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Oct. 29, 2025, 5:00 AM EDTBy Sahil Kapur, Scott Wong and Brennan LeachWASHINGTON — The pain of a U.S. government shutdown is poised to intensify this week as the funding lapse nears a full month with no resolution in sight.A series of deadlines in the coming days could have negative consequences for ordinary Americans, cutting off food assistance for low-income Americans, raising health insurance premiums for millions on Obamacare and depriving air-traffic controllers, TSA agents and other federal workers of paychecks.Here are four ways the pain is about to hit Americans:Food assistance will be cut offSNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, are slated to dry up on Nov. 1 without congressional action, impacting an estimated 40 million low-income Americans across red and blue states.New York, Texas and Florida are each home to about 3 million SNAP beneficiaries, according to KFF, a nonpartisan research group.“This is the biggest pressure point that we’ve seen in 28 days,” said Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, whose state of Alabama has about 750,000 SNAP beneficiaries. “I think Democrats are getting a little bit tight right now. It’s their constituents — a lot of them — in some of these inner cities that are gonna need SNAP to survive … And they’re getting a lot of calls.” “A lot of people need to go back to work — a lot of young men that are on SNAP that should be working,” Tuberville added.We’d like to hear from you about how you’re experiencing the government shutdown, whether you’re a federal employee who can’t work right now, a person who relies on federal benefits like SNAP, or someone who is feeling the effects of other shuttered services in your everyday life. Please contact us at tips@nbcuni.com or reach out to us here.Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., chairman of the Agriculture Committee that oversees SNAP, said millions of American families will be harmed if the government doesn’t reopen by Nov. 1.“It will make their lives more difficult. And, you know, the bottom line is, we need to quit holding these people hostage,” said Boozman, co-chair of the Hunger Caucus. “We have a clean CR. Sen. Schumer needs to open the government — that’s the solution to the problem.”Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., however, scoffed at the suggestion that SNAP benefits are a partisan pressure point.“Starving children will put pressure on members of Congress? Well, that’s a good moral position,” he said, while emphasizing that the Department of Agriculture has a $5 billion “emergency fund set aside for exactly this purpose” and argued it is obligated to use it to preserve SNAP benefits.Democratic leaders in 25 states and the District of Columbia on Tuesday sued USDA, arguing just that. They asked a federal judge to compel USDA to keep SNAP going as long as it has contingency funding. Some states are dipping into their own emergency funds to provide support for SNAP during the shutdown as well.Apart from SNAP, it’s unknown if the Trump administration will be able to find alternate funding for a critical nutrition program for women, infants and children (WIC), after Trump this month tapped into $300 million in tariff revenue to keep WIC running.And as of Nov. 1, Head Start — and the thousands of preschool children who depend on it — may be in limbo as money runs out for the popular program that provides free learning, health screenings and meals to young children from low-income families.Soaring health care costsOpen enrollment for the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, begins on Nov. 1, a month before subsidies that have helped keep premium costs low are set to expire. Insurers have set higher rates for 2026 in case those subsidies aren’t renewed, with some Americans seeing their premiums double or triple for next year.If Congress acts soon to extend the money, reversing the sticker shock for enrollees will be complicated, but insurers can find ways to lower the bills for them next year. Still, the parties do not appear close to a resolution.The central Democratic demand during the shutdown battle has been to extend those funds, which cost about $35 billion per year and cap insurance premiums for “benchmark” plans on the ACA exchanges at 8.5% of an enrollee’s income.Many Republicans say the money, which was initially passed in 2021 as part of the Covid pandemic relief, should expire.Democrats are reminding them that many of their constituents in red states would face skyrocketing premiums if the tax credits end.