeks, Obama called President Donald Trump’s news conference linking Tylenol and autism “violence against the truth,” and he attacked the administration in the wake of comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s initial late-night ouster for taking “cancel culture” to a “new and dangerous level.” After Charlie Kirk’s killing, Obama aggressively called out Trump’s rhetoric, saying the president was further dividing the country. And before the government shutdown, he clapped at Republicans, saying they would “rather shut down the government than help millions of Americans afford health care.”Obama’s headline-grabbing comments come after private conversations over the summer with allies about whether he should speak out more and how he should approach high-stakes White House actions as they unfold, according to two people familiar with the discussions. According to one of the sources, the former president recognizes the gravity of a moment when Trump is seen as stretching the limits of the Constitution, and one former aide said he is cognizant that there is a dearth of party leadership.It’s unclear, however, whether Obama will sustain this pace.A former Obama White House official with knowledge of his team’s thinking said before Obama sat for a series of paid speaking events in recent weeks, his team mulled how to best take advantage of the appearances. At the same time, a flurry of high-profile events transpired, including the Kirk shooting, Kimmel being pulled off the air and the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.“I’m aware there are discussions of ‘Should we be out there more? How are we calibrating?’ Of course they’re asking that, that’s responsible because he’s trying to be thoughtful. It’s fair to say they’re constantly asking themselves, ‘How do we meet this moment?’” the former official said.But that person noted that some of Obama’s newsmaking moments emerged from public appearances that had been on the books for months. “To take that shot is intentional,” the person said of Obama’s rhetoric against Trump. “Don’t get me wrong — that is definitely a choice. But I can’t overstate the extent to which the realities of the opportunities you have on the calendar inputs into your strategy. They reinforce each other.”Obama’s role in the country’s current political discourse has been a topic of conversation — and at times a source of deep frustration — among Democrats since he left office more than eight years ago. While it’s still not enough for some, his cadence in recent weeks is a sharp change from Trump’s first term, when he subscribed to post-presidential norms of not talking about a successor.But this time is arguably unlike any other. Eight months into Trump’s presidency, the Democratic Party remains leaderless, creating a void that Obama is best suited to fill.“The party itself is in the wilderness and I think the last person who can speak with credibility on behalf of Democrats is Obama,” said Ami Copeland, a Democratic strategist who previously served as Obama’s deputy national finance director. “People don’t want to hear from Biden about anything right now. Clinton is still kind of tainted, I think. And the last person who really led a successful campaign that moves the big-tent party is him.”Copeland characterized Obama’s recent public statements as likely coming from a sense of duty.“He still feels a responsibility to not just the party, but more importantly, to the country. I don’t even see that as a partisan comment. That is just [an] ‘I care about the country and babies’ comment,” Copeland said, referencing Obama’s retort on Tylenol. In response to a request for comment on Obama’s recent remarks, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, “Barack Hussein Obama is the architect of modern political division in America — famously demeaning millions of patriotic Americans who opposed his liberal agenda as ‘bitter’ for ‘cling[ing] to guns or religion.’””If he cares about unity in America, he would tell his own party to stop their destructive behavior,” she added.Even as many Democrats point to Obama’s impact, they acknowledge they need to look beyond him if they’re ever to move forward with a new generation of leadership.But for now, they point to Obama’s popularity as giving his words more weight. A Gallup poll in February showed Obama had the highest approval rating among presidents who were still living. A Marquette University Law School poll released last week showed Trump with net minus-15% favorability while Obama enjoyed net 17% favorability. Obama’s discussions on whether to weigh in more publicly on developments out of the Trump administration have included exploring ideas of how, when and in what format, according to the people familiar with the discussions. They characterized the approach as a work in progress, meaning he’s made his views on Trump clear over the past decade, but as the administration rolls out new actions, he’s sought to ensure his approach has an impact.This summer, the former president was called out for clinging to a reserved posture.In June, a headline in The Atlantic asked, “Where is Barack Obama?” and thrashed the former president, casting him as all but sitting on his heels as democracy burned.“No matter how brazen Trump becomes, the most effective communicator in the Democratic Party continues to opt for minimal communication,” the piece stated. “His ‘audacity of hope’ presidency has given way to the fierce lethargy of semi-retirement.”Less than two weeks later, Obama made news at a public event where he warned that the United States was “dangerously close” to slipping into an autocracy. At the time, news pieces found it notable that Obama appeared publicly to speak against Trump at all. But even at that event, no audio or video was allowed, and Obama was cautious and circumspect. He did not mention Trump by name.“Democracy is not self-executing. It requires people, judges, people in the Justice Department, and people throughout the government who take an oath to uphold the Constitution,” Obama said in those remarks. “It requires them to take that oath seriously. When that isn’t happening, we start drifting into something that is not consistent with American democracy. It is consistent with autocracies.”Aides have long said they want to avoid a “dilution” factor with the 44th president, so that he’s not so frequently weighing in on issues that his words lose their impact.In July, Obama’s office did issue a rebuke of Trump after the president accused him of committing “treason” and rigging the 2016 and 2020 elections.