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Oct. 2, 2025, 10:41 AM EDTBy Raquel Coronell Uribe and Megan LebowitzThe federal government shut down Wednesday after lawmakers left the Capitol without passing a funding bill.Agencies and departments each have their own operational procedures during a shutdown, and they have issued guidance about what to expect as the money runs out.Here’s what’s happening as the shutdown continues.Will federal workers be paid during a shutdown? What about layoffs?No, federal workers will largely not be paid during a shutdown. Employees who are considered essential must still report to work, although they will not be paid until the government reopens.Furloughed and essential employees will receive back pay after a shutdown ends.President Donald Trump and members of Congress, however, are continuing to receive paychecks during a shutdown. Their pay is constitutionally protected.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday that layoffs would be “imminent.” Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought also told House Republicans during the day that federal employees would begin to be fired in “one to two” days, according to sources. On Thursday, Trump said in a Truth Social post that he would meet with Vought to decide which “Democrat Agencies” the OMB director “recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.”Trump, like other Republican leaders, blamed Democratic leaders in Congress for the shutdown and warned them about the impact, writing, “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity.”How does a shutdown affect the military?The majority of veteran benefits and military operations will continue to be funded regardless of the shutdown. However, pay for military and civilian workers will be delayed until a funding deal is reached, forcing them to continue their duties without compensation.Military personnel on active duty, including active guard reserves, remain on duty, but no new orders may be issued except for extenuating circumstances — such as disaster response or national security. Some National Guard members serving through federal funding could have their orders terminated unless performing an essential duty.Ahead of the shutdown, the Department of Veterans Affairs said it expected 97% of its employees to work, though regional offices would be closed. Some death benefits, such as the placement of permanent headstones at VA cemeteries, and ground maintenance, are expected to cease. Communication lines, including hotlines, emails, social media and responses to press inquiries, are expected to be affected a well.The Army and Navy said in social media posts that they will provide “limited updates” on their websites during the shutdown. The Air Force and Space Force said their websites are “not being updated.” How is air travel affected?Air traffic control services will continue, allowing more than 13,000 air traffic controllers to work through a shutdown — but without pay until the government is funded again. Other essential services are also still occurring, such as the certification and oversight of commercial airplanes and engines, and limited air traffic safety oversight.Still, the Department of Transportation has stopped other activities, including the hiring and field training of air traffic controllers, facility security inspections, and support for law enforcement.The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said in a statement Wednesday that shutdowns “reduce the safety and efficiency of the National Airspace System (NAS) and erode the layers of safety that allow the flying public to arrive safely and on-time to their destinations.””During a shutdown, critical safety support staff are furloughed, and support programs are suspended, making it difficult for air traffic controllers and other aviation safety professionals to perform at optimum levels,” the group said.Will Social Security checks still go out?Social Security benefits, considered mandatory under law, continue regardless of a shutdown, so recipients can expect to continue receiving their payments. However, the Social Security Administration could face a furloughed workforce. Fewer workers could mean that processing new Social Security applications could be delayed.How does the shutdown affect the Department of Health and Human Services?The Department of Health and Human Services — home to agencies such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration — said in its contingency plan that it expects more than 32,000 of its nearly 80,000 workers to be furloughed during the shutdown.HHS said “excepted activities” will continue, offering as an example responses to pandemic, flu and hurricanes. Additionally, the National Institutes of Health is still conducting research and clinical services necessary to protect human life and government property.But research contracts and grants to external organizations, such as universities, are now frozen, and NIH will not admit new patients to its research hospital unless medically necessary. HHS also said it will not process Freedom of Information Act requests during a shutdown.How is the FDA affected?The FDA will continue certain exempt activities, including drug and medical device reviews and recalls, monitoring and response of foodborne illnesses and the flu, pursuing some investigations when the agency believes the public is at risk, and screening food and medical products imported to the U.S.The agency warned it will end its ability to monitor the use of new ingredients in animal food, and thus will not be able to ensure that meat, milk and eggs of livestock are safe for the public to eat. Long-term food safety initiatives are also expected to be stop during the shutdown.The FDA is not processing new drug applications and medical device submissions. The agency warned it will not support staff that oversee protection of unsafe or ineffective drugs unless it is an imminent