“The majority of benefits will go to people living in states that Trump won,” said Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J. “I’m not thinking about this in terms of blue or red voters; I’m just trying to help as many people as possible. The Trump administration has shown such a deep disregard, even for people that voted for them.” Kim said the White House is treating programs like ACA and SNAP as “a political chip” rather than a lifeline for Americans.There’s also concern that some people will go without insurance rather than pay higher premium costs, putting greater strain on the U.S. health care system.#embed-20251002-shutdown-milestones iframe {width: 1px;min-width: 100%} Air traffic controllers and TSA agents miss full paychecksFederal workers are either furloughed or forced to work without pay for the duration of the shutdown. Tuesday marked the first time during this shutdown that certain “excepted” workers, such as TSA agents and air traffic controllers tasked with keeping the skies safe, missed a full paycheck.Previously, they had received partial paychecks, but this time their pay stubs showed $0.00.“I’m very concerned about air traffic controllers,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the chair of the Appropriations Committee that writes federal funding bills. “I had two flights this Sunday and last Sunday averted at the last second. One of them actually touched down and then took back off. And in all the years that I’ve served in the Senate, I’ve never had that happen.”The longest government shutdown in U.S. history, spanning 34 days in late 2018 and early 2019, ended after air traffic controllers and TSA agents started calling in sick, severely threatening air travel. One of the biggest travel holidays of the year, Thanksgiving, is coming up in just a few weeks.Even fiscal conservatives who’ve fought to slash government spending argued that not paying air traffic controllers could have dangerous consequences when it comes to public safety.“I fly twice a week. I want my air traffic controller to be happy, well fed, not anxious, not nervous,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the only Republican who has voted against the GOP bill to reopen the government. “So I’m for paying our soldiers, paying our air traffic controllers, paying our employees — anybody that’s working ought to be paid.”Pay for troops is in fluxTwo weeks ago, the White House alleviated a major pain point in the shutdown by shifting money around to ensure active-duty military troops didn’t miss a paycheck. Trump directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to find the money to pay the troops; the Pentagon reallocated billions of dollars from research and development programs to service member paychecks.On top of that, a private donor, whom The New York Times later identified as billionaire Timothy Mellon, contributed $130 million to help pay the troops. But that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the roughly $6.5 billion needed for the Pentagon to fund Friday’s paychecks.The Trump administration is now desperately searching for other funding streams to tap into. Vice President JD Vance told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday that the White House has figured out a way to pay members of the military at the end of this week. But there are far from any guarantees. And what happens next month is unclear.”We believe that we can continue to pay the troops Friday,” Vance said after huddling with Senate Republicans over lunch.Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., a member of the Armed Services Committee, said that not being able to pay the troops would be “awful” and noted that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for the administration to identify other pots of money.“They can only do that for so long before they run out of funding pools,” Cramer said Tuesday. “I think the White House is doing everything that the White House should be doing, and they should be insisting on Democrats pushing the easy button and vote to reopen the government.”Sahil KapurSahil Kapur is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.Scott WongScott Wong is a senior congressional reporter for NBC News. Brennan LeachBrennan Leach is an associate producer for NBC News covering the Senate.