“But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,” his office said at the time.To some Democrats, Obama is falling short at a critical time.“Obama has a singular role in impacting the national debate that he is not in any way maxing out right now, at a time when he is most needed,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.Green held up Obama’s signaling of support for California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s effort to match Texas in redrawing its maps mid-decade as the kind of “trickle down” messaging he should take part in to help guide other Democrats.“He has an unmatched ability to cut through the noise and focus in on the Republicans’ most effective arguments, and then completely debunk them, oftentimes with humor that has been devastating for some Republican candidates on the receiving end during campaign season,” Green said. “But we need him to use that same prowess in this moment to help save the country.”As president in 2011, Obama showed no reticence in ripping into Trump for promoting the false claim that Obama had been born outside the U.S. At that year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, Obama mercilessly mocked Trump, who was in the audience, for having little experience in making consequential executive decisions and for peddling conspiracy theories.“Now, I know that he’s taken some flak lately, but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald,” Obama said. “And that’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter — like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?”Trump was visibly irritated during the remarks, and some of his allies say the moment likely factored into his decision to seek the presidency in 2016.To be sure, Obama has for years served as a Trump critic, particularly when shifting to his familiar role as a closer in critical races on the campaign trail for other Democrats. He’s trotted out punchy one-liners, including at the Democratic National Convention when he memorably needled Trump over an obsession with crowd size, then gestured with his hands in a way that made clear he also was referencing Trump’s manhood.In August, it was Obama who acted as the party elder and congratulated Texas Democrats in a video address for standing up to Republicans by leaving their state to deny the GOP a quorum before a redistricting vote. Obama has kept up his advocacy for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, led by his friend and former attorney general Eric Holder.“President Obama has been sounding the alarm about the threat of gerrymandering for a long time. He was integral to the formation of the NDRC and has made our mission a priority in his post-presidency,” NDRC President John Bisognano said in a statement.The recent recalibration of Obama’s comments is in part due to the increasing pace and scale of Trump’s actions, two former aides said.“When I hear not just our current president, but his aides, who have a history of calling political opponents ‘vermin,’ enemies who need to be ‘targeted,’ that speaks to a broader problem that we have right now and something that we’re going to have to grapple with, all of us,” Obama said at a Sept. 17 public appearance before the Jefferson Educational Society, a nonprofit think tank.Before that, he stood out among Democrats for having called New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani in June, even as many of his peers in the party tiptoed around the democratic socialist’s primary win.“He picks and chooses his spots wisely. Sometimes you can watch for so long,” a person who frequently speaks to the former president said. “You won’t see him shadowing this president. He didn’t do it the first four years. There was a lot of crazy then. More crazy now. He’s not going to be a president who spends his time throwing shade on another president, but he’ll certainly lean in when he sees injustices.”While being interviewed onstage in London by British Nigerian historian David Olusoga, Obama last month described Trump’s claims about the link between Tylenol and autism as “violence against the truth.”“We have the spectacle of my successor in the Oval Office, making broad claims around certain drugs and autism that have been continuously disproved. … That undermines public health, the degree to which that can do harm to women who are pregnant,” he said. “That’s why, by the way, it is important for those who believe in the truth and believe in science to also examine truth when it is inconvenient for us.”John Anzalone, who acted as a chief pollster to Obama as well as to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and former President Joe Biden said Democrats are so far in the desert they’re craving a dominant voice to step forward.“More Obama,” Anzalone said, “just like ‘more cowbell,’” referencing a famous “Saturday Night Live” skit.Anzalone argued this moment is unlike others in history, as there is no major oppositional voice breaking through in the same way that then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich could act as a foil to President Bill Clinton when the Republicans were in the minority, for instance.If “he feels more comfortable ratcheting it up, you’re going to see a lot of people cheering, because we feel that it’s kind of leaderless and rudderless,” Anzalone said of Obama. “There’s an audience for President Obama and people do listen, but we also kind of understand that there’s a certain calculus when you’re a former president about what, how often and how loud you speak, and you’ve got to respect that.”Anzalone noted, however, that as much as Democrats want to hear from Obama early and often, new leaders need to emerge, and the party as a whole must find a way to break through to voters moving forward.“It’s good to hear from President Obama but there’s limits to what even he can do fixing the problems of the terrible branding,” Anzalone said. “Individual candidates are going to have to do that. Leaders are going to have to do that.”Natasha KoreckiNatasha Korecki is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.Jonathan AllenJonathan Allen is a senior national politics reporter for NBC News. Carol E. LeeCarol E. Lee is the Washington managing editor.
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