threat.Are students able to get loans for school?The Department of Education continues to disburse student aid through Pell Grants and Federal Direct Student Loans — assistance that goes to nearly 10 million students at 5,400 schools, the department said.Borrowers still need to make their loan payments during a shutdown, the memo added.In the first week of a government shutdown, the department said it would furlough about 95% of staff who don’t work on federal student aid. The department is also halting new grant-making activities during a lapse in funding.What is the impact on the CDC?The CDC will continue to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, but it will be hampered in providing the public with health-related information, its contingency plan said.The agency also won’t be able to provide state and local health departments with guidance on issues like preventing opioid overdoses, HIV and diabetes.Certain other operations are also being halted, including responses to inquiries about public health issues and the analysis of surveillance data for certain diseases, the Department of Health and Human Services said.The department also said ahead of the shutdown that slightly more than a third of the staff at the CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry will continue working during the shutdown.How are nutritional programs for the the poor and women and children affected?The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) will continue to provide benefits during the shutdown “subject to the availability of funding,” according to the Department of Agriculture’s contingency plans posted Tuesday afternoon.The document added that a May letter from the Office of Management and Budget previously committed funds for SNAP for October, ensuring the programs would run through that month. It added that SNAP has multiyear contingency funds available, but did not specify how long those funds would last.However, the Department of Agriculture, which houses WIC, said in a letter to state agency directors of the program on Wednesday saying they would not receive their next funding allocation as a shutdown continues. The nonprofit group National WIC Association warned that a shutdown that lasts longer than one or two weeks could cause “devastating disruptions” for people who rely on the program. Will national parks stay open?A National Park Service contingency plan released Tuesday night said parks remain partially open during the shutdown.Open-air sites — such as park roads, outlooks, trails and some memorials — remain accessible to the public. Restrooms remain open, and trash is still being collected.The National Park Service advised, however, that emergency services will be limited.Buildings that require staffing, such as visitor centers or sites like the Washington Monument, are closed. The agency said it will not issue new permits during a shutdown, either. The National Park Service’s contingency plan said certain excepted activities would continue during a shutdown, including trying to suppress active fires, sewage treatment operations and the protection of borders and coasts. Can I still go to Smithsonian museums or the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.?The Smithsonian Institution’s museums and National Zoo — major draws for visitors to the nation’s capital — said Tuesday afternoon that they will use funds from the previous year to remain open to the public at least through Oct. 6.An FAQ page on the zoo’s website said animals at the zoo and the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute will continue to be fed and cared for, but animal cams will no longer broadcast.Raquel Coronell UribeRaquel Coronell Uribe is a breaking news reporter. Megan LebowitzMegan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC News.

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The federal government shut down Wednesday after lawmakers left the Capitol without passing a funding bill



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Sept. 22, 2025, 6:10 PM EDTBy Peter Nicholas and Matt DixonWASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s insistence that his attorney general bring charges against three perceived political opponents could backfire if any cases get to court, undermining his effort to see them punished, some legal experts said Monday.In a social media post Saturday, Trump pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi about three people who’ve raised his ire and who’ve not faced criminal charges to this point: Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; New York state Attorney General Letitia James; and former FBI Director James Comey.He mentioned that he’d been impeached and indicted multiple times “OVER NOTHING!”“JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED NOW!!!” he wrote. He also cited unspecified “statements and posts” he’d read contending that the trio are “‘guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.’”Because of Trump’s exhortation, defense lawyers could argue in court that their clients were targets of selective prosecution and did not receive constitutionally required due process, said Bruce Green, a professor at Fordham Law School who specializes in ethics issues.“If they’re picking these people not because they’re guilty of something … but because the president is out to get them because they’re Democrats and they made his life miserable previously, that’s an impermissible basis,” Green said.Another issue is whether Schiff, James and Comey could ever get a fair trial if it were to come to that, said Stephen Gillers, a professor of legal ethics at New York University School of Law.“He is his own worst enemy,” Gillers said of Trump.