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Government shutdown updates: Senate vote marks step towards ending federal shutdown

The bill advanced by a vote of 60-40.

Last Updated: November 9, 2025, 11:48 PM EST

President Donald Trump on Sunday offered a bit more insight into his proposal that Obamacare subsidies should go directly to Americans' Health Savings Accounts to pay for health care rather than sending funds to insurance companies through the Affordable Care Act.

Meanwhile, the Senate voted Sunday night on a test vote that would fund the government through Jan. 31 and end the 40-day government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history. Enough Democrats voted to pass the bill.

And the Department of Agriculture in a late Saturday night memo ordered states to reverse any steps they've taken to issue SNAP benefits and threatened to impose financial penalties on states that do not “comply” quickly.

Nov 08, 2025, 11:08 AM EST

Trump says ACA funds should be sent 'directly' to Americans

President Donald Trump said Saturday that senators should redirect Affordable Care Act funds away from insurance companies and suggested the money instad be sent “directly to the people.”

Trump claimed people could purchase their own “much better healthcare” and have money “left over” if funds weren’t allocated to “money sucking Insurance Companies” through the ACA.

“I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

It’s unclear how senators would implement this directive.

Separately, Trump has continued to urge Senate Republicans to terminate the filibuster. The Senate will be in session on Saturday.

-ABC News’ Isabella Murray

Nov 08, 2025, 10:56 AM EST

South Africa reacts after Trump claims no US official is going to G20 Summit

President Donald Trump said no U.S. government official will attend the G20 Summit in South Africa later this month. In a post on Truth Social, the president continued to amplify false claims that there are racially motivated mass killings against white Afrikaners in the region.

The South African Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation said in response, “The characterisation of Afrikaners as an exclusively white group is ahistorical. Furthermore, the claim that this community faces persecution, is not substantiated by fact. … Drawing on our own journey from racial and ethnic division to democracy, our nation is uniquely positioned to champion within the G20 a future of genuine solidarity, where shared prosperity bridges deep inequalities.”

The G20 summit in Johannesburg will take place on Nov. 22 and Nov. 23.

Nov 07, 2025, 8:06 PM EST

'A lousy, terrible, horrible idea': What Republicans say about Dem shutdown proposal -- and what happens next

Emerging from a closed-door conference meeting, Republican senators on Friday were palpably angered by Democrats' offer to allow government funding to advance if it included a one-year extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits.

It's clear that the offer, which Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats made in a series of floor speeches earlier Friday, is going over like a lead balloon.

"A lousy, terrible, horrible idea," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said departing that meeting. "We're not going to continue for a year to load up insurance companies with taxpayer dollars to get an inferior outcome."

PHOTO: Lawmakers Continue To Negotiate Funding Government As Shutdown Stretches Past A Month
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) talks to reporters as he leaves a Republican Caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on November 7, 2025 in Washington, DC. Lawmakers continue to negotiate as the government shutdown reaches its 38th day, the longest in U.S. history.
Samuel Corum/Getty Images

"There's just no way that the Democrats are coming out here and pounding their chest and playing tough guy," Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said. "It's outrageous."

So what's next?

The Senate will be in session on Saturday, starting at noon but it's not clear what, if anything, senators will vote on. At this point in time, there are no votes scheduled.

Earlier, Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who sits on the appropriations committee, said Republicans were aiming to hold a vote on a short-term funding bill this weekend that would include the three full-year spending bills within it -- if Democrats allow it advance.

Said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla.: "I don't know what we do this weekend, because we've got to have stuff to vote on. And either they give unanimous consent, or we go through this long, drawn out debate process."

After the Senate adjourned Friday evening, some senators appeared to be preparing to depart D.C.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Nov 07, 2025, 6:48 PM EST

Order to fully fund SNAP remains after appeals court denies Trump administration request; states begin issuing benefits

An appeals court has denied the Trump administration's request to lift a judge's order that it fully fund SNAP for November, as several states have already begun issuing benefits.

As of Friday evening, nine states said they had begun processing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits: Kansas, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Vermont, New Jersey, Minnesota, Connecticut, New York and North Carolina.

Read more.

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