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Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleOct. 29, 2025, 5:00 AM EDTBy Rohan NadkarniWhile the United States has largely dominated the Summer Olympics — topping the overall medal table 19 times — the Winter Olympics are a slightly different story. Norway is the all-time medal leader in winter competition, and at the 2022 Games in Beijing, the U.S. finished third in the medal count, behind first-place Norway and second-place Germany.For the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games, here are the events in which Americans are most likely to take home some hardware.Freestyle skiingFreestyle skiing was the event most kind to Americans in 2022, as the United States won a total of eight medals across the competitions.Alex Hall will be defending his gold medal in the men’s slopestyle, while the U.S. will also be looking to repeat gold in mixed team aerials.There were also four silver medalists, including Jaelin Kauf in women’s moguls, Colby Stevenson in men’s big air and David Wise in men’s halfpipe. Kauf, Stevenson and Wise are all set to return to the Games next year.Nick Goepper also won silver in men’s slopestyle, but he has retired from that competition and will switch to halfpipe in Italy.SnowboardingSnowboarding was arguably the U.S.’ best event in Beijing, as the country took home three gold medals, the most of any discipline.The headliner will be Chloe Kim, who in 2018 became the youngest woman to win a snowboarding gold medal when she won at 17 years old in the women’s halfpipe. Lindsey Jacobellis won two golds: a solo one in snowboard cross and a team win with Nick Baumgartner in mixed snowboard cross. Baumgartner, 43, and Jacobellis, 40, are the elder statespeople of the group. While Baumgartner is training for his fifth Olympics, Jacobellis’ participation is up in the air after she had a child earlier this year.Figure skatingThe U.S. won three medals in figure skating in 2022, but one of its most decorated skaters won’t be defending his title in Italy.Nathan Chen, who won gold in both men’s singles and the team event, won’t compete in 2026 as he has decided to pursue medical school instead.“I just want to open doors to kind of see what’s the best sort of approach for me,” Chen told the Los Angeles Times in August. “And frankly, at this point in time in my life, I’ve already accomplished enough in skating that I’m quite satisfied with my career.”The States will still be looking to defend its team title, which includes wife and husband Madison Chock and Evan Bates.The ice dance team of Zachary Donohue and Madison Hubbell, who won bronze and participated in the team event, won’t be returning after retiring from competition in 2022.Some youthful faces should be in their skating prime, however: Alysa Liu and Amber Glenn will both be coming off championships in 2025, while Ilia Malinin — the only skater to land a fully rotated quadruple axel — will be participating in his first Olympics.BobsleighOr as you probably know it, bobsled, was responsible for three American medals in Beijing. Two women took home hardware in monobob. Elana Meyers Taylor won silver, while Kaillie Humphries — who competed for Canada in 2010, 2014 and 2018 — won gold.Humphries became a naturalized American citizen shortly before the 2022 Games. She stopped competing for Canada after filing a harassment complaint in 2018. Meyers Taylor, who will be participating in her fifth Olympics in 2026, also won bronze in the two-woman with Sylvia Hoffman.Cross-country skiing, Alpine skiing and ice hockeyThe U.S. won four medals across these three disciplines, though they should receive a boost in 2026.Lindsey Vonn, who has three Olympic medals, is returning to Alpine skiing. She retired from competition in 2019 after suffering several injuries, but resumed her career late last year. Mikaela Shiffrin, Alpine skiing’s most decorated athlete, is looking to return to the podium in 2026. She won golds in 2014 and 2018 but uncharacteristically struggled in Beijing. Shiffrin is still working her way back to her athletic peak after suffering a serious injury last November.In ice hockey, the United States women will be looking for redemption after winning silver in 2022. The men, who did not make the podium in Beijing, will have some reinforcements next year as NHL players will be returning to the Games for the first time since 2014.Rohan NadkarniRohan Nadkarni is a sports reporter for NBC News. 
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Nov. 4, 2025, 5:00 AM ESTBy Janis Mackey Frayer, Stella Kim, Adam Reiss and Jennifer JettGEOJE, South Korea — On an island off its southern coast, South Korea is doing the kind of shipbuilding that President Donald Trump envisions for the United States. The Hanwha Ocean shipyard, which covers an area the size of 900 football fields on the island of Geoje, churns out both commercial and military ships at a far faster rate than yards in the U.S., aided by the world’s largest dry dock and crane. During a recent visit by NBC News, it was a hive of clanging and banging as different components were assembled and then lifted into place. Sirens and bursts of music alerted the 30,000 workers when something heavy was being moved among the ships, some of them as long as the Empire State Building is high.Among them was the USNS Charles Drew, a 14,000-ton cargo ship in the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet that is on site for maintenance.“It’s a lot more cost-effective for us to stay in the area,” said Danny Beeler, principal port engineer for the ship.“We’re not sailing all the way back to the United States,” which would cost millions of dollars in fuel alone, Beeler said. “And we can get a lot of work done here, too.”
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