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.
In a filing overnight, USDA informed a federal judge that it had initially miscalculated the SNAP benefits that would be paid out if all $4.65 billion left in the program's contingency fund were depleted.
"USDA performed further analysis and determined that the maximum allotments need only be reduced by 35%, instead of 50%," agency official Patrick Penn said in a sworn declaration.
This means the benefits will be paid out at 65% of the typical November amount, not 50%.
The mistake was also caught by advocates who have sued the Trump administration, who noted it in their own filing to the court Tuesday night.
-ABC News' Steven Portnoy
Nov 06, 2025, 10:11 AM EST
Dems to huddle behind closed doors to discuss shutdown
Senate Democrats are expected to huddle as a caucus behind closed doors on Thursday -- the 37th day of the government shutdown.
Democrats will meet for a caucus lunch hosted by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, an aide confirmed to ABC News.
The ongoing government shutdown is expected to be a focus of those discussions. A similar lunch by Democrats on Tuesday lasted nearly three hours as Democrats attempted to sort out a path forward.
-ABC News' Allison Pecorin
Nov 06, 2025, 7:15 AM EST
Air safety being compromised as shutdown drags on, FAA worker says
As airports across the country deal with flight delays and brace for cancellations, ABC News spoke with an FAA employee who has been working at Dulles International Airport without pay for the last 36 days.
Cleverson Schmidt is an FAA radar technician at Dulles and a union representative. He is a father and a veteran. He says the impact of the shutdown is two-fold: putting a strain on both his family and air safety.
A plane takes off behind the FAA control tower at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 4, 2025.
Cliff Owen/AP
"It's terrifying and stressful," Schmidt said. "I have a family that depends on me. I have a wife that works part time. She has health complications. I have a 15-year-old son who depends on me."
Schmidt said staying vigilant is a key part of the job. As a radar technician, he said they are the "voice, radios and eyes through scopes" for air traffic controllers.
"They're able to determine weather patterns," he said. "Airplanes land safely using our flight slopes." But Schmidt said patience is wearing thin as employees are not being paid.
"We wish to stay vigilant -- we want to, and we have every intent to, but at some point if it's between me and my pride versus my son going without not eating or my wife not being able to take her medication, I will be forced to make that decision, and the investment the FAA and my government made in my training will be gone."
Schmidt said the staffing shortages have a domino effect.
"That culmination, that increase of stress is causing people to get sick more often" or simply to "take time off, maybe because they have to go and do a side gig, just so they can feed their kid."
"That puts additional stress on technicians, other technicians," Schmidt said. "So, you're adding stress on [an] already strained system.
Existing staffing challenges have been made "exponentially" made worse by the shutdown, Schmidt said. "We're exhausted now."
Asked how much that exhaustion is compromising air safety, Schmidt replied, "That compromise goes up every single day."
Addressing lawmakers, Schmidt said, "Infrastructure is not something that should be toyed with."
-ABC News' Rachel Scott and Noah Minnie
Nov 05, 2025, 7:20 PM EST
Trump says he doesn’t want to lose relationship with GOP senators over filibuster
Trump reaffirmed his support of eliminating the filibuster but said that he’s not willing to lose relationships he has with Republican senators over it.
“Do I want to lose my relationship with those Republicans that have been very good to me for a long period of time, that voted against the crooked Democrats on impeachment and everything else. Do I want to lose them over it? I think it's a very important point,” Trump told Fox News in an interview taped earlier Wednesday. “You ever have people that are wrong but you can't convince them? So do you destroy your whole relationship with them? Or not? I'd be close to losing it, but probably not.”
But hours later he again warned Republicans that they would “rue the day” that they didn’t eliminate the filibuster.
President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the American Business Forum in Miami, November 5, 2025.
Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich/EPA/Shutterstock
"Don't be weak. Don't be stupid. Republicans, fight, fight, fight, win, win, win. We will immediately end the extortionist shutdown, get all of our agenda passed and make life so good for Americans that these deranged Democrat politicians will never again have the chance to destroy America," Trump said on his social media platform.
"They tried to destroy your country. Republicans, you will rue the day that you didn't terminate the filibuster. Be tough, be smart and win. This is much bigger than the shutdown. This is the survival of our country. Terminate the filibuster and let's live the great life that this country is capable of living in," Trump continued.