“Sometimes people make statements, but this is the president of the United States telling the court and an eventual jury that the people on trial before them are guilty. I can’t imagine that a court would let that go to a verdict. The prejudice from that kind of statement is enormous,” Gillers said.John Walsh, who served as the U.S. attorney in Colorado for six years ending in 2016, said in an interview: “It certainly gives the defense an argument that the charges are politically motivated and not based on the merits and the evidence and the argument. Some judges might find that persuasive depending on the motions that take place prior to trial.” But he added that even if the Justice Department understands this reality, officials could be pursuing a strategy that he described as, “Investigation is the punishment.” Enduring a federal investigation is costly to the target and can bring significant harm to one’s reputation, he said. “An investigation is a very serious thing against professionals, yes, there is a cost to even just defend yourself,” he added.Trump’s extraordinary weekend message to Bondi — “Pam,” as he called her — put the attorney general in a tough spot, said Jill Wine-Banks, a former general counsel to the U.S. Army and an assistant special prosecutor in the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s.If Bondi accommodates the president and the Justice Department seeks indictments against Schiff, James and Comey, “who’s going to believe it wasn’t done for political purposes?” Wine-Banks asked rhetorically. “And if she doesn’t, she’s going to get fired. So, it’s a lose-lose, no matter what.”Trump tempered his message to Bondi later on Saturday.He posted that Bondi was doing a “GREAT job” while also later telling reporters in a press gaggle: “If they’re not guilty, that’s fine. If they are guilty, or if they should be judged, they should be judged. And we have to do it now.”All three of the people Trump singled out have rankled him for different reasons.Comey led an investigation into Trump’s possible ties to Russian leadership, which concluded that Trump’s campaign did not collude with Russian operatives. Trump fired Comey five months into his first term. Comey declined comment Monday.Schiff, then a House member, led the first impeachment of Trump during the president’s first term. Schiff posted a response to Trump on social media: “There’s no hiding the political retaliation and weaponization. It’s all out in the open.”James brought a successful civil suit against Trump in 2022 that accused him of overvaluing assets, including real estate, in loan applications. The suit’s financial penalty against Trump was later voided.James’ office declined a request for comment.At a press briefing Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt amplified Trump’s condemnation of the trio.“You look at people like Adam Schiff and like James Comey and like Letitia James,” she said, “who the president is rightfully frustrated.”She added that Trump “wants accountability for these corrupt fraudsters who abused their power, who abused their oath of office to target the former president and then candidate for the highest office in the land.”Trump has long contended that he was a victim of a weaponized judicial system when Joe Biden was in office. In his inauguration speech on Jan. 20, he pledged to end such practices. “Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents — something I know something about,” he said. “We will not allow that to happen. It will not happen again.”Bondi made a similar promise during her confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate in January. “Under my watch, the partisan weaponization of the Department of Justice will end,” she said. “America must have one tier of justice for all.”Now, though, critics worry that Trump is erasing post-Watergate norms that were supposed to shield prosecutors from political interference.Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told NBC News in a statement: “The president should not be directing the Attorney General to prosecute those who pursued him over the last six years. Lawfare is corrosive to a democracy and he is doing exactly what he has accused the Democrats of doing to him. We need to stop the cycle of lawfare and escalation. His public statements to the attorney general were not wise and they undermine the citizens’ confidence of our legal system.”A worrying development came last week, critics said, when the federal prosecutor tasked with investigating mortgage fraud allegations against James resigned after Trump said he no longer wanted him to serve in that position. (Trump said he fired the prosecutor, Erik Siebert.)Trump administration officials had been pressing Siebert to investigate potential mortgage fraud charges against James. Two federal law enforcement sources say prosecutors did not believe they had enough evidence to charge James with mortgage fraud over a Virginia home she purchased for her niece in 2023.Those same sources said prosecutors felt there was not enough evidence to charge Comey regarding allegations that he lied to Congress in 2020 about FBI investigations into the 2016 election.Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., a member of the Judiciary Committee, told NBC News: “‘Two wrongs don’t make it right but they do make it even’ is the sort of thing that happens in countries whose Powerball jackpot is 287 chickens and a goat. It’s not supposed to happen in America.”“President Biden’s administration started this ‘lawfare’, as the media calls it, and I worried then that they had unleashed spirits they would be unable to control,” he added. “I questioned Attorney General Bondi about this in her confirmation hearing, and she agreed with me. Any prosecution of a public official has to be based on objective, compelling evidence of criminal behavior, not based on that official’s political ideology.”Peter NicholasPeter Nicholas is a senior White House reporter for NBC News.Matt DixonMatt Dixon is a senior national politics reporter for NBC News, based in Florida.Katherine Doyle, Dennis Romero, Ryan J. Reilly, Michael Kosnar and Chloe Atkins contributed.
September 23, 2025
Sept. 22, 2025, 7:46 PM EDTBy Matt BradleyAs Palestinians and much of the Arab and Muslim worlds praised the decision by several European countries to recognize Palestinian statehood, Israeli politicians across the political spectrum reacted with anger and spoke of retaliation.“You are giving a huge prize to terrorism,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded address released Sunday night, as countries including the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia began to express their commitments to Palestinian statehood. “It will not happen. There will be no Palestinian state west of the Jordan River.”France formally recognized Palestinian statehood at a United Nations meeting on Monday. The statehood acknowledgements were “a diplomatic disaster,” Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, a long-standing opponent of Netanyahu, posted on X on Sunday. He added that it was “a harmful step” and a “reward for terror.”Though the fast-moving diplomatic events are mostly symbolic, the resentment across Israel’s political class shows just how isolated the Jewish state has become two years into its war with Hamas that has upended much of the Middle East.The Trump administration has also warned of possible repercussions for countries taking measures against Israel, including France. But European leaders defended their decisions, calling them a strike against Hamas rather than a pledge of support for what Israeli leaders called a potential “terrorist state.”“Recognizing Palestine is a categorical disavowal of Hamas, and it permanently isolates it,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on French channel TF1. “It vindicates those among the Palestinians who have chosen to renounce violence and terrorism.”Netanyahu said that his government’s response would not come until next week after he returns from the United States. His trip will include an address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday and a meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday.Netanyahu’s choices, reported by Israeli local media, range from a face-saving climbdown to more drastic moves that could threaten Israel’s hard-won partnerships with its Arab and Muslim neighbors.The prime minister faces substantial pressure from his right-wing ideological flank, particularly hard-line ministers in his government, to retaliate by annexing the whole of the occupied West Bank.But the United Arab Emirates, one of a handful of Arab nations that maintain diplomatic relations with Israel, already warned Israel earlier this month that annexation would be a “red line.”The UAE did not specify what action it might take, but officials told Reuters they were considering downgrading the UAE’s diplomatic ties with Israel, potentially damaging the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords, one of Israel’s most important diplomatic victories in recent memory.British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC that she had warned the Israelis against annexing all or part of the West Bank.Short of taking over the West Bank in full, senior Israeli officials also discussed the possibility of bringing more West Bank territory now governed by the Palestinians under full Israeli control, according to media reports in the country.Israel may also decide to shutter France’s consulate in Jerusalem, which tends to deal with issues related to the Palestinians, the reports said. Israeli leaders are focusing their outrage on France because it was the first in a series of Western countries to announce that it would recognize a Palestinian state last summer.For Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the decisions were met with cheer and relief — a sign that the West is finally ready to treat Palestinians as equal.“This is a beginning, or a glimmer of hope for the Palestinian people,” said Fawzi Nour Al-Deen, a displaced person from the north of Gaza. “We are a people who deserve to have a state.”But for others, the lofty, abstract diplomacy unfolding in New York felt a world away from the suffering in the famine-stricken enclave where more than 65,000 people have died in almost two years of war with Israel, which began with the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.“Where is the state? In the street? Or in the tents? What state is this that [they] recognize?” said Mohammed al-Yazigi, a displaced person in central Gaza. “Are we able to find something to eat or a place to stay? Leave it to God.”Matt BradleyMatt Bradley is an international correspondent for NBC News based in Israel.
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