#government-shutdown

#government-shutdown

You could almost mistake it for an ad. Last week, the far-right Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was on the Amtrak Crescent traveling from the nation's capital to her home state, and she was enchanted. "The sweetest people run the train," she posted on X, alongside a video of the autumnal landscape rushing by. "And the morning views of my north Georgia mountains made me smile and warmed my heart."

Thanks to the shutdown, there have not been too many innovative government programs operating over the past few months. NASA was able to continue its latest crowdfunding challenge, which asks people to help design new tires for future moon missions, largely because that is hosted by its partner site, HeroX. But beyond that, most everything was either shuttered or running with skeleton crews.

The markets are ending the week on a low note as the global selloff continued in Asia and Europe this morning, prompted by rising uncertainty stemming from the U.S. economy. Doubts about a much-anticipated December interest rate cut from the Fed are mounting, with the likely outcome obscured by patchy data after Washington's government shutdown. Wall Street was bumpy yesterday. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones posted contractions of more than 1.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell by 2.3%.

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss why Democrats caved to end the government shutdown and what comes next, the affordability crisis with guest and editorial director for New York Times Opinion David Leonhardt, and the importance of this week's spectacle of competing Epstein document drops. Here are some notes and references from this week's show: David Morgan for Reuters: US House to vote on deal to end longest government shutdown in history

The reality is that there was stress, there was strain, it was completely unnecessary,

The House did its job," Johnson said on the third day of the shutdown when asked why he wasn't having members stay in town. "The House will come back into session and do its work as soon as [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government.

My great fear, of course, is that with the release of that information, which I think will be devastating for Trump, he's going to do everything in his power to distract,

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 46,441.10 on the first day of the shutdown. Since October 1, it has grown over 4%, reaching over 48,000 for the first time on Wednesday, November 12. While the record number came as the shutdown's end became a sure thing, the Dow had continued to rise throughout the period. The S&P 500 also followed a mostly upward trajectory throughout the shutdown. It opened at 6,664.92 on October 1 and closed at 6,850.92 on Wednesday.

It's finally, officially, over. On Wednesday, Nov. 12, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to end the longest (43 days) U.S. government shutdown in history by a vote of 222-to-209, echoing the verdict of the U.S. Senate that voted 60-to-40 on Monday to do the same thing. When President Trump signed off on the law late Wednesday evening, the shutdown ended.

So I just want to tell the American people, you should not forget this,

Good morning. Gusts continue to pester, but we'll see a high around 71 eventually today. Windy overnight, too, with a low near 46. The Capitals host St. Louis tonight, and the Wizards visit Boston. You can find me on Bluesky, I'm @kmcorliss.19 on Signal, and there's a link to my email address below. Thanks for reading Washingtonian Today. If you know someone who might enjoy these roundups, please forward this email;your friend can get a free subscription here.

[Some Democrats] assert that in hammering away at the extension of health care subsidies that are slated to expire at the end of next month, they managed to thrust Mr. Trump and Republicans onto the defensive, elevating a political issue that has long been a major weakness for them. And in holding out for weeks while Republicans refused to extend the health tax credits and Mr. Trump went to court to deny low-income Americans SNAP food benefits,

In the checkers board that is our government (no one here's playing chess), we have Democrats who enjoy pretending to put up a fight, only to cave at the first whiff of a breeze, and we have Republicans who will, without fail, find a way to make everything about banning abortion. The House reconvenes today, November 12, to vote on the bill to reopen the government after the longest shutdown in U.S. history. On Sunday night, seven Democrats and one Independent broke ranks to vote with Republicans on the spending bill.

The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research was conducted after Democrats' recent victories in off-year elections but before Congress took major steps to try to end the longest shutdown in U.S. history. It shows that only 33% of U.S. adults approve of the way the Republican president is managing the government, down from 43% in an AP-NORC poll from March.

It seems like Arthur Miller's The Crucible always finds its way back into my life somehow. From first reading the play in high school to performing in it a decade ago to rolling my eyes at Aaron Sorkin's sexist misinterpretation of it, the quintessential "political play" finds new and interesting ways to once again grab my attention, faults and all. I thought of it again after the past week's exciting political developments.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% early Wednesday and neared the all-time high it set a couple weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 127 points after setting its own record the day before, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.3%. Technology stocks swung back upward. Advanced Micro Devices rallied after its CEO said the chip company is expecting better than 35% annual compounded growth in revenue over the next three to five years. Nvidia, the dominant player in chips used for artificial-intelligence technology, also rose.

The following is a transcript of the episode: My book this week will be a new novel by my Atlantic colleague George Packer. The novel is called The Emergency, and it's a haunting portrait of a world in decline that bears important resemblances to our own while clearly not being our own. It is a disturbing but beautiful work, and I strongly recommend it, and I'll talk at the end of this podcast about why the book so spoke to me.

And as we come on the air tonight, things are actually happening, here on Capitol Hill, which after 42 42 days of this government shutdown, is actually worth a breaking-news banner of its own, because lawmakers are now working late into the evening, tonight, to seal the deal, and end the longest government shutdown on record. That hasn't stopped the White House's efforts and the President's efforts to stop full food assistance benefits from going out.

The crisis at major U.S. airports, triggered by restrictions on air traffic resulting from the government shutdown, will worsen before it begins to improve. Although Congress is nearing approval of an agreement to reopen the federal government, officials warn that flights could be limited to a trickle before the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of the month, one of the busiest times for